Review: In which an alcoholic homeless man tries to emulate Philip Marlowe
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2012
Billed as an "ultra-noir" novel, The Long Drunk is a murder mystery that name drops Raymond Chandler's work frequently, and with good reason - in its plot structure, The Long Drunk feels exactly like one of Chandler's works, with our main character talking with people everywhere and slowly piecing together the truth behind an apparently random murder that has the police up in arms. But what makes this book different is the detective, because rather than a hard-boiled private eye, The Long Drunk makes its hero a washed-up former professional football player who's now homeless, constantly drunk, and somewhat brain damaged. As such, much of the book plays almost as a dark satire of the genre, with our hero stumbling through interrogations, failing utterly to intimidate witnesses, and having his plans often derail horribly, often thanks to the help of some equally damaged street dwelling friends. The Long Drunk never feels like it's mocking its characters, which is good; on the other hand, its approach to female characters is troubling at best or hateful and misogynistic at worst. (I tend to think the characters are best viewed through the prism of satire, but even so, they can be hard to take.) If you're diving into The Long Drunk because of the mystery, you'll probably end up frustrated; the answers to the case feel almost like an afterthought, and end up being tossed aside surprisingly quickly. But as a compelling character study and an intriguing variation on the private eye story, The Long Drunk is pretty entertaining. The characters are colorful, the conversations well-done, the side bars entertaining, and the journey as a whole satisfying, once you realize that the case is never really what the book is about.