I got the final trade review of Fifty Grand this week from Bill Ott at Booklist. People have said nice very things about 50G in the trades and on various blogs (thank you again bloggers) but for some reason the book still isn't really taking off. The economy's tough out there and newspapers are cutting back on professional reviewers so I'm not entirely sure what I can do at this stage apart from - finally - letting everyone know that I am Fidel Castro's secret love child and getting a succes de scandale - but, you know, that's just not my style; so if anyone has any other PR ideas, I'd sure appreciate them. Anyway this is the link to the reviews on Amazon and here's Bill Ott's take below:Changing direction from his celebrated Forsythe trilogy, starring an Irish immigrant who runs afoul of the New York Mob, McKinty offers a hard-edged noir about a female police detective from Cuba who travels illegally to Fairview, Colorado, hoping to make sense of her father’s death in an apparent hit-and-run on a frozen mountain road. Beginning with a gripping set piece in which Detective Mercado, disguised as a man, smuggles herself across the Mexican border and into the U.S., the novel jumps between Mercado’s under-the-radar investigation (Why was her father, a celebrated Cuban defector, posing as a Mexican immigrant?) and flashbacks to her own life in Cuba before Dad abandoned the family. Posing as an illegal maid from Mexico, Mercado infiltrates a group of supercilious Hollywood types who may hold the answers, all the while constructing a macabre revenge plan. McKinty tightens the screws on his heroine effectively, forcing her into a classic noir conundrum from which there appears to be no escape. An impeccably constructed thriller supported by a cast of finely rounded, Elmore Leonard–like characters - Bill Ott
32 comments:
Congrats on the good reviews Adrian! I have to say, though, as much as I loved your story - great character development, great plot, great pace, really nice descriptions, as always, the audible book version that I got didn't have the greatest narrator.
I don't know her name. She has a gorgeous voice. But there were two things that stuck out for me while listening to 50G. The first was that she had a kind of lethargy when reading dialogue. She would read what Mercado said. Then there would be a huge pause when, say, Paco would respond. It did not feel natural. It stopped the flow, so to speak. It was distracting to the point where I had to stop listening at points.
The second was her way of reading male characters' voices. It's a tough thing for a member of the opposite gender to read for ... the opposite gender. I know this. I've heard plenty of male narrators screw up reading women characters. But her trying to toughen up her voice for your male characters made me think of the Simpsons cartoon characters. She went overboard just enough to detract.
Anyway, I plan on reading your books for real, and not let some stranger invade my ears with your stories. Someday.
I don't know if that answers anything on why no public stampede for your books though.
A macabre revenge plan. Nice. Looking forward to that, as Mercado hasn't really said what she's going to do to the killer yet.
She crossed the border disguised as a man?
Sheiler
No, actually the audio version has been doing quite well, its the print thats just lanquidly not moving at all. Dont really know why, although the economy is very sluggish. I suppose its just a grim time for everyone.
Liam
I still say that this book isnt really about revenge, its more about truth but thats just me.
Miss Witch
Yeah he did get that wrong, maybe mixed it up in his head with chapter 1 which when you read it, read as opposed to listen, gives you a fair amount of ambiguity as to gender.
Ha, ha!
Nice bit of photoshop there!
Ian
I dont have photoshop.
I'm not saying any pic manipulation was done, but if it was, it was on that Stone Age program Paintbox.
We kind of look similar though dont we?
you should have tried to pass yourself as Che's love child. Way cooler.
yeah but so obvious...
Talk about obvious. Depicting yourself next to the aged, ailing Castro is clearly an attempt to make yourself look very young. True, it works, but still--what a tactic.
Good review by Mr. Ott, but I still don't think he has quite captured what draws people to your books. I'm not sure it matters, though. Hardback fiction is just a tough sell right now unless you're already a brand name, or have some major media endorsement--and I'm not talking about the print media here, either. It's discouraging and inclines me toward the cynical, but I guess you've got to work with what is. I've sold a couple at the store so far, and hope to do better as summer hits, but I still don't feel like I've quite found the right pitch yet, and it's frustrating.
Seana
Oh well, I knew it was going to be a tough market in these times. I just dont think I anticipated how tough!
RE the Cleopatra thing. I hope it is her tomb and Antony's in there too. It would be pretty cool if that were the case. The find of the century probably.
The resemblance is undeniable.
By the way, that photo could have gained you a few more votes in the Sexiest Irish Crimewriter competition. You look much better than in the serial killer one or the sleepy bag-eyed hangover one.
Marco
I think thats the dust jacket photo. Its from April 08 on one of our last days in Denver. Sigh. Of course it was snowing. No sigh.
Squire, the reason for 'sluggish sales' is, I'd imagine, a lack of investment on your behalf by your publisher, very probably because they're wasting their advertising spend on some talentless, lowest-common-denominator hack. The public want what the public get, as the Jam once said.
Ever wonder if you're writing just too well to be likely to ever make a living at it?
Cheers, Dec
Adrian,
Great review! And your latest revelation puts Mercado's daddy issues in a whole new light.
