Customer Reviews

D.D. Murphry, Secret Policeman

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4 star:		(1)
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You have probably never read a book like D. D. Murphry, Secred Policeman. I certainly hadn't, and I read a LOT. The premise is simple: D.D. Murphry is a severely schizophrenic man who thinks he's a secret policeman. What could come out of a situation like this? Violence? Humor? Tragedy? Horror? Yep. Absolutely, and more.

This novel is built on what at first appears to be a series of uncommected events in Murphry's life, as he valiantly tries to uphold his duty as a Secret Policeman, taking his cues from random conversations overheard on the bus, and his orders from snippets of newspaper stories. Like the workings of his brain, the stories and events begin to connect together, to weave a story about a man who believes himself to be a hero, but who is utterly unpredictable to anyone other than himself.

The authors deftly whipsaw the reader from one extreme to another, from laugh-out-loud (dark) humor to shocking horror, and through that to a surprisingly deep and sensitive understanding of a hopelessly damaged human being. You can read this book just for entertainment, if you want to. It's definitely entertaining. But if you're not careful, you're going to come out with some new understanding about the human heart.

Authors Alan M. Clark and Elizabeth Massie drench their narratives in a gorgeous pool of neurotic and unpredictable awe with their release of "D.D. Murphry, Secret Policeman." This book is dangerous, yet chaotically fun. It offers celebratory moments of outright disturbia, yet it often blasts bottle rockets of comedic relief. It's laboriously blessed with lingering imagery, which makes it a disquieting novel people are certain to talk about. Readers will find themselves hypnotically taken in by the perplexed and often warped events that surround D.D. Murphry. From case to case, D.D. Murphry offers spells of investigative magnetism, contemplative wisdom, and much-needed closure. "D.D. Murphry, Secret Policeman" belongs right next to many of the books written by Poe or Doyle or Harris or Hammett. But on second thought, better place D.D. Murphry before them -- just be aware that the False Government may not like that.

Wander the streets and libraries with D. D. Murphry! If you like different, strange, and interesting thoughts mixed with a fascination for the fringes of society you will probably enjoy D. D. Murphry as he stealthily wanders from page to page. If you have a secret love there is a good chance you will feel a bit of sympathy for poor Mr. Murphry. I definitely enjoyed it!

For several chapters, I was sure this book was somehow about me. I was suspicious of it, but then my employers let me know that it was just a coincidence. Knowing that, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I kind of hate to give it a 4, but while reading it, it gave me a 4 feeling, rather than a 5, yet I can't exactly pinpoint why. The execution is fine, the writing is fine, but I don't think it found absolute harmony with itself. Something was always just a little bit off. Regardless, it's still nice to see it on my bookshelf, and though I rarely re-read books, I absolutely think I'll pick D.D. Murphy up again one day and give it another go.

It's hard not to like Murphry and it's hard not to feel guilty about liking him. A "lingering on my mind read" in which I now find myself constantly wondering - what exactly is going on in other people's heads? Each chapter a story of its own yet strung together with others for a pleasantly paced, amusing, and intriguing ride. The titillating denouement does not disappoint!

As a writer who writes and loves surreal and magical worlds seen through the eyes of deeply flawed characters, I expected very little from a small press presentation of a schizophrenic detective in our every day world. What I got was food for thought that haunted me for several months and finally drove me to write this review.

D. D. Murphy is the perfect surreal filter through which to experience the mundane illusion most believe we share as normal. His perspective both gives meaning to our lives and to the minutia we tend to ignore or think of as the butterfly effect. His sensitivity and passion for his job, a job no sane person would recognize as legitimate, and his drive to accomplish great things isolate the destructive and sublime nature of ambition we seem to value in our culture. By isolating that universal characteristic and playing D.D.'s perspectives against our "normal" expectations, Clark and Massie create a reader experience that kept me rethinking the nature of experience long after my ride in the book had ended.

I do have to say that I had a little trouble slipping into the experience of the main character, but D.D.'s perspective was interesting enough to keep me involved until I was more deeply hooked by his passion for his job and the Cervantes-type object of his love.

The world needs more books like this one -- books that take readers to places that reduce the need to judge others, to places where black and white become brightly-lit and blended colors, and to places where love and honor are much more important than money, acquisition, and fame.

Thanks to Mr. Clark and Ms. Massie for letting me see the world through D. D. Murphy's eyes.