Crime Always Pays

May 12, 2014
Burke’s zany sequel to 2007’s The Big O practically requires a scorecard to keep track of the characters, as thief Karen King; her Siberian wolf/husky mix, Anna; kidnapping specialist Ray Brogan; and a motley crew of misfits leave a trail of chaos and confusion from Ireland to the Greek Isles. Money is at issue, with Karen netting $200,000 from a scam in which her accomplice, Madge Dolan, pretends to be kidnapped. There’s not a blameless character in the crowd following the loot: Terry Swipes, who arranged the kidnapping and is now infatuated with Madge; Karen’s ex-husband, Francis Assissi “Rossi” Callaghan, who wants revenge on Anna for biting off his ear (he deserved it); Rossi’s narcoleptic getaway driver, Sleeps; travel agent/screenwriter Melody Shine; and Det. Stephanie Doyle, currently on suspension. Burke keeps adding more characters, making for a profusion of drugs, cops, grifters, guns, and shifting alliances that’s both baffling and entertaining. Agent: Allan Guthrie, Jenny Brown Associates.

June 15, 2014
Even though it's been six years since Burke published The Big O (2008), this manic sequel seems to begin five minutes after its predecessor's fade-out.OK, listen up. Ex-cosmetic surgeon Frank Dolan's plan to have his wife, Madge, kidnapped-a plan facilitated by obligingly feral criminal fixer Terry Swipes-has gone belly up. Madge's abduction by her best friend, Karen King, has morphed into a plan to fleece $200,000 from Karen's ex-husband, Rossi Callaghan, who's partnered with Sleeps, the aptly nicknamed narcoleptic getaway driver. This new, improved plan has claimed two casualties, neither of them Madge. Karen's pet wolf, Anna, has torn off Rossi's ear, and Madge has shot Ray Brogan, Karen's companion in crime, in the arm. And this is all before Page 1. Since Karen can hardly fly Anna to their rendezvous with Madge in the Greek islands, Ray, despite his broken arm, volunteers to drive her there over the Alps. And since a trip like that involves some capital expenses, they decide to amortize the costs by hauling a sealed package for Amsterdam coke dealer Johnny Priest. Travel agent Melody Shine, who's just gotten a $12,000 grant for a screenplay she has no intention of writing, helps make some of the travel arrangements and then decides to follow her clients to the islands. And suspended Detective Stephanie Doyle, getting wind of the exodus, feels this would be just the time to reconnect with Niko, the dicey Greek cop who served as her interpreter last time around. Burke's plot, if that's what you want to call it, sucks every character who walks by into a vortex of schemes, coincidences, double crosses, shifting alliances, and talk talk talk.Don't blink, or you'll miss the latest realignments among criminal conspirators so uniformly energetic and amoral that long before this installment is over, it's hard to tell them apart.

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