Review: Fast and funny
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 26, 2013
Weekend in Weighton is a funny book. It's a murder mystery narrated in a wise-cracking modern-noir style, and the author is witty and original in his throw-aways and one liners.  The plot unwraps in a slightly non-linear fashion, and eventually turns into a flat tack run to the solution of the mystery, the narrator pattering all the while, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable journey.  I love this kind of re-iterative crime drama based in a limited amount of time and a small area, so the characters keep colliding and, thus, advancing the plot and mystery with each iteration. It's reminiscent of Elmore Leonard, and also of a whole movie crime genre; it's easy to see the influence of early Guy Ritchie films on the novel, such as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.What confused me in the novel was where exactly we were. The narrative voice sounded American, but was full of English-isms. Eddie G., the engaging Starlight riding narrator, is occasionally referred to as being Mexican with Cherokee blood. It would make sense in an American setting, but he calls his mother Mum. This cultural conflation was enough to pull me out of the book at times.Overall, however, it's an enjoyable book with great momentum and a satisfying ending. I'm hoping the cultural confusion gets sorted out for the sequel. Although, I could just be missing the grand joke, perhaps.