A Man Named Doll - Jonathan Ames

Written by Jonathan Ames
Read by Jonathan Ames
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Hachette Audio
Release date: April 20, 2021
Duration: 05:26:39

A noir novel about an idiosyncratic private detective named Happy Doll, and his quest to help a dying friend in a sun-blinded Los Angeles as “quirky, edgy, charming, funny and serious” as its protagonist.

Happy Doll is a charming, if occasionally inexpert, private detective living just one sheer cliff drop beneath the Hollywood sign with his beloved half-Chihuahua half-Terrier, George.

Armed with his sixteen-inch steel telescopic baton, biting dry humor, and just a bit of a hero complex, the ex-cop sets out to protect the women who work there from clients who have trouble understanding the word “no.”

Booklist…March 15, 2021
After only a few pages of this extraordinary thriller, the reader senses a strong, original talent at work. The frame story is conventional: in a gone-to-seed Los Angeles, a PI, ex-cop, and ex-MP wonders if his choice of this sordid line of work comes from a “”need to be punished.”" His name, Happy Doll, seems too cute by half, but then the story takes hold, all spare, steely sentences with an unadorned forward momentum. An old man, a former fellow cop who once took a bullet for Happy, shows up asking about Happy’s blood type. He needs a new lung. The plot unveils itself: it’s about black-market transplants, which are pricey: $200,000 per lung, $750,000 for a heart. Meanwhile, Happy has his hands full at his night job, protecting the women at a Thai spa whose customers demand special services. Moving from a stunningly written scene at the spa to a finale in which Happy is kidnapped by organ harvesters; Ames delivers an old-school L.A. crime novel that evokes Chandler with maybe an aftertaste of Bukowski. Readers expecting action won’t be let down, and the sparkling yet unpretentious language gives the whole an extra kick. Recommend to noir fans, action fans, anyone who likes a good read.

Library Journal…VERDICT
“The latest by Ames (You Were Never Really Here), creator of the television shows Bored to Death and Blunt Talk, is recommended only for those who want to read a dark novel featuring the adventures of a messed-up PI, high on drugs, who endangers himself with every stupid action.”