Smoked (edition 2007)

My blog post about this book is at this link .

( )

Former safe-cracker turned bomb-maker, Smoke Dugan, made his retirement from the mob when one of his devices was used to blow up a plane instead of the empty buildings that were the norm. His former employers weren't too happy with his leaving, especially his retirement gift of $2.5m and a bonus of the corpse of they guy who'd given him his last job. So they're more than happy when Smoke pops up on the radar living the quiet life in Portland, Maine and send a few boys to bring him back for a chat.

Unfortunately, things don't run smoothly for the retrieval squad and events escalate to include Smoke's girlfriend and her room-mate. The leader of this squad has also been having second thoughts about his chosen career path and can't seem to be able to pull the trigger any more. Considering that he's usually employed as a hitman then that's not a good sign he's in the right profession. He decides this may be his chance to disappear.

This is not an overly complex book, just a case of who'll survive when the curtain falls. The characters are fairly standard fair but likable enough and I wouldn't say no to spending more time with those that did survive. ( )

Very good read, excellent first novel. A bit violent, but mostly alluded to and not experienced directly. ( )

PATRICK Quinlan is a well-respected media writer in the US. Smoked is his debut novel, and while it might be considered “okay” if penned by Joe Bloggs, it is a disappointing effort for a professional writer.

Of course, there is always more pressure on a journalist to produce good writing than there is on the rest of society.

While Smoked is not an impressive story and I won’t be running out to buy Quinlan’s next effort, there are certainly worse books to take with you on a two-hour flight — it beats the in-flight magazine.

Smoke Duggan is an unlikely hero: dependent on a cane because of a crippled leg and about 60 years old, he is hiding from his former mobster employers after killing one of them and stealing $2,5m in cash.

He has tried to lose himself in Portland, Maine, where he lives quietly, keeps a low profile, and makes toys for impoverished and handicapped children. Which is literary shorthand for telling us that while he may have been a crook, he is really a good man with a heart of gold.

Smoke has a girlfriend, Lola: she is a teacher, bright, black, drop-dead gorgeous, and only 25 years old. What an unbelievably lucky man, the emphasis being on unbelievable. What he doesn’t know is that after being gang-raped at 16, Lola has become some sort of expert kung-fu fighter.

IF THE idea of a sexy young woman falling for an old gimp strikes you as being a tad unrealistic, try this one for size: Cruz, the assassin the mob has hired to fetch Smoke from hiding, has had a change of heart. After two decades and more than 100 kills, he has lost his taste for murder and is actively trying to avoid hurting people whom only days before he would have been quite happy to “blow away”.

Throw a couple of professional rapists, several psychopathic killers and Lola’s flatmate, Pamela the librarian, into to the mix, together with some mob kingpins and a corrupt ex-cop, and the result is pretty much the same as a thousand other recent thrillers.

Killer Cruz falls in love with pretty Pamela, lovely Lola forgives Smoke his sins, and the four of them work together to outwit the gangsters, making their escape with the loot.

Nice fairy story, but if ever a book called for a sequel with a reality check, Smoked is it. For Quinlan fans, the good news is that their escape was witnessed and reported by the crooked cop, so there’s bound to be a follow-up with the mob on their trail.

And the good news for non-fans is that, judging by this book, nothing he writes will make it to cult status so there is absolutely no need for you to buy his next novel. ( )

Quirky first novel from Quinlan.

You can't retire from the mafia, but when a bombmaker steals some money and runs, he finally seems to have managed to build a quiet life for himself, loved by a beautiful woman, he finds himself at peace.
The same can't be said for the hitman sent to find him, although thoughts of retirement are with him too.

Smoked covers the interaction of these characters and their flunkies in a fast paced but not gripping book. The plot has many twists and turns, a few of which are quite unbelivable. The woment are particularly shallowly written. ( )