Fast-paced 'Wheel of Doll' laced with dark humor
"The Wheel of Doll" by Jonathan Ames (Mulholland/Little, Brown $26) is a slim 216-page book that packs a powerful punch.
It showcases Happy Doll (yup, that's his name) a determined ex-cop in Los Angeles who's working as a security consultant because he lost his license to be a private investigator.
This is the fast-paced violence-packed sequel to "A Man Named Doll," which introduced this highly memorable character.
Doll is still recovering from getting his face carved up and losing a kidney in that caper; his life hasn't gotten much better or easier.
He is a pot-smoking, cocaine-snorting, dog-loving kind of guy, trying to embrace the spirit of Buddhism and seeing a psychotherapist.
Quirky? You bet; in the first few chapters, the hard-drinking, quick-thinking private eye decides to take on a new case.
In the best L.A. Noir tradition, beautiful Mary DeAngelo walks into his seedy office and wants him to track down Ines Candle, her missing mother.
Candle left the area quite a while ago - and is now part of the homeless population of Seattle.
Ironically, Candle was Doll's old girlfriend, who abruptly departed after she made a failed attempt at suicide.
He agrees, and gets further information, although he feels that DeAngelo isn't giving him all of the facts.
Doll's search for answers gets unexpected results, with lots of violence along the way.
"The Wheel of Doll" by Jonathan Ames is a blistering tale laced with dark humor; it has a deviously gripping, convoluted plot.
Ray Walsh, owner of East Lansing's Curious Book Shop, has been reviewing crime novels and Michigan books regularly since 1987. His email address is raywalsh@voyager.net.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Fast-paced 'Wheel of Doll' laced with dark humor
