East on Sunset
Ken Mercer
book reviews:
· general fiction
· chick lit/romance
· sci-fi/fantasy
· graphic novels
· nonfiction
· audio books

Click here for the curledup.com RSS Feed

· author interviews
· children's books @
   curledupkids.com
· DVD reviews @
   curledupdvd.com

newsletter
win books
buy online
links

home

for authors
& publishers


for reviewers

click here to learn more




Buy *East on Sunset* by Ken Mercer online

East on Sunset
Ken Mercer
Minotaur Books
Hardcover
352 pages
June 2011
rated 3 1/2 of 5 possible stars

buy this book now or browse millions of other great products at amazon.com
previous reviewnext review

The wreckage of the past has caught up with Will Magowan in Mercer’s tale of good guys versus bad guys. A former undercover narcotics detective who sampled too much product and was eventually terminated by the LAPD, Will has cajoled his way into a job in security at LA’s Dodger Stadium - but on probation with a reluctant boss who suspects his new hire’s lack of commitment. When drug dealer Erik Crandall approaches Will, the former undercover narc can barely recognize the steroid-enhanced giant demanding $500,000 restitution for drugs Crandall insists Will stole before his trial. His final days on the force still a hazy memory, Will is certain he never touched the evidence on the major bust.

Erik has spent the years of his incarceration anticipating this moment, determined to make Will cough up the ill-gotten bounty one way or another. This is the crux of Mercer’s novel, although the resolution of the issue is a long slog that is obvious to everyone but Will (even the reader). His young son’s death tipped Magowan into the neverland of oblivion through substance abuse. Now his wife, Laurie, is pregnant again, and Will refuses to be intimidated by the threatening bulk of Erik Crandall, his menace enhanced by the colorful, life-sized eyes tattooed on the back of his bald pate.

When Crandall intrudes into the sanctity of Magowan’s home, the former cop’s calls for help from law enforcement fall on deaf ears, the department burned by Will’s unsavory past and Crandall’s savvy in making threats without leaving a scrap of physical evidence. Will is forced to get creative, opening the door to the past and releasing a Pandora’s box of other possibilities and a betrayal that may threaten Will and Laurie’s carefully constructed new life with soon-to-be-child. It’s a simple enough dynamic - good versus evil - but Crandall is almost too physically bizarre not to stand out as a suspicious character on the streets of LA. It’s hard to imagine that a bulked out, ‘roid raged monster with eyes on the back of his head wouldn’t raise a few eyebrows, even on the West Coast.

Once Crandall unleashes his temper, the violence predictably accelerates. Meanwhile, Will’s wife naively expects him to choose between her and the gun he purchases, a bit incongruous considering the threat level to her own well-being. But that is the nature of Mercer’s story: incongruities and disproportionate situations, bystanders apparently oblivious to the ongoing mayhem. Still, the plot moves along, though the problem of the missing money is a little too easily resolved, Will redeeming himself in a blaze of courage, the ugly truth of a sordid past revealed. Mildly entertaining and often outrageous, East on Sunset is a witty take on the absurdities of crime and punishment in LA.



Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Luan Gaines, 2011

Also by Ken Mercer:

buy *East on Sunset* online
click here for more info
Click here to learn more about this month's sponsor!


fiction · sf/f · comic books · nonfiction · audio
newsletter · free book contest · buy books online
review index · links · · authors & publishers
reviewers

site by ELBO Computing Resources, Inc.