Fun and Games
by Duane Swierczynski
Trade Paperback, 286 pg.
Mulholland Books, 2011
I know it’s clichéd to say, but this is an adrenaline-fueled ride. The plot moves like someone who’s had too much coffee, dragging the reader along from one remarkable event to the next. This is a hyper-reality along the lines of Butch Coolidge accidentally coming across Marsellus Wallace at just the wrong time, saving him from Zed and then stumbling onto Vincent Vega (in a very strategically ineffective position) not long afterwards. Or the kind that allows John McClane to be in the right place at just the right time in the Nakatomi Plaza so he can take care of Hans Gruber’s crew.*
Charlie Hardie, who used to work with the Philadelphia police, is in the middle of a new career as a professional house sitter for the well-to-do. He flies into Los Angeles, gets to his next house and finds it fully equipped with the necessary modern conveniences: a sunbathing neighbor who isn’t all that concerned with clothing, a recording studio, and a banged-up (and high) rom-com and action movie actress. She claims that people are out to kill her, which is why she’s hiding in this empty house.
It doesn’t take long for things to get really out of control from there. Instead of a month of old movies and heavy drinking, Charlie has to try to save the actress — and his own skin, and thwart the mysterious and very persistent group that has decided these two have overstayed their welcome on this planet.
Swierczynski’s voice and style keep this entertaining — it’d be very easy for this story to get too dark, too grim. There are moments when you start to enjoy yourself here — and then someone gets stabbed with something, or something blows up. He keeps you right there with Charlie and ready to see what happens to the poor guy next.
—–
* I am capable of making cinematic allusions not involving Bruce Willis, really, I am.
—–
