Done for a Dime

I'm used to good mysteries taking clichés and making them fresh, but in this case there's not one cliché in sight. This story, set in a depressed, ramshackle community south of the San Francisco bay, starts with the murder of a musician. The first third of the book follows the murder investigation as two cops bring in the most obvious suspects and try to nail it down. Then we abruptly move to another crime-in-the-making, a shady character who is using a young firebug (connected to the murder in the first section) to set the place alight for some even shadier clients. The third part deals with the aftermath, as the scam spins out of control, the sinister dealings of some local business types are matched in cynicism by the feds and the show more brass, and a detective tries to put it all together even though the only person who's willing to help is the criminal who lined it up and has fallen out with his crew.

The writing is superb, the characters deeply realized, and though the time frame is only two days, it's worked out with amazing texture and depth. Exhilarating, draining, sad, and brilliant. Though it's hardly a feel-good story, when I read a book this good, it makes me hopeful for the industry. No high concept, no tricks, no gimmicks, just honest, solid writing, straight from the heart. show less

Compared to DC's prior book, The Devil's Redhead, which I LOVED, I thought that DONE FOR A DIME started a bit gently. It is atmospheric and well-built but it was the apocalyptic destruction that I most loved about REDHEAD and I worried that the story in this book was going to be a bit too small for my taste.

Not at all the case. I think that the structure is almost the inverse of the most-popular crime-novel strategy: instead of starting with a bang, dipping into the investigational grind, then working back up to a black moment/revelation, this book starts with an almost dreamlike, dense, foggy mise-en-scene. The death of the old musician is poignant but hardly seems likely to upset any significant applecarts.

Also, I worried that I show more wouldn't care enough about Toby; that Nadya was too preciously drawn and unlikeable; that Murch/Stluka were a rare lapse into stereotype for DC.

But what unfolds is the slow burn/build, subtle, then overt, then relentless, of a poison composed of greed and politics and fear into an entire community. And, in a stunning, crashing, fortississimo climax, the complete destruction/immolation ov Everything - what once was, is no more, down to individuals and heroes and ideals and evidence and everything of value. Even the goals of the bad guys are not served; no one is spared.

This might be a little much (ya think?) for some readers, but not for me. Only by painting with this massive, thousand-decibel brush does DC's much acclaimed compassion for his characters - and by extension humanity - come through.

DC's fiction intimidates me, then carries me along, then brings me into the battle and leaves me on the beach amid the carnage. I love being there. show less