A Man Named Doll

February 19, 2021

Happy Doll, known as Hank, is a PI and former LAPD cop who moonlights as security for the women who work at the Thai Miracle Spa. He considers himself nuts and tries to maintain his equilibrium by self-medicating, but things get nuttier when a friend who once saved his life, Lou Shelton, asks him for a kidney. Hank is understandably reluctant until an incident at the spa causes him to reconsider. A woman who works there is assaulted by a hulking customer high on meth; the man attacks Hank with a knife, and Hank is forced to kill him. Hank's injured, and Lou's a dying man by the time he reaches Hank again. He's been shot, and leaves Hank with a stolen diamond. Hank only makes things worse by taking drugs on top of painkillers before trailing after the gunman who shot Lou. Before a resolution, Hank and his bartender friend Monica are kidnapped to use their bodies for organ donations; Hank's beloved dog is poisoned; and Hank has screwed up everything. VERDICT The latest by Ames (You Were Never Really Here), creator of the television shows Bored to Death and Blunt Talk, is recommended only for those who want to read a dark novel featuring the adventures of a messed-up PI, high on drugs, who endangers himself with every stupid action.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

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March 15, 2021
After only a few pages of this extraordinary thriller, the reader senses a strong, original talent at work. The frame story is conventional: in a gone-to-seed Los Angeles, a PI, ex-cop, and ex-MP wonders if his choice of this sordid line of work comes from a ""need to be punished."" His name, Happy Doll, seems too cute by half, but then the story takes hold, all spare, steely sentences with an unadorned forward momentum. An old man, a former fellow cop who once took a bullet for Happy, shows up asking about Happy's blood type. He needs a new lung. The plot unveils itself: it's about black-market transplants, which are pricey: $200,000 per lung, $750,000 for a heart. Meanwhile, Happy has his hands full at his night job, protecting the women at a Thai spa whose customers demand special services. Moving from a stunningly written scene at the spa to a finale in which Happy is kidnapped by organ harvesters, Ames delivers an old-school L.A. crime novel that evokes Chandler with maybe an aftertaste of Bukowski. Readers expecting action won't be let down, and the sparkling yet unpretentious language gives the whole an extra kick. Recommend to noir fans, action fans, anyone who likes a good read.

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