so I had been happily reading a few chapters of Ken Bruen's
The Guards every evening before turning in, enjoying the
man's liquid prose style, when I made the big mistake of
cracking open Terrill Lankford's Blonde Lightning and
proceeded to lose two work days
I'm not necessarily a slow reader and Terrill's text goes
down easy. but I kept finding myself re-reading so I could
hear William Holden's voice in my head narrating it to me.
because Blonde Lightning is a crime story in the same way
that Sunset Blvd is. not a mystery per se, more of a very
dark drama about the desperate individuals who are attracted
to Hollywood like mayflies to a buglamp
with similar results
I have to cop to the fact that Sunset Blvd is my favorite
movie of all time and I identify with Joe Gillis the washed
up screenwriter/gigolo to a pathetic degree. heck, the look
in Ben Affleck's eye before he blows his brains out in
Hollywoodland still haunts me months later. it's my default
expression
similarly, I find myself looking in a mirror as exiled
development exec Mark Hayes clings to his sad little dream of
making movies and haunts many of the same places I've found
myself in late at night
Blonde Lightning not only nails the personalities of those
occupying the various social strata in our increasingly
dysfunctional business, it also features a journalistic play
by play of how a small, independent film is made, and the
things that can go wrong. if you've ever been there, you
can't help but nod your head and laugh
and yet, the book is not the typical screed most Hollywood
novels are. it's a riveting thriller, it is emotionally
satisfying in a way that good drama is, and the plot is as
tight as the jeans I used to wear back in the 70s. the
depiction of Mexico as the end of the road is as vivid as
Kent Harrington's Tijuana in Dios De Las Muertos. you can
smell the dogshit baking in the sun. and finally, the
denouement proves that you don't have to be dead, maimed or
in jail at the end to be noir either
sometimes getting what you want qualifies as well
so, thank you Terrill for getting it right
I still haven't finished reading The Guards
John Lau
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