From the National Book Award–winning, bestselling author of Tree of Smoke comes a provocative thriller set in the American West. Nobody Move, which first appeared in the pages of Playboy, is the story of an assortment of lowlifes in Bakersfield, California, and their cat-and-mouse game over $2.3 million. Touched by echoes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Nobody Move is at once an homage to and a variation on literary form. It salutes one of our most enduring and popular genres—the American crime novel—but with a grisly humor and outrageousness that are Denis Johnson’s own. Sexy, suspenseful, and above all entertaining, Nobody Move shows one of our greatest novelists at his versatile best.
Those familiar with Denis Johnson's writing know that he's edgy, off-the-wall, and thoroughly entertaining. If you haven't read or heard Johnson vocally performed yet, you're in for a treat with Nobody Move - a double treat as it's read by Obie Award winning actor Will Patton.
Patton's recent big screen work includes A Mighty Heart with Angelina Jolie, and has narrated audio books by the best - Charles Frazier, Larry McMurtry, Don DeLillo, and Ernest Hemingway. The Washing Post said of this narration, "This is the very talented Will Patton's greatest performance as a reader so far." I'll second that.
Pattonis such a fine actor that he becomes our hero - no, wrong word Jimmy Luntz is certainly not a hero. He's usually down on his luck for good reason, one of them gambling. It looks like whatever tad of luck he had left is about to run out when he's caught in Bakersfield, California by a thug who has orders to collect money due or do some physical damage. Jimmy wiggles out of this by shooting his nemesis, and runs - fast.
Along the way he meets Anita, a gal who has trouble with the bottle, and is trying to divest her husband of a million or so after said spouse and a crooked judge have set her up. What a pair they make, and what a story Johnson has woven as the two carouse and cruise trying to keep themselves alive.
Nobody Move is solid, entertaining, and satisfying crime noir/pulp fiction. There are no frills, no psychological undertones or explanations for characters' actions - just violence, greed, revenge, murder and some good, quirky humor.
Jimmy Luntz, member of a barbershop chorus, fretfully climbs into Gambol's car one evening and tries to talk his way out of some serious physical damage. Gambol is one tough hombre and has tracked down Luntz to collect gambling debts either in money or flesh. Jimmy narrowly escapes, goes on the run, hooks up with lovely, alcoholic Anita, and falls into an even bigger mess. Anita is living life at the bottom of a bottle and has visions of revenge against her slimy ex-husband and an elderly judge, both of whom framed her for a $2.3 million theft. Anita sees a not-so-polished knight in shining armor in Luntz and latches on to him to help her with her scheme. Add a couple of in-hiding, bar and inn owning criminals, a few firearms, a lot of booze, an aging but still sexy veteran Army nurse, a mysteriously disfigured tall man, and Juarez, the ticked-off tough guy who wants his money from Luntz, and you have yourself a darned entertaining novel.
There isn't a great deal in this novel that's new. This is standard crime fiction, but what makes it great are the snappy dialogue and the "oh, that didn't just happen" situations. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this, and Patton's narration makes this audiobook pop out of the speakers. Quite a good job all the way around.
This is a tough one to rate. Its kinda like being asked what did you think of that snickers bar. Well, it was a snickers bar, what more can I say? And Nobody Move, it's an American crime novel. True, the author, Denis Johnson, a National Book Award winner who wrote the wonderful Tree of Smoke (and thereby created one of the great characters in literature, Colonel Sands) is clearly slumming here--Nobody Moves was originally published in Playboy, fer cryin' out loud. Yeah, he's doing it for the dough, but, so what, this ain't a filet mignon, it's a snickers bar. And it tastes just right: lots of snappy dialogue, creepy characters and rat-a-tat-tat action. Oh, and the narrator, Will Patton, he's aces. He's great at inflecting his voice for each character without overdoing it. He does policemen . . . and fly-blown barkeeps . . . and hefty blondes . . . and real cool killers. Come to think of it, I'd listen to him read off the ingredients to a snickers bar. All in all, an entertaining way to pass the time of day while stuck in traffic.
