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FOOL'S PARADISE
by Steve Brewer
University of New Mexico Press, October 2003
182 pages
$22.95
ISBN: 0826331246


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If you grew up in Needles, California (also known as "the Back Door to Hell") and your mother was the local character, hugely overweight and always cold, prowling the streets wearing wool sweaters and heavy socks and your father operated the Come to Jesus Dairy Barn, you too might run away from home at the age of 14. That's what John Ray Mooney did, landing in LA, home of celebrity, wealth and glamour. Only he's not a glamour guy and has to resort to criminal activities to get by. He doesn't do anything terribly dangerous, mostly shoplifting and boosting cars. He lives a decent life for a long time, until he hooks up with Angel Flesch, who contributes to his downfall rapidly with her demands for the affluent life. John Ray ends up in Folsom, in debt to Big Odie and being pursued by the big man and his Sons of Satan for an unpaid debt upon his release.

Desperate, he plans to rob the bank on the peninsula of Coronado, California, which is interrupted by the opportunity to mug a wealthy prince who has come into the bank for a cash advance. Only it turns out that he's not a prince at all, although everyone believes him to be Prince Seri Hassan Bandapanang bin Mohammed of the Asian island of Yip. The real Prince of Yip resides at the bottom of an outhouse, while the pretender, Billy Ho, is living his life.

Everyone wants a piece of the "prince". As time goes on, his assumed identity is unmasked. But he's now got a group of people around him who are planning a big heist on the bank where he and Mooney met. There's the security guard at the bank, a sexy woman who is desperate for money to save her fledgling business and a naïve firefighter from New Mexico who gets hooked up with the group. There are schemes and schemes within schemes, with another element of danger introduced by the security force from Yip who are trying to find the prince. The Yip Royal Guard is led by a man with an inner ear balance problem which leads to him tipping over frequently and consisting of Asians who have been overexposed to American TV.

What could have been a standard plot involving a group of wacky people all double crossing one another turns into something different in Brewer's capable hands. Whether in his standalones or the Bubba Mabry series, Brewer always goes beyond the predictable. He does not know the meaning of "pat resolution", and always concludes his books in a way that the reader doesn't expect, but that is totally believable. There are lots of laugh-out-loud moments, but the humor is never at the expense of any of the characters.

Brewer has released two standalone works in 2003, FOOL'S PARADISE and BULLETS. I hope this means that more people will be exposed to his wonderful wit and terrific writing. He deserves a lot more recognition with readers than he has received to date.

Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, November 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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