Straight to the Head

April 25, 2016
Nixon (The Man Who Killed) takes readers back to 1983, when Vancouver, B.C., was a city in flux, with Expo ’86 and its international attention looming. Among the New Wave art galleries and high-end sushi bars, two corrupt cops hunt for Irina Lermontova, who vanished carrying a shipment of cocaine and $300,000. But the cops aren’t the only ones searching for Irina; an American hit man has been brought in to “fix” the situation and deal with those involved. Caught in the middle of this whirlwind are Irina’s estranged husband, Ted, and her landlady, Dorothy Kwan. This neon noir plants its feet firmly in traditional noir aesthetics, right down to the insistent sexualization of “bad” women, aggressive hypermasculinity, and even a Chekhov’s gun. The ’80s West Coast setting helps the book stand out from other noir titles, but time and place details are sometimes shoehorned into conversations in heavy-handed, inorganic ways. More aggravating is the novel’s depiction of intimacy, with erotic moments written in an over-the-top manner that is unintentionally hilarious. The ending, too, disappoints, as the narrative seems to run out of gas five steps from the finish line. Overall, this is an exciting setup marred by lackluster characters and plotting.