Here's what you need to do. Photoshop a copy of the book into Michelle Obama's hands and then blast it around the internet. True, she will not be best pleased when she finds out about it, but too late! The book will already have been picked up by the bushelload and the Oprah book club selection already scheduled.
Hey, it's the kind of marketing that's working for Netherland, though presumably more honestly, which I liked but didn't love.
Oh Dec you know the way to a lad's heart. However as to your wider point, you know I couldnt possibly comment...
Seana
Michelle Obama? Here's my six degrees of sep. Michelle and Oprah big pals. Greg Love's book in Oprah's hands. Me and Greg = simpatico. I'm riding Greg's train to the White House!
Did I thank you for your review on Good Reads BTW? I just went over there and saw some nice reviews from you and Mike. I appreciate it.
Brian
Exactly. That was all part of my masterplan. The book is really an allegory for my own complicated life.
This is everyone: I was going to post something light and fun today but I am in a foul mood. Some sack of shit stole my bicycle last night and I'm going to go to all the thrift and bike stores in Melbourne today to see if I can track it/the thief down.
Voy a matarle, asshole!
That sucks. Good luck. But please don't kill anyone. As friends on occasion have had to remind me, prison is not a fun place to be. Also, neither Oprah or Michelle are going to be down with that. Don't ask me how I know. I just have a feeling.
Seana
Fortunately I didnt find him. Because there would have been trouble.
Nice bit on the Atlantic article but I still feel I dont have anything I can actually use to promote my happiness or mortality apart from not, driving in an open top car through Dallas while President, like one poor unfortunate in the study. Course if you read James Ellroy it was all an inside job and they would have got him anyway.
Well, I'm glad. I don't know if all places are rife with bike theft, but Santa Cruz certainly is. Also random acts of bike vandalism. One of my friends lost a bike that she was particularly attached to, only to discover it parked downtown a few weeks later in front of a local coffeeshop. With a lock on it! So she called the police and they came and said what do you want to do, confront the person? She thought about it and then said, no, I just want my bike. Luckily she had filed a police report so they didn't just have to take her word for it. So they cut the lock and off she went, which seemed like a good tit for tat trick. Presumably the police hung around for a bit, though.
As for happiness, yes, there were some more practical things that predicted a 'happy-well' old age. Vaillant placed a lot of stress on mature and immature adaptations, meaning to him unconscious defense mechanisms--the more mature your adaptations are, the more chance of happiness. Killing the person who stole your bike would be an example of...well, I'll leave you to figure out where that fits in the hierarchy of 'psychotic, immature, neurotic or mature' adaptations. Good news is that people's adaptations tend to mature with age too.
The other predictive factors of healthy aging were education, stable marriage, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, some exercise, and healthy weight. If you had five or more of the factors, you had a great shot at ending up 'healthy-well' at 80, but if you had three or less of the predictive factors, you were three times as likely to be dead.
I have to say that I wondered from the beginning of the article whether women's happiness can be deduced from a study of male students of Harvard. Although the health factors are bound to be much the same, and are hardly surprising.
By the way, if you email me a mailing address, I will send you that galley of Blood's a Rover if you haven't finagled one already. I think I can probably snag another, and in any case I will have access come September.
Lest anyone else is consumed by envy, I'll just say that my interest in Ellroy is largely based on Adrian's posts here earlier, although Stuart Neville's review over on CSNI does up the ante a little.
Tempted to ask you to send Arwynn in exchange, because I could use someone to do some light dusting and we would have many noteworthy talks about Roald Dahl, but I think eventually you would come to see that offer as rash. Tucking a galley in every night just isn't quite the same.
Just bought the book and read it in a day. It was a great read, a thriller with real insight and literary quality. I've bought another for a friend, so that's two sold.
Great work, keep it up. Will spread the word.
Anon
Thats great!
Although I'm a little suspicious that you could be my wife, mum or mother in law.
Thanks Adrain! The audio book fueled several new paintings and was over way too soon. Liked the locales -- a remote Colorado ski town couldn't be further from Havana. Was hoping Tom Cruise was more involved but then again, you probably don't want to piss off the Scientologists!
By the way, have you read Martin Cruz Smith's Cuba thriller "Havana Bay"? Also brings Cuba vividly to life.
Adam
Glad you liked it!
Nope havent read HB? The guy who did Gorky Park, right? That was a terrific book so if its half as good as that, I'll get it. Or listen to it.
Yes, MCS wrote Gorky Park which was the first of the excellent Arkady Renko series. Worth reading them in order. Wolves Eat Dogs stands out in the series -- takes place in Prypiat, near Chernobyl after the melt-down.
PS My review is the first one on the Audible page for 50G.
Don't get those weenies who can't handle the "f words".
Adam
Thanks for the review man. Thats pretty cool.
Ha, yeah, I dont get that anti swearing lobby at all. Its a good job they didnt read DIWMB, someone counted 35 'fucks' on one page there once. They should probably avoid Irvine Welch too.
Wolves Eat Dogs sounds like its going to be my next audiobook.
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