::READERS REVIEWS::

Mixed - This is a difficult work to review. Partly because I don't read many mysteries, and have distinct worry of missing large parts of the intent and style. It'd be like having read a few science fiction works and then reviewing another, mentioning I liked the language and characters but the story just got ridiculous and unbelievable when the aliens showed up, and why did they need timetravel anyway? That is of course how a lot of mainstream commentators review anything SF/F (particularly through assuming that the whole endeavor is just juvenile escapism) and I'm wary of making a similar error across here. For instance, while I found a lot of what happened arbitrary and unbelievable from the setup of the book, that could be as much to not being as familiar with the genre elements Crumley is incorporating or subverting.

Furthermore, and possibly due to the above, I didn't really find this a good novel. I can't say it's bad, but it seemed incomplete or off-center in some ways, which doesn't give me the strong unifying focus I'd have to rant in either praising or condemning it. The Last Good Kiss is quite effective on the level of direct writing, the prose is decent, the dialog snappy, the pace on paragraph to paragraph basis good. It's the larger picture the novel paints (or buys into) that's less satisfying.

The best and worst thing in this novel is how 70s it is, reflecting both intense sexuality, intrigue and political radicalism, as well as a partial blowback against these. So, the protagonist gets eventually sidetracked into following the trail of a ten-years-missing young woman, tracking her past through porn, drug addiction, a hippie commune, and then reinvention of herself into a respectable and settled wife. It's an overview that plays at times like a metaphor for the country as a whole in the previous decade. Certainly in the trail of this, the protagonist has a lot of interesting encounters that deal heavily with the impact of "the Dream" in its late 60s manifestation, its major collapse, and how people left around after the end relate. It's the most productive part of the book, but it also forces the story into a few contrivances--is it really likely one person would have such a symbolically important set of roles? This could work in a lot of senses, but the reason it doesn't fully here is the gritty and near-realistic tone of the work undercut it's larger importance.

The major plot elements make sense in retrospect, the pieces of the backstory fit the described narrative. Unfortunately there's a cost to this coherence, as it forces levels of rediscovery of the small cast, showing hidden identities and covert manipulations. It was engaging to read through, but also distanced me a lot from most of the people in this novel, and in retrospect I find it a fairly alienating tactic. The work isn't atmospherically paranoid enough to support this type of deception, and by the end several many characters were left too ambivalent for real connection.

Where the book really loses me is in the end, with a bit of an improbable coincidence forcing an action-packed rescue against the local mob. It's too neat by far, too succesfull to really be believed, and in the process the book doesn't really deal with the full impact of the abuse (particularly in the sexual form against woman) that's inherent to the setup. This aspect was a factor across the work, but it became most prominent just at the moment of ostensibly the greatest narrative intensity, and left me rather cold. Still, there's a lot to like in here, and as an exploration of a largely unfamiliar genre was probably worth its own sake.

This book reminded me of and was better than: Agatha Cristie's Murder on the Orient Express
This book reminded me of and was worse than: Stephen King's The Dead Zone

Add me to the list of fans - The praise this book has earned is well-deserved. It can't be an easy thing to write a book so divorced from what most of us would consider a normal, or even acceptable, life; and to make it so effortless and rewarding to read. I first read this about a year ago, and was completely engrossed; re-reading it, I'm almost laughing at the perfection of the prose. I haven't found a jarring note, a false sentiment, or a boring paragraph in it. But this is damning with faint praise; in fact, Crumley no more writes detective novels than Le Carre writes spy novels; they are both fantastic writers who have chosen tried-and-true plots to help you get to know their unforgettable characters.

These are not admirable people; not role models. But they are as real as fictional characters can be, and reaching the end of the book is like having someone you know closely die.

RIP, Mr. Crumley. Your work will outlive you for a long, long time.

Cool slice of the depravity that lurked in the 1970s - Plot Summary: Our hero is a messed up Vietnam vet who tends bar and holds the glorified title of detective when he's repossessing cars or hunting down runaways. C. W. Sughrue takes a job tracking down a somewhat famous author as he blazes a trail bar hopping all the way to California. Sughrue finds his man in a beer joint in Sonoma, but a slight accident waylays his charge, and the barkeep asks Sughrue to look for her missing daughter in the meantime. The trail is stone cold, but Sughrue takes pity on a mother's pain, and embarks on a wild quest.

In James Crumley's capable hands, the 1970s are so deliciously sleazy. This reads exactly like a pulp noir mystery set in the 40s, but without the rigid social conventions that were demolished in the subsequent decades. These characters run around like life is a never-ending bacchanalian orgy of booze, sex, and drugs. It kind of reminded me of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream that way. I wouldn't really call this one a thriller, because the action doesn't move at a frenetic pace, but the mystery is just strange enough to smack of real life.

This story is full of broken boozers, hippies after their heyday, and people who get played. Despite the easy stereotypes, no one is easy to pin down, least of all Sughrue. He has several despicable qualities, but his sense of honor saves him from coming across as a complete bastard. The founders of M.A.D.D. would have a heart attack following Sughrue as he drives around while chugging beers or nipping whiskey from a bottle. I lost track of how many women he slept with, and not once was there any mention of using protection. The guy was hitting the sauce and sleeping with anything that'd lay still long enough. *Gag* It's hard for me to fathom a time when people behaved with this kind of reckless freedom, and I suppose it dates the material and me along with it.

This mystery is tight, gritty, and it fires off like a rocket from the first chapter. Crumley is a bard for the toothless drunks perched on wobbly bar stools in the forgotten [bleep] holes of redneck America. In its own way, it's beautiful stuff. Even dirt is pretty when viewed under the right light, and this novel explores some dark and dirty secrets in a plot that is anything but simple.

Talented writer, but an overrated book - I read this book because I saw it on someone's list of greatest crime novels and because of the author's interesting background. And, I acknowledge that there are parts of the book where you can really see the author's great talent. I thought the scene where the PI visited the missing woman's father was brilliantly written. But, overall, I don't think the story has enough realism and too much of the book seemed to me like it must have been written while the author was drunk or under the influence of something. It just felt uneven and unbelievable to me. Maybe Trahearne in the book is what Crumley was in life.

Even so, I think I'll check out the author's other books to see if there's another one that sounds promising. The man had skills and maybe he was better able to harness it in another effort.

Excellent read!! - Our book club chose "The Last Good Kiss" as our book for the month of May and it was a hit across the board. With an ever-changing plot Crumley uses his talents to paint a vivid image of the wild series of events that compose this hard-boiled classic. We'll be exploring some of Crumley's other works in the months to come.

The ultimate mystery writer - James Crumley is the ultimate mystery writer. You won't find a better author. Enjoy all of his works, there won't be anymore. He's joined Robert B. Parker and others at the symposium in the sky.
Phoebe Bamaphd