The Goodbye Coast
by Joe Ide
DETAILS:
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK)/Mulholland Books (US)
Publication Date: February 17, 2022 (UK), February 1, 2022 (US)
Format: Hardcover
Length: 301 pg.
Read Date: February 12-?
Let me start out by saying this isn’t going to be my traditional post about a book—hopefully, that will comes later this week. Due to some miscommunication, misunderstanding, breakdown in communication, or some other human error, I didn’t get the advanced copy of the book for this tour stop. Stuff happens, it’s not the end of the world.
Thankfully, before I’d signed up for the tour, I’d put a hold on this book at my local library, and my turn in the queue came up in time for me to check the book out Saturday. I had enough time to read the first third (I’m on page 103 of 301) of it, so I can talk about a decent amount of the book. Honestly, given my typical approach, I’m going to be able to say almost as much about the book as I would anyway—I just can’t say anything about how successful the ending might be.
Faulty Assumption
When I heard that Joe Ide was going to do a Philip Marlowe novel, I assumed it was going to be in the same vein as his South Central Sherlock Holmes novel, IQ-this time with a Marlowe-esque figure in a contemporary L.A.
Nope. This time out, Ide isn’t messing around with something inspired by one of the greats. He’s it’s a full bore re-imagining. We’ve got Philip Marlowe in his tenth year of being a P.I. in a 2020-is L.A. The question is, will this work?
What’s The Goodbye Coast About?
An aging star of Rom-Coms hires Marlowe to find her stepdaughter, a 16-year-old runaway, Cody. Cody’s father, Terry, was a director who had one mega-success and a series of flops. He appears to have fallen in with a group of Russian and Albanian gangsters as a way to secure funding for one last attempt at saving his career. Sadly, he was murdered in front of their home. That was six weeks ago. A month later, Cody runs away, stealing the housekeeper’s car to do so.
It’s been two weeks, and no sign of her has been found. Kendra James hires Marlowe, not to look into the murder, but to track down Cody. Something doesn’t sit right about this with Marlowe, but James is paying a ridiculous amount of money, so he takes the case. Marlowe definitely doesn’t like James, the way she treats her staff, or spends her money. But that doesn’t mean he can’t some of that money.
Naturally, Marlowe ends up looking into the murder, and the questions surrounding it, the victim, and Marlowe’s client start to add up.
While in the middle of this investigation, Marlowe is approached by a British woman looking for her son—her ex-husband has abducted the boy and flown home to L.A. as the lastest step in their bitter divorce. She’s spent pretty much everything she has to get to L.A., and after a series of rejections from Private Investigators who expect to be paid for their efforts, she’s been referred to Marlowe.
Emmett Marlowe
Marlowe’s father, Emmett, is a 17-year-veteran of the LAPD. Currently on leave, following the death of his wife from cancer and the excessive and habitual drinking he turned to.
The relationship between father and son is strained, and the closest they get is when they work together—Emmett is essentially Marlowe’s partner in some of his cases, unofficially using LAPD resources in the service of the case.
It seems like the emotional core of this novel is going to be the relationship between Emmett and Marlowe. I don’t expect a giant breakthrough in the next two hundred pages, but I hope there’s a little thawing of the ice.
Phillip Marlowe, Really?
I’m really not sure about this part. How Phillip Marlowe-y is this guy? Do we need Marlowe in the 21st Century? I wondered about that as soon as I finally understood what Ide was doing in this book a few weeks ago, and at this point in the book, I still have questions about that.
One thing that I stumbled over is Ide’s use of the third person. Chandler’s Marlowe is notably a first-person narrator—and his narration served as the template for so many P.I.s that followed. Ide is about to work in some touches that make me think of Chandler’s narration but it’s not the same and takes some getting used to.
There are plenty of similarities between the two author’s take on the character, a similar attitude, aptitude, mannerisms, and likes. On the other hand, Ide’s Marlowe’s backstory and the involvement of his father are significant divergences. That’s his prerogative, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that—but at a certain point, if enough tweaks are made, is it Phillip Marlowe?
I cannot stress enough—I would have absolutely no qualms about this character if he had any other name under the sun. But tagging him with Philip Marlowe means something, right? I’m ready and willing to be convinced that Ide knew what he was doing with this, but I’m not there yet.
What Are My First Impressions of The Goodbye Coast?
I’m telling you now, if I didn’t have prior obligations and responsibilities, I’d have easily stayed up all night reading this. I was hooked and hooked solidly. I’m more than eager to dive back into this today, and the novel I started the day before I picked this up is going to have to wait a little longer, there’s no way I’m not finishing this as soon as I can.
I’ve said literally everything I know about the father taking the child story, so I can’t say much about it. I can say that the best bit of dialogue in the novel comes from the first conversation that Mom and Marlowe had. I’m a sucker for banter, and Ide nailed this one.
The dialogue as a whole is crisp, snappy, and witty. The characters leap off the page, and it didn’t take me long to get invested in the whole thing. This version of L.A. shares a lot with Chandlers, too—the collision of an abundance of wealth and a dearth of ethics/morality helps to create a dynamite setting for a P.I. novel.
Everything about the Cody/Terry/Kendra case is murky—Marlowe’s going to end up digging up some real dark secrets soon, I’m sure. I expect that things are going to get violent and action-packed.
It’s early days yet with this character, but I can see him rivaling Isaiah Quintabe in my eyes. I cannot wait to see what happens in the rest of the book, and I fully expect to be raving about it when I’m done. Go get your hands on this.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
My thanks to Tracy Fenton and Compulsive Readers for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.
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