Point Doom

April 29, 2013
In this hard-edged he-man action novel from Fante (Mooch), one-time private eye James “JD” Fiorella, a 44-year-old alcoholic living with his mother in Point Dume in Malibu, Calif., crosses paths with a serial killer—a nemesis trained as a child in sadism by Nazis in the death camps, no less. Fante, the son of novelist John Fante, ambles quirkily toward the showdown with side trips to AA meetings and JD landing a job as a car salesman, plus a grotesque incidental highlight when the ex-PI steals a severed penis from a crime scene. Whiny and unlikable, JD is full of bluster. Of a thug who’s threatened his mother, he says, “I’ll kill his bodyguards and I’ll kill his dogs. I’ll kill everybody I see.” Yet somehow one suspects JD just might not be up to the task. Fans of regulation crime novels will likely find the action unfocused, even blurry, but readers on the lookout for the unusual have got their summer read. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management.

May 1, 2013
Fante's new revenge thriller revisits the dark mix of anger and alcoholism so prevalent in his well-received Bruno Dante series. JD Fiorella's last binge wrecked his life pretty thoroughly, but now, thanks to AA and his buddy Woody, he has a new job and is slowly paddling toward solvency. Unfortunately, those AA meetings haven't mellowed JD's anger, and a road-rage incident leads to the destruction of his newly ordered life. In rapid succession, his car is torched, and he's booted from the new job. Then he visits Woody's apartment and finds his friend murdered.JD is a loyal guy, and he uses his hunger for revenge and his wealth of PI experience (acquired before his bingeing days) to hunt the killer. Point Doom is all about suspense; JD's investigative experience is valuable, but his impulsiveness and anger regularly eliminate that advantage. Fante seasons the story with a steady flow of inventive violence, but, in the end, it's JD's self-sacrificing loyalty that will win over readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)