The Missing Link: A Gil Yates Private Investigator Novel

Boyle's rookie novel is inventive, quirky and utterly implausible from start to finish. Humble L.A. realtor Malvin Stark reinvents himself one day as ace sleuth Gil Yates. Soon he's looking for an arms dealer's missing daughter, who holds a large chunk of the dealer's cash in trust, and getting himself romantically involved with the dealer's ex-wife, who waits tables in a diner. Gil has no phone, no office, no business cards. He doesn't drink, has two kids that he likes and a pushy wife and pushy father-in-law/boss whom he pretty much hates. Salvation comes through his Mitty-esque new life and his unusual hobby: cultivating palm trees. Boyle is a transplanted Brit whose narrative voice tends to wobble, drawing from both sides of the pond. His main character isn't believable for a split second, and his notions of crime plotting are absurd-but charm oozes from his pages, with Gil passing up the big bucks in deference to his heart's allegiance. It's hard not to pull for the guy, especially when considering the family he's saddled with. (Jan.)