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Stupid Crimesby Simon Hearn by Dennis E. Bolen, Anvil Press, $10.95. This is a heartfelt, highly entertaining, very skillfully-realized story about a parole officer and the crooks he shepherds. Parole officers 'supervise' men who are out of jail and on the streets, but still serving the ends of their sentences while they readjust to society. A PO's job is shot through with the kinds of morally shadowed situations that blend perfectly into the pulpy film noir atmosphere that Vancouverite and first-time novelist Dennis E. Bolen rejuvenates here. This PO, Barry Delta, knows his charges only too well, and their seeds-sown-long-ago messes spark his compassion. Yet Delta, who is secretly self-adoring and quite blinded by his own personal Bogart myth, goes around making hopelessly irresponsible 'deals' with these acting-out crooks while scrambling on the side to keep his love life alive. He thinks he's Being Understanding. Such ingredients are crisp-baked with no lard. The tale sweeps on fast and irrevocable. Bolen's highest achievement is his creation of thoroughly true characters. He gets you inside their minds with quiet and ruthless effectiveness. Suspense, too. If we're producing stuff this good in Vancouver, we ought to be in Seattle. And Anvil Press, Bolen's Vancouver-based publishers, advise that TV/film producer Bill Gough (interviewed in AF15), now sipping Perrier in LA., paid cash for the film rights to this kickin' book. Fun with fibre added. This thing could be a best seller. ©Simon Hearn |
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