Customer Reviews

Deadfolk

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Deadfolk stars Royston Blake -- a guy you would not enjoy bumping into down a dark alley but you will love on the page. He is a pub doorman with troubles, and his attempts at getting past them lead to one crime after another. All he wants is to be a respected pillar of the community. He has the physical stature but lacks self-awareness, and winds up getting and giving nothing but grief.

The book is populated with characters that you can almost smell -- even before they wind up dead and rotting. The setting -- the town of "Mangel" -- is English backwater by way of the Twilight Zone, and the ripe language reflects that. But really it's not that far removed from midwest or Tex vernacular. There were some words I just did not know but I kind of rode the context -- you're not going to miss any big plot points over them. Also the local argot gets you more involved in the surroundings. When you look at this place you can see how someone like Royston Blake can happen. You kind of feel for him.

I recommend Deadfolk to anyone who favors originality, knows how to laugh, and doesn't baulk at some nastiness. This is a book that reads well and is SO different from the usual fare. Royston Blake is a real piece of work.

The dialect is so thick in this book that I thought at first maybe it hadn't been translated into English. If you stick with it you will be able to interpret the words according to content.

Blake is a doorman/bouncer for a local pub. When he doesn't stand up to one of the Munster brothers the rumor spreads that he has lost his bottle/courage. When he sets out to restore his reputation everything starts going downhill. Murders, disappearing bodies, betrayal by his mates. Had to laugh at the attempts at disguise and his weird code of ethics...never hit a bird(woman).

If you laughed at the wood-chipper scene in the movie "Fargo" you will find this book hilarious. This is not your usual thriller/mystery but good for a change of pace.

...or even a raffish 'Lovejoy.' Charlie Williams is a major writing talent poised to make an American debut with this novel from his 'Mangel' quartet (if that is the last in the series.) This series has attracted European attention and translation (heaven knows how the translation works since the narrative relies on English slang words.) 'R' or 'X-rated' for violence, sadism, sex and language, 'Deadfolk' is nevertheless a compulsive read and an incisive look into a world of dysfunctional masculinity, where strength, survivalist self-reliance, macho image and sexual gratification count for far too much. No normal person would want to live anywhere near the series' antihero, Royston Blake. Granted, Blake does not have an easy set of circumstances to deal with: he may be psychotic and a sociopath, he only has brute force with which to make his way in the world and he was born into a dark environment of such gravitational force that few could escape from it...and he has tried.

The entire work is narrated in a low-class industrial English slang that is heavy with synonyms for sex equipment and for sexual stereotypes for men who 'have lost it.' Royston Blake has 'lost his bottle' (courage) in this work and his lot in life is to fight to get it back. The major mystery of the book is what/who really killed his wife, Beth, and the events dance back and forth to answer that question with a murky sort of reality that pervades the whole story. Many Williams fans see dark humor in many of the scenes: I can almost see it but my vision is not strong that way and I am more apt to see the tragic side of these scenes. Dare I say that this work is a 'beach read?' It is a page-turner that I would not want to undertake just prior to bed time.

Deadfolk by Charlie Williams is part of the AmazonEncore series, a series which hopes to bring to light work by new authors or authors whose previous work deserves more attention. In the case of Deadfolk, originally published by Serpent's Tail in 2004, I'm certainly glad they did.

I admit, two things first drew me to this book: the cover, an angry fly w/ splotches of blood on its wings and legs; and the author's name, which is very similar to an American Noir writer of the 1950s (Charles Williams). I'm a big fan of Noir novels from the early Gold Medal paperbacks era and when I read the description blurb, I realized this one would take place in the U.K. I've never read any noir-ish books from that area so this sounded like a good chance.

Honestly, in order to get more readers, the product description could be better. To read it, it doesn't sound like that much of a story - about a guy who's "lost his bottle" or his mojo, ala Austin Powers except w/ grimmer circumstances. In the first 70 to 80 pages the book does makes you think, You've got some great characters here but I sure wish there were more for them to do. While you're contemplating that the bottom drops out and you find yourself smack dab in the middle of one helluva noir. You also find that though the author shares a name w/ a pretty famous scribbler of 1st person noirs, the author he most closely resembles is that other titan of the same era, Jim Thompson.

The characters that populate this novel are brash, loud, ornery, uncouth, unsettling - but it's written so well, so much like you're sitting in a pub listening to some old rabbel-rouser, that I was hooked. Even during the less active chapters at the beginning, I couldn't help but want to see what would happen next, if only because I loved the song of the Cockney English on full display. This is where Williams really shines. He's a natural storyteller and the music lulls you into the story's world w/ the first sentence.

Each character is also fully realized, not just the narrator, Blake. Each of his mates and would-be-lovers is fully developed to the point that you feel like if you were ever to take a plane to England, you could call up one of these folks and they'd say, "Sure, mate, come on down. We's gots a place that you kin stay." They might just rob you and belt you over the head while you were there, but then that would be part of the experience.

The town of Mangel where all the action takes place is as much a character as the denizens who populate it. By following Blake as the novel becomes more active you will feel as though you're right there in a dusty, ill-lit bar, or riding down a Mangel street in one of many cars, about which Blake has lots of tell you. Blake is a gearhead and spends several paragraphs detailing the good and the bads of each model. I don't know anything about cars, but from what Blake says, it sounds the way a race car driver or a collector of fine European automobiles would coo over their latest purchase, all the while Blake is driving a regular ol mid-level car. All of his run downs about the intricacies of own such-and-such a car had me grinning from ear to ear. He's a classic B.S.'er, but you still have to love im.

As some of the other reviews have pointed out, this book is definitely not for the squeamish. There's a fair amount of sharp language on each page and by the last page the violence is ratcheted up to 10. So, fair