Is Fat Bob Dead Yet?

Starred review from July 27, 2015
Gold Dagger Award–finalist Dobyns’s genius for dark comedy makes this intricate crime novel a triumph that will appeal to Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen fans. An arch, omniscient narrative voice draws you in, setting the stage for a grim death in New London, Conn. A dump truck backs onto the street just as a motorcycle rider passes by, cutting him in half. The identity of the victim and whether the incident was an accident are initially mysteries. The tragedy allows gradual introductions of an eccentric but plausible cast of characters, starting with Connor Raposo, a visitor from San Diego, Calif., who witnesses the accident. Others include police partners who have an antagonistic relationship and a group of con artists who bilk the gullible by soliciting charitable donations for organizations such as the Holy Sisters of the Blessed Little Feet and Free Beagles from Nicotine Addiction. Dobyns (The Burn Palace) skillfully interweaves the various plot threads, such as the picaresque exploits of a homeless man named Fidget and threats to a resident suspected of being a federally protected witness. Frequent instances of wry humor and direct addresses to the reader are a plus. Agent: Phyllis Westberg, Harold Ober Associates.

July 1, 2015
Another darkly comic whodunit from veteran novelist Dobyns (The Burn Palace, 2013, etc.). First O.J., now Connor Raposo: Bruno Magli needs a better product-placement company. Connor is on his way to pick up a pair of the luxurious slip-ons from a New London cobbler's shop when he happens on a grisly sight: a motorcycle has collided with a dump truck, never a good thing. "The rider has been ripped in two so his bloody torso lies in the street, while under the truck at the end of a red smear, are the legs, one with a boot, one not." And then there's the head-or rather, there's not the head, which has gone missing. Yuck. Poor Fat Bob-for so poor Roberto Rossi is known. Except is it really Fat Bob, who owes the wrong people money and knows too much about the wrong things, who's the headless Harley horseman in question? Connor's got his hands full with that question. Two New London detectives are working on it as well, and given that two bodies can't occupy the same space, well....Dobyns writes with a nicely offhand goofiness: when a chopper mechanic asks the detectives whether Fat Bob is really dead, one replies, "I didn't check his pulse, but he was in two pieces." Yup. Adding to the grimly funny proceedings is Connor's back story, which finds an out-of-work schoolteacher mixed up in mischief to the point that "the line between legal and illegal wasn't so much crossed as crushed." Connor's a good guy, as are most of the folks we encounter in this good-natured, forgiving look at human foibles. As one of Connor's pals observes, all of us are just waiting for the flowerpot to come dropping down from the terrace above and take us out-and the bikers, detectives, sexpots, mobsters, and other assorted figures in the book are all, as Connor knows, "flowerpots waiting to happen." Fat Bob is, too. And where did that head go, anyway? A lively, laugh-out-loud winner.

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August 1, 2015

In New London, CT, Connor Raposo, a recent transplant to the small town, is picking up a pair of shoes from the cobbler when he hears a crash. Out in the street, a dump truck has backed over a rider on a Harley Davidson, and the scene is gruesome. Eccentric characters are brought together by this accident, including Sal Nicoletti, a mysterious man with Elvis hair whom Connor meets at the scene; Manny Streeter and Benny Vikstrom, local detectives who decide it was no accident but who would solve the crime faster if they weren't trying to drive each other crazy; Didi, Eartha, and Vaughan, Connor's associates in a money-making scheme raising funds for beagles addicted to cigarettes; and the not-dead-yet gambler Fat Bob, so-called for his love of the Harley model known as the Fat Bob. What begins as disparate threads ends up as a tangled web of double-crossing and deception, catching the hapless Connor in the middle. VERDICT The latest offering from veteran novelist and poet Dobyns (The Burn Palace) delights with quirky characters, absurd situations, language play, and keen insights. Recommended for those who enjoy dark humor and complicated plots in their mysteries. [See Prepub Alert, 3/30/15.]--Nancy H. Fontaine, Norwich P.L., VT

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2015
Award-winning poet Dobyns also writes literary thrillers and the beloved Charlie Bradshaw comic mysteries. Here he melds the two in an uproariously entertaining comic thriller that evokes Elmore Leonard and Donald E. Westlake but adds several layers of absurdity and a narrative voice that suggests metafiction meets a Greek chorus meets Jane Austen. Now that's special! First the title: a Fat Bob is a kind of motorcycle, and in this tale, a portly gambler named Bob happens to own several of them. One of his enemies decides to kill Fat Bob (the guy not the bike) while he's riding his Fat Bob, but Fat Bob happens to loan that particular Fat Bob to another guy on the fateful day, resulting in the wrong guy getting killed. This mishap kick-starts a Marx Brotherslike comedy of errors in which reluctant scam artist Connorpassing by when Fat Bob's Fat Bob gets crushedfinds himself trapped, threatening the racket his gang of lovable wackos has devised: phone solicitations for such dubious causes as Free Beagles from Nicotine Addiction, Inc. So where does Jane Austen come in? In classic Dear Reader, fashion, Dobyns interrupts the goings-on for authorial commentary ( Surely the god of capriciousness and whimsy looks down from a cloud and rubs its paws ). Readers willing to loosen the reins of realism will be rubbing their paws, too, eagerly anticipating the next mention of Fat Bob's Fat Bob. Yes, it's absurd; yes, it's outrageous; but here's the thing: somehow, amid all the craziness, there's a beating heart, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)