4 crampons out of 5

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This is almost a perfect book.  Max Phillips’ strings together characters and dialogue in such a beautiful way – just enough attitude, just enough playfulness, before slamming it back down to reality with some harsh words and truths.  If only ‘Fade to Blonde’ stirred up a little trouble instead of playing out like a light mystery, it would’ve given the tale the added dose of terror it needed to be perfect.

Ah well.

We start with Ray Corson – roofer, construction worker, boxer, actor, writer – on a roof, being approached by Rebecca, who’s been sent his way by a friend, to hire Ray for some protection.  Protection from what?  Rebecca tells him the tale of a jilted gangster out for some violent revenge, and we spend the rest of the book finding out what’s really going on.

Ray’s approach to his task is one of the largest strengths of the book: he’s always moving forward, trying to learn more about what’s what.  Even when he thinks people are on the level, Ray’s taking a look at the books, verifying what he knows, trying to find out what he doesn’t.  It’s all done believably and intelligently, and it makes us feel like we’re part of the events instead of just being shown cards one at a time.  It’s a tricky balance that Phillips pulls off exceedingly well, as Ray (and thus the reader) isn’t sure what, exactly, he’s investigating: he just knows he’s not getting the whole story, meaning the majority of the book is without an identifiable endpoint.  But because of Phillip’s talent with balancing the narrative between explaining motives and letting actions tell the story, we understand the motivations of the character’s and what to keep going.

While the introductory scene has a playfulness that could be overused, once Ray begins his investigation in earnest the various gangster types that are introduced help bring us back to Earth.  But, as mentioned, there’s still a feeling of safety to the whole thing.  Even when dashes of violence pop up, and the hoods dangle threats of danger, you sense Ray’s not really going to get too messed up, nor is there going to be anything too gloom and doom around the corner.  That’s not to say that some guns are’t fired and some people end up dead, there’s just not one of those bold steps (such as the conclusion to Hard Case Crime book 1) that stamps as book as effective.

Though this is underselling ‘Fade to Blonde,’ as, on the whole, it’s an awesome book.  It’s rare to have characters and moments this satisfying for the majority of a book.  That you know that the hero is going to be okay isn’t such a sin, and certainly is committed in countless books, and, best of all, that curtain isn’t really dropped until near the 11th hour.  Once you get to that point, the need for danger has passed in favor of wanting to solve the mystery of who’s who and what’s what.

Blah blah blah, boom snap, another awesome book with an awesome LOOK AT IT cover.

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