Thanks to an entry in Bill Crider's blog, I found out that
Victor Gischler was giving away copies of his books to the
first few people who wrote saying they'd never read anything
by him. I was a lucky winner of the novel of my choice, and
on the author's recommendation, I picked The Pistol Poets.
Favourable comments in the Rara-Avis archives also helped
sway me.
I think it was Miker who likened this book to Carl Hiaassen
without the tree hugging. I happen to like Carl Hiaassen, at
least in intermittent doses, and I liked this book. A lot
happens very fast and some of it is very funny.
After being involved in killing a student during a robbery, a
petty criminal seizes the victim's bus ticket and ID. They're
both black and look kind of alike, so off he goes to study
for a master's in poetry at an Oklahoma university. Talk
about culture shock. He absconds with his boss's huge stash
of coke, which he plans to sell to a dealer, if he can find
one.
Meanwhile at the university, young woman dies, apparently of
a drug overdose, in an instructor's bed. Rather than call an
ambulance or the police, he buries her.
Things get pretty wild and drugs are the connection. There
are some interesting characters, including a mysterious old
man who wants a poetry tutor and insists on burying the dead
woman, and a prof on sabbatical who's actually living in a
campus building.
It was a good, fast read and I'll be putting his others, Gun
Monkeys and Suicide Squeeze, on the library suggestion
list.
Karin
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