RARA-AVIS: Shooters

Mark Sullivan (AnonymeInc@webtv.net)
Tue, 11 May 1999 19:23:55 -0400 (EDT) I just finished reading Shooters by Terrill Lankford. Several mentions
here made me curious (including Lankford's own story about a Hollywood
studio holding onto the book rights simply to keep it from competing
with their 8MM, which was a flop anyway). I must say I thoroughly
enjoyed it. The main character is a shit, albeit a likeable one. Like
many of Goodis's protagonists (I hesitate to say hero or anti-hero),
Nick Gardner is hiding from a secret in his past. Unlike the Goodis
characters, however, he is now living the high life, is actually more
successful than he had been. Unfortunately, it is this very living
large that exposes him to his past.

Nick has an interesting first-person voice. Lankford carries off a
delicate balancing act of making you like Nick even while recognizing
how ego-driven he is, root for him, even as you recognize how stupid he
is being, making things worse while trying to clear himself. Of course,
it helps that there are many characters far more despicable than Nick,
who mainly suffers from extreme selfishness.

Anyway, I highly recommend it.

Mark

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