Vicki Hendricks

Sherri is an aging stripper junkie and alcoholic. She kills her boyfriend by throwing a radio at him, and that starts an adventure where she ostensibly tries to go straight. She takes a job in a dry cleaning establishment, called Miami Purity, which is owned by a woman and her son. Sherri goes nuts for the son, due apparently to his Mick Jagger lips. In true noir fashion, things spiral out of control for her. This is true noir, from a woman's point of view, very much like a woman's version show more of The Postman Always Rings Twice. It's uncompromisingly dark and plain, and sometimes very witty. show less

Iguana Love is an amazing, compelling work. Stripped down to its essence, it's the story of someone who is bored by her mundane existence and seeks something or someone to fill her up literally and figuratively. It's a descent step by step letting go of all that matters in life to become something else - someone who has given their soul over. It starts with pursuing excitement such as deep sea diving and thrills in bed and ends up turning her into a gym rat with out of control hormones who show more lets go of everyone good and decent and lets it all go to hell. In that sense, this book is filled with the noirish themes as the main character descends from one circle to the next. What is unique about it is how these themes are played out from a woman's perspective without getting silly or unrealistic. It isn't really a crime novel but more of a psychological study of a character's fall from grace, becoming the cold uncaring thing she feared in men such as Enzo. It is, of course, filled with the sun-drenched heat of Florida, animals, and brimming with often explicit sexual energy. And there is something about the writing that grabs you and won't let go. show less

Hendricks' talent shines brightly in this excellent short story collection. No matter what the subject matter, the writing draws you in. The voice is pitched perfectly. The tone and the pace couldn't be smoother. And there are absolutely no clunkers in this bunch. And there are subjects here you never thought you'd enjoy reading about-- including a tender tale of bestiality, a story of a squatter, the dating habits of Siamese (aka conjoined) twins, strippers in the monkey house, the show more adventures of mighty Iguana Man, a one-armed alligator, sixteen different kinds of trailer park double indemnity and more. Are all these people slightly twisted or is this just what goes on in the backwoods of Florida? There is in these tales a sense of irony and the sardonic whether it's the iguana dressed for a formal ball or the fact that somehow these people's desperate schemes never really seem to work out quite the way they thought they would. These are not dark takes, however. There is a brightness to them. show less

Vicki Hendricks has been dubbed the high priestess of neo-noir. This novel is a modern take on classic noir themes. Just as classic noir characters hurtle downward in a never-ending spiral of despair and destruction, Hendricks strips her characters of all normalcy and balance and tilts them into a world of sexual obsession and into new cages that replace old ones. But, this is not the classic fifties pulp which hints at and tantalizes the reader. It is filled to the brim with sex, booze, and show more casual murder and it focuses on the sex quite explicitly. Strangely enough, the blood and gore which you would think would be at the eye of this hurricane are simply casually tossed out as if to show where these characters have fallen in their twisted depravity. Willeford may have peopled the Florida coast with crime and bizarre persons, but Hendricks adds in a boa constrictor and ten foot alligators as well as gun-wielding call girls and sex-crazed English professors. show less