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A review by bract4813mypacksnet
The One That Got Away by Joe Clifford
5.0
The One That Got Away
Joe Clifford
Down & Out Books (July 1, 2018)
https://downandoutbooks.com
13-digit ISBN number 978-1948235426
$17.95
Suanne Schafer
[email protected]
SuanneSchaferAuthor.com
I chose to read this book because I have read everything else Joe Clifford has written. Best known for his Jay Porter series, Clifford writes what can only be called elegant noir. I always highlight multiple lines that are “zingers” for their fresh turns-of-phrase.
The One That Got Away is set in Upstate New York, and having spent many years visiting my in-laws in Little Falls, I know the area well and can guarantee that Clifford fully captures the bleak ambiance of the little towns in the area, dying on the vine because factories closed years ago. This line proves it: “…there’s nowhere like Upstate New York. It’s a dirty, ugly place that’s never possessed the hope to lose.”
Better yet are his characters. Told from the points of view of Alex Salerno (a thirty-ish young woman, who’s an anti-hero, a complex character, strong, intelligent, yet ultimately self-destructive) and Benny Brudzinski (a man with degenerative neurological deficits that cause him to be intellectually challenged). Alex returns to Reine, NY, to look into the death of Kira Shanks, a young woman who disappears twelve years after Alex’s own kidnapping at the age of seventeen.
Clifford uses Benny’s chapters to reveal the pathos of a man “locked” into himself, incapable of verbal communication beyond a few grunts, but whose brain clearly continues to function. Though I found the thought patterns and vocabulary to be inconsistent with the supposed degree of Benny’s retardation, these chapters are poignant and elegant. Though he is featured in fewer chapters than Alex, Benny is the axis around which this mystery revolves. It is particularly appealing that the twist is revealed in Benny’s POV.
If you like mysteries with a clear-cut ending, you will be disappointed, but I loved the ambiguity of Clifford’s ending.
Joe Clifford
Down & Out Books (July 1, 2018)
https://downandoutbooks.com
13-digit ISBN number 978-1948235426
$17.95
Suanne Schafer
[email protected]
SuanneSchaferAuthor.com
I chose to read this book because I have read everything else Joe Clifford has written. Best known for his Jay Porter series, Clifford writes what can only be called elegant noir. I always highlight multiple lines that are “zingers” for their fresh turns-of-phrase.
The One That Got Away is set in Upstate New York, and having spent many years visiting my in-laws in Little Falls, I know the area well and can guarantee that Clifford fully captures the bleak ambiance of the little towns in the area, dying on the vine because factories closed years ago. This line proves it: “…there’s nowhere like Upstate New York. It’s a dirty, ugly place that’s never possessed the hope to lose.”
Better yet are his characters. Told from the points of view of Alex Salerno (a thirty-ish young woman, who’s an anti-hero, a complex character, strong, intelligent, yet ultimately self-destructive) and Benny Brudzinski (a man with degenerative neurological deficits that cause him to be intellectually challenged). Alex returns to Reine, NY, to look into the death of Kira Shanks, a young woman who disappears twelve years after Alex’s own kidnapping at the age of seventeen.
Clifford uses Benny’s chapters to reveal the pathos of a man “locked” into himself, incapable of verbal communication beyond a few grunts, but whose brain clearly continues to function. Though I found the thought patterns and vocabulary to be inconsistent with the supposed degree of Benny’s retardation, these chapters are poignant and elegant. Though he is featured in fewer chapters than Alex, Benny is the axis around which this mystery revolves. It is particularly appealing that the twist is revealed in Benny’s POV.
If you like mysteries with a clear-cut ending, you will be disappointed, but I loved the ambiguity of Clifford’s ending.