Speed of Life

Fans of gratuitous violence with occasional discussions of contemporary music and drugs may like Pate’s crime novel. It’s a hot summer night in Memphis, 1978, when rock singer Oscar hears that his ex-bandmate Tommy has OD’d on heroin in a hotel room in Tucson, Ariz. But Oscar isn’t buying it, and, with the aid of his cousin Juanita, sets out to discover what really happened. Tommy had been part of a botched attempt to blackmail a Memphis politician, along with Liz, a hired gun, and her henchman, Horace. Liz and Horace, who know what led to Tommy’s death, try to stop Oscar and Juanita from learning the truth. After assorted extreme mayhem is visited upon various people for various reasons, Oscar and Juanita flee to an unconvincing dystopian version of New York City, with Liz and Horace in hot pursuit. More violence ensues, with random strangers shooting and getting shot. Pate, the author of the prose poem The Fassbinder Diaries, writes well enough, but this noir exercise adds nothing new to the subgenre. (June)