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articulatemadness's review
5.0
Harry Kenmare, PI At Your Service has not only earned A.B. Patterson the coveted title of being The OG Bad Boy Of Australian Crime Fiction, but he also has the distinction of Harry Kenmare being the first Pussy Detective on record.
True to the genre, Harry Kenmare is a washed up former cop turned alcoholic Private Investigator down on his luck and his best friend a bottle of his favorite liquor. At Your Service takes us through seven of his cases that not only shows us how Kenmare desperately picks up his varying work details (mostly with folks that can afford to pay him and then don't clue him in without sharing all the details) but also the vices that have him wallowing in the bottom of the bottle and bathing in the gutter with the lowest common denominators. He's a man's man that no longer exists or isn't supposed to - he reeks with masculinity, and he's mean, angry, pissed off, set up, drunk and can't seem to put the bottle or the bitches down because he's about that life. For that alone I love it. It's very rare in this day and age to find a strong heterosexual Private Investigator that has chutzpah.
What sets Kenmare apart from other PI detective stories is the fact he's raunchy, X-Rated, unapologetic, live, and most definitely politically uncensored. He'll sleep with a prostitute and may even consider not using a rubber depending on how many track marks he can count on her arm. He'll take a uptight uptown gig from a rich prick drowning in political corruption as long as his expenses are paid and he can shag the lead female in the case. The man makes it plain from case number one he has no loyalty to no one, not even himself, and he's comfortable about it since Australia for the most part has beat the hell out of him so badly he doesn't care anymore. It's just a job. Another crummy day on the job with the boot of Australia's bad policies and politics affecting his next bottle of booze and his next client. A shit, no good, terrible ass day with bootleg Mad Max type biker boys pissing all over him (literally). Honestly, all of the above tend to get him in deeper with these cases than I think he wants to go but the liquor and the cheap pieces of ass make it tolerable.
It's a delicious, raw, and often comical read. Almost makes you feel dirty being a voyeur in need of a bath to how messed up this man's life goes on a regular basis. The only thing people might not like reading it is the Aussie slang. It does take a minute to figure out a few words here and there but it won't take away from the case files.
Read this book. A.B. Patterson is changing the game and bringing the old school P.I. into the 21st Century in a reality that is more akin to real life and not Hollywood fantasy.
True to the genre, Harry Kenmare is a washed up former cop turned alcoholic Private Investigator down on his luck and his best friend a bottle of his favorite liquor. At Your Service takes us through seven of his cases that not only shows us how Kenmare desperately picks up his varying work details (mostly with folks that can afford to pay him and then don't clue him in without sharing all the details) but also the vices that have him wallowing in the bottom of the bottle and bathing in the gutter with the lowest common denominators. He's a man's man that no longer exists or isn't supposed to - he reeks with masculinity, and he's mean, angry, pissed off, set up, drunk and can't seem to put the bottle or the bitches down because he's about that life. For that alone I love it. It's very rare in this day and age to find a strong heterosexual Private Investigator that has chutzpah.
What sets Kenmare apart from other PI detective stories is the fact he's raunchy, X-Rated, unapologetic, live, and most definitely politically uncensored. He'll sleep with a prostitute and may even consider not using a rubber depending on how many track marks he can count on her arm. He'll take a uptight uptown gig from a rich prick drowning in political corruption as long as his expenses are paid and he can shag the lead female in the case. The man makes it plain from case number one he has no loyalty to no one, not even himself, and he's comfortable about it since Australia for the most part has beat the hell out of him so badly he doesn't care anymore. It's just a job. Another crummy day on the job with the boot of Australia's bad policies and politics affecting his next bottle of booze and his next client. A shit, no good, terrible ass day with bootleg Mad Max type biker boys pissing all over him (literally). Honestly, all of the above tend to get him in deeper with these cases than I think he wants to go but the liquor and the cheap pieces of ass make it tolerable.
It's a delicious, raw, and often comical read. Almost makes you feel dirty being a voyeur in need of a bath to how messed up this man's life goes on a regular basis. The only thing people might not like reading it is the Aussie slang. It does take a minute to figure out a few words here and there but it won't take away from the case files.
Read this book. A.B. Patterson is changing the game and bringing the old school P.I. into the 21st Century in a reality that is more akin to real life and not Hollywood fantasy.
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