Steel Away

Because he pitches his work into the comic-noir end of the genre pool, Philadelphia-based Watts (Cons) has been compared to the likes of Elmore Leonard. But perhaps the truer match-up would be with Chicago's Eugene Izzi, since both men write fairly uncompromising crime works and both are adept at getting deep inside the psyches of their criminal characters. Watts has a sure ear for skewered humor and weirdly angled dialogue. Here, his plot is simple enough. Sexy Philadelphia real estate agent Pam wants to get rid of her boozy, cheating dentist hubby, Jerry. Jerry is tight with his receptionist, Carmela, who isn't as Latina or as stupid as Jerry thinks. Carmela brings her lowlife boyfriend, Jesus, in to help shake down Jerry. Randall is a likable thief hired by Pam to off the hapless Jerry. The catch is that Randall, though a criminal, is probably not a killer. He's willing to sleep with Pam but would be happier sleeping with Karen, the nurse caring for Jerry's rich father, who is dying, and whose elderly wife isn't anywhere near as senile as Pam would like to think. It's all fairly comic, until Jesus abruptly graduates from mean and cowardly to mean and violent. While Jerry is relentlessly, one-dimensionally thick, the rest of the cast is allowed to spring the occasional surprise. Randall is the best, the most enigmatic and the most engaging member of the venal lot. He gets the lion's share of the funny lines and, by the end, proves himself to be the sneakiest and most resourceful. (Nov.)