Customer Reviews

Citizen Vince (P.S.)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Redemption is one of the big themes in fiction and narrative film. Alas, the sheer pervasiveness of redemption stories means that they really have to sparkle to stand out. Here, Walter flirts with greatness but never quite achieves it with a semi-crime story set in the days leading up to the 1980 presidential election. Vince Camden is a donut-maker in Spokane, Washington, living a fairly quiet routine of work, sleep, and late nights of cards at Sam's Pit -- a place kind of like Cheers, but with cops, crooks, and hookers as patrons. (This was a real place at 528 E. 2nd St. that shut down in the early '90s after several police raids.) The reader quickly learns that Vince is in the FBI's witness-protection program, having given evidence in a small-time New York mob case after getting stuck with a loan he couldn't repay to people that really don't like it when you don't repay loans. In addition to his donut gig, Vince is building up a little nest egg by running the same credit card number scam he ran in New York and dealing a little pot. He's even got a little romantic interest, with a crush on legal secretary who comes in for donuts every day, plus the hooker with a heart of gold he met at Sam's Pit. With his new identity, he's even eligible to vote for the first time, a symbol of his "rebirth" that becomes a totem of his new life.

However, as in all the great noir films, the past comes a-knockin'. First, his partners in the credit card scam start getting all squirrelly on him, and then a face from "the world' shows up. "The World" is, of course, the East Coast mob scene he ran away from. And like all good heroes from Mythology 101, Vince realizes he must journey to the underworld to face his demons in order to actualize his redemption. In his case, it means a harrowing journey back to New York to face up to the mobsters he wronged--including a dangerously capricious young John Gotti. Meanwhile, in Spokane, sharp rookie Detective Dupree realizes Vince is at the center of the bodies that are starting to pile up, and is hot on his trail.

This is all pretty normal crime genre stuff, but Walter makes it sparkle and sizzle with vivid scene-setting and crisp dialogue. Some of the scenes, such as Vince's epic poker game back in New York are simply scream to be filmed. Many of the characters are larger than life, but they never really get over the top. It's quality stuff that brings to mind another young American writer, David Benioff (The 25th Hour). It's not perfect though -- Walter gets a little ambitious and tries to weave in a whole parallel thing about the Reagan/Carter election and the zeitgeist of the country, and it doesn't really work. Two portions which imagine the inner thoughts of the presidential hopefuls are too precious and self-concious, although I did like how he worked an Anderson volunteer and a local Republican candidate into the action. But Vince's agonizing over who to vote for and his insistence on casting his ballot end up feeling rather forced by the end. Still, it's a good read and one that will have me checking out more of Walter's writing in the future.

As wise-guy stories go, this one is uncommonly thoughtful. Walter's sardonic and suspenseful story -- about a small-time crook trying to go straight -- is populated with a cast of vividly drawn, constantly unpredictable characters. Wait until you meet the off-kilter Det. Charles, to name just one. Yet Walter adds another, deeper layer. He infuses the story with a running meditation on the importance of one vote in a democracy. Vince Camden had his voting rights taken away as a felon, but now he has a new identity in the witness protection program and he's free to vote in the 1980 election. But why should he bother? And who should he bother to vote for, Reagan or Carter? Walter smoothly turns these election-year questions into metaphors for the issues in Vince's life. Crooked or straight? Petty selfishness or civic responsibility? Mobbed up in New York or mowing the lawn in Spokane? As it turns out, one vote doesn't affect the outcome, but it sure has an impact on the guy casting the vote.

Jess Walter never stops surprising. He followed two excellent nonfiction works --- EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW and IN CONTEMPT --- with OVER TUMBLED GRAVES and LAND OF THE BLIND. CITIZEN VINCE, his latest novel, mixes a strong, present tense narrative with historical events to present a dark, restless study of lives gone awry.

CITIZEN VINCE isn't a novel that readily fits into a particular genre classification. There are elements that certainly will appeal to readers of crime fiction, but it's also a character study, one that explores the concepts of second chances, redemption, and even penance against the backdrop of the week leading up to the 1980 Presidential election between incumbent Jimmy Carter and former California Governor Ronald Reagan.

The storyline is fairly straightforward. Vince Camden is a two-bit thief from New York who has been witness-relocated to Spokane, Washington, where he works a "public job," if you will, running a donut shop. Camden is supplementing his income playing poker in the early morning hours and being the conduit for a credit card scam. He has settled into a reasonably quiet, secure life that includes --- for the first time in his adult life --- the chance to vote for president.

Camden has no idea how fragile his situation is until a mysterious killer appears in Spokane, looking to take over his credit card operation and wipe him out permanently. As if this wasn't enough, Camden finds himself embroiled in the life of a local politician and emotionally torn between a prostitute and a legal secretary. Camden believes that the source behind his imminent demise is back in what he refers to as "The World" --- New York. He hopes that by returning to New York he can square the reasons that caused him to leave there to begin with and hopefully call off the hit. A fateful high stakes poker game gives him the opportunity to obtain forgiveness --- and destruction, depending on how things fall.

Walter's prior forays into documentary works hold him in good stead here, as he uses a real-world dilemma --- Camden spends a lot of time agonizing over whether to vote for Carter or Reagan --- to provide a backdrop to the narrative. Toss a couple of real-world figures as brief but necessary participants into the story, infuse a street-level view of the action into the mix, and you have a novel that is impossible to put down even as you sense that the only way it can end is badly. Whether that is true or not, however, may depend on your point of view.

Jess Walter has developed a reputation for delivering quality fiction that is unpredictable but riveting. CITIZEN VINCE, from first page to last, lives up to that high standard and never disappoints.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I enjoyed this book, which was the surprise winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Crime/Mystery book of 2005. In winning this award, Jess Walter beat out more prominent titles such as the LINCOLN LAWYER by Michael Connelly and HARD REVOLUTION by George Pelecanos.

This book is, without question, exceptionally well written. Walter is a truly gifted writer who knows how to write dialogue and create truly original characters. This is a very clever, funny book involving two-bit criminals, very similar to what Elmore Leonard writes (but better, in my opinion). I read this book in one sitting, which is the ultimate compliment I can give a book. I also laughed out loud several times.

I suppose the major flaw of this book is Walter's decision to introduce real people as characters. Throughout this book, we meet future mob boss John Gotti (in a card game), future Speaker of the House Tom Foley, and we even get scenes from the point of view of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. None of these scenes are particularly believable, especially the scene with Reagan, whom Walter portrays in the most negative fashion possible.

I would, however, recommend this book to people who enjoy well-crafted prose in the spirit of Elmore Leonard. If you prefer character over plot, then this is the book for you.

Personally, I would have given the Edgar to the LINCOLN LAWYER, but I think this book is a worthy winner.

Citizen Vince is has a unique plot lot -- with the back story being an American's chance to take part in the democratic system. This is set against set a whodunit story that works most of the time. The thing I enjoyed most about the book was the "voice." The author has the ability to engage the reader in a clever manner -- without going past that invisible boundary in which lousy humor overshadows the story.

Worth a read, and I donated it to my local library so others can enjoy.

Vince Camden is a baker on the run from the west coast to the east coast because he believes someone is after him. What seems like paranoia at the beginning is really a story of character and action as the novel turns out to be something you don't expect, how politics become meaningful to individuals. Vince is a criminal on the run trying to figure out who to vote for in the '80 presidential race and that becomes the vehicle for his growth. Hilarious tough dialogue and great writing made this book powerful.

It's hard to exactly know what to make of this book. It is generally well written. The author has a way of using clever turns of phrases and the prose is rarely awkward or stilted. One the other hand the plotting is, while engaging not particularly captivating. Voting as a form of redemption? Well...maybe...but I don't know. That was a mite too anticlimactic for me and the chapters that tried to capture what was going on inside the thoughts of Carter and Reagan in the Sunday before the 1980 presidential election seemed forced and a little half baked.

Readable, but utimately less than satisfying and not particularly memorbale.

2 1/2 stars.

"Citizen Vince" is the story of a man living in Spokane, Washington who is in the FBI's Witness Relocation Program and going by the assumed name of Vince Camden. He's carved out a life for himself as a baker, reads portions of various novels (an interest he developed in prison) and still manages to have a credit card theft racket going on the side. When he recognizes a man he sees in Spokane he determines that his adversaries have traced him to his new home and he returns to New York in an effort to make amends one and for all.

All of this plays against the backdrop of the final week of the 1980 Presidential election and Vince, who had his voting privileges restored as a part of the deal he made with the FBI, is determined to cast his first vote at the age of 36.

The inside book flap tries to make this out to be a tale of redemption, as if Vince's vote in this election will complete his transition from former con man to responsible citizen, yet this is not really a notion that ties in very well with the credit card scam he has going on and the whole election plot line ends up coming across as more of a contrived method of setting the story in a specific time rather than as anything to drive the story forward. I'm all for Americans exercising their right to vote, and I do so regularly, but when the jacket flat emphasizes this as a route to redemption I was expecting something a little more profound, a disappointment compounded by the gangster cliches that inhabit so many of the more unsavory characters.

I'll admit that crime fiction is not really my thing and perhaps those who are more in tune with the genre will find more here than the rather thin story. But for me, I can't say that "Citizen Vince" has made me particularly warm up to the genre.

2 1/2 stars.

Vince Camden is a low level hood. Living in Spokane in the witness protection program, he's vacillating between an honest life as a baker at a donut shop and the low criminal enterprises (sells a bit of Mary Jane and flogs stolen credit card numbers) that got him in trouble in the first place.

Unfortunately, his quiet and marginally successful life is disrupted when his criminal scheme blows up and a hired killer from back east arrives on the scene.

Vince, in an unusual move, goes back east to see if he can somehow make amends and save his life. Turns out he's miscalculated on why the killer showed up--and now he's in a whole different sort of trouble.

This really is more of a suspense novel and character study than a crime novel in the traditional sense. The story line drifts between Vince and a local rookie cop trying to figure things out after one of the credit card gang winds up dead.

It's a novel of twists and turns and deep thoughts expressed by interesting--even, in their own slimy way--captivating characters.

The characters are vividly and deeply painted with a loving and skillful touch by Walter. Walter writes both fiction and nonfiction and is also an investigative reporter of some stature. The intertwining of real world brutality and effective and mob style humor is effective and compelling. The entire story is told in tangent with the Reagan/Carter presidential election and Vince's struggles intermingle with the candidates struggles in an interesting and arresting manner.

This isn't normally my preferred genre of fiction but I have to say I was enraptured by this effort. I'm looking to read all of Walter's work. What higher praise can one offer?

More than you expect. And that's a good thing. The author creates characters that ring true and drag you along.