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We've all heard of unpublished works that are discovered years after a writer's death. Fortunately for us, the manuscript for Edward Bunker's first book was found not too long after his death in 2005 and has just been released (2008). STARK is a very interesting period piece, notable not so much for its literary attributes as for the signs it shows of a first-rate talent being born. Oceanview, California, 1962: Ernie Stark has been released from prison and is settling into life as a low-level grifter when the local cop, Detective Lieutenant Patrick Crowley, puts the screws on him. If Stark doesn't find out who is providing drugs to local dealer Momo, Crowley will have Stark put back in prison. Ernie's never been a rat, but there is no way that he will go back to the joint if he doesn't have to. He earns Momo's trust by setting up a sweet deal that gets them both some easy money. After that, Momo is happy to have Ernie as a partner, but is still unwilling to name his source. Meanwhile, Momo's woman, Dorie Williams, who is living with him in order to get her drug fix, and Ernie find something in each other that they can't fight. This isn't one of those happily-ever-after love stories; it's more a case of mutual addiction and recognizing their weaknesses in each other. STARK is a kind of combination pulp fiction/noir effort. Bunker's talents as a writer are obvious, but at this point, they are unpolished and somewhat raw. The plot meanders a bit, but he does pull off some surprises. The dialogue is sometimes a tad hokey, but it works in the context of the book. It's interesting that although Stark frequently resorts to violence and killing and leads a criminal kind of life, there isn't an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. That's just the way life is; you do whatever you must to survive without agonizing about it. Bunker's personal story is probably more interesting than any book that he could write. He was convicted of numerous crimes since early childhood, including smashing a neighbor's backyard incinerator with a claw hammer aged three, setting fire to a neighbor's garage at four and jamming a fork in a boy's eyeball at 15. He became the youngest ever inmate of San Quentin at the age of 17, and there he learned survival skills and faced down the toughest prisoners in the system. Over the next 18 years, he was convicted of bank robbery, drug dealing, extortion, armed robbery, and forgery. A repeating pattern of convictions, paroles, releases and escapes, further crimes and new convictions continued until 1975, at which point he finally left his criminal days permanently behind and became a writer and even an actor. His most famous role was as Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs. If you're a fan of Bunker's four other books or the great pulp fiction works of the 1950s, you're going to love STARK, in spite of the fact that it's imperfect at best. But you know that Bunker has walked those mean streets and shot up those drugs and hung out with the whores and down-and-outs who live in this book, and that adds an edge that can't be achieved without having been there.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, March 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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