Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout

 

(pb;1940: seventh book in the forty-six book Nero Wolfe series)

 

From the Amazon site description

 

“Over My Dead Body. . . first appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine. By the time it was published, the Wolfe/Goodwin books had become an established series but Wolfe's background had never been explored. Here Stout starts to do clarify Wolfe’s youth by bringing in in a number of characters, including some from Montenegro.

“Carla Lovchen and Neya Tormic, two young women from Montenegro, come to Wolfe's office asking for help. Miss Tormic has been accused of a theft of diamonds from the locker room where she works. She claims the accusation to be false and cannot afford to pay Wolfe’s fee, but she has a document that shows Wolfe adopted her when she was an infant. Although he has never seen her since, Wolfe agrees to undertake the investigation. As Archie is dispatched to investigate, murder is discovered. In the end Wolfe gets the main characters together in his office and, in the manner typical of the series, he will expose the murderer and the motive.”

 

Review

As mentioned in the above description, Over expands on what has been previously revealed about the titular character’s past. Not only that, there’s a strong pre-WWII outbreak/political intrigue aspect which darkly underscores certain character motivations, murders and elements present within Over’s series-continuing storyline. Its middle section, as is Stout’s wont, is a bit chatty, but it—like much of Over—is mostly entertaining, often humorous, erudite (Wolfe) and sarcastic (Goodwin), or (in a word) worthwhile. Another great entry in the Wolfe series, it’s followed by Where There’s a Will.

Escape from New York: Volume Three by Christopher Sebela and various artists

 

(pb; 2017: third graphic novel in a series of four. Collects issues #9-12 of the limited-run Escape from New York comic book. Publisher: Boom! Studios.)

 

From the back cover

“As Snake Plisskin continues his quest for revenge, he leaves behind the frozen tundra of Siberia to enter the last place anyone, least of all those looking to kill him, would ever expect: Manhattan. Snake returns to the middle of New York city for one last word with The President!”

 

Review

The third volume of Escape, alternately titled Escape from New York: Escape to New York, finds Snake Plissken making his way back into that city prison so that he can kill the former U.S. President (from the original 1981 film and the first two Escape graphic novels). Seems that this President has been put in prison for his illicit activities during those earlier stories and is now touting himself a new version of the New York-ruling Duke, whom the former President killed at the end of the 1981 film—having succeeded in this “I’m the new A-number one!” role, it’s fallen to Snake to fell the man who initially set him on his current fight-and-pursuit situation. Not only that, Snake must (once he’s deposed the Duke) find a way out of New York, before the new U.S. President (President Sutter), who has reasons to hate the former President, bombs everyone in the citywide prison to hell.

Complicating matters are other, sometimes crazy characters. Fortunately for Snake, he has allies, some unexpected, e.g., the members of the Lenape [Native American] tribe, led by Lappawinsoe (aka Johnny), who control one of the World Trade Center towers. Can Snake get the former President, end his delusional reign, and leave New York, to finally live a quiet life?

The third volume maintains the same tone and elements that make its first two fun and tonally consistent with their source film and characters: wild-card characters, humor, well-timed and potent action, and overall good writing. For fans of the 1981 film and the first two graphic novel volumes, Volume Three may prove to be a worthwhile purchase. Followed by a fourth and final volume, Escape from New York: Escape from Cleveland.

Trailer Park Noir by Ray Garton

 

(pb; 2022)

 

From the back cover

"Welcome to Riverside Mobile Home Park, where there is plenty of shade but no escape from the heat.

"Marcus Reznick watched the love of his life blow her brains out and then dove to the bottom of a bottle of vodka. Now he’s living in Riverside Mobile Home Park and trying to pull his life together ... until a powerful temptation comes his way. Steve Regent is an internet pornographer who has moved to Riverside Mobile Home Park to work on a new website, Trailer Park Girls. He is looking for beautiful women ... but instead, he finds something very ugly.

"Sherry Manning is a drug addict living in the trailer park with her boyfriend, Andy Winchell, who is a dealer. When a friend of a friend ODs in their trailer and turns out to be the son of a powerful politician, the truth about his death is covered up in the media. But Sherry and Andy know that truth ... and she fears what might be done to silence them.

"Anna Dunfy is trying to make ends meet by doing temp jobs and stripping at night to support her mentally handicapped daughter, Kendra ... an astonishingly beautiful girl with a woman’s body, a child’s mind, and a dangerous urge to do something naughty.

"It is a run‑down little trailer park in northern California, but it could be anywhere in the United States. It is unassuming, unremarkable, and looks like a million other trailer parks. But do not let the sleepy appearance fool you. It is a nest of dark secrets, boiling lusts and murder waiting to happen."

 

 

Review

Trailer is an excellent, immediately immersive and tightly edited neo-noir with well-developed characters worth caring about and/or hissing at, a palpable-build-toward-tragedy-and-bloody-violence pace, and constant, vivid descriptions of locations, motives and especially near-X-rated sexuality. In short, it has all the makings of a top-notch Garton book. (Trailer, in its own weird, great way, put me in the mindset of William Friedkin’s 2011 film Killer Joe.)

The only thing that prevents me from listing Trailer as one of my favorite reads of 2025 (and of Garton’s work) is the near-third act transformation of one of its key characters, who goes from being a decent character wrestling with his personal devils and tragedies to an unrepentant exploiter/blackmailer. It feels forced (even with all that character’s baggage and stuff that’s going on); this hard turn into pitch-black darkness stands out all the more in Trailer because of everything else that works in this otherwise stunning-in-its-execution tale. Worth owning, despite that minor character-shift nit.

Tribe of the Dead by Gary Brandner

 

(pb; 1984)

 

From the back cover

“Quintana Roo means death.

“Ignoring this grim warning, Johnny Hooker plunges deep into the tropical jungle in search of a missing millionaires. And then the horror starts.

“For Quintana Roo means danger from venomous snakes, lethal jaguars, alligator-like caymans—and a thousand different lurking insects.

“Above all, Quintana Roo means the lost city of Iztal, and tales of human sacrifices. . . and walking dead.

“But, as Hooker discovers, the terrifying reality surpasses the worst legends.

“For Quintana Roo means far worse than death.”

 

Review

Tribe, a fun, hard-to-set-down jungle adventure novel, set in 1939. It's a relatively fast, sometimes spooky read, with its bar-loving hero (Johnny Hooker) and a few of his adventure-sharing friends facing off against Indios sublevados (rebellious, deep-in-the-jungle and possibly cannibal tribesmen), dysentery and muerateros (undead) and, of course, Nazis.

The prose is tight, its action, barely-there character development and twists are solid and fun, with its eve-of-WWII Men’s Adventure inspired storyline. Great subgenre book from a consistently entertaining writer, both worth reading, possibly owning if you need to own your thrills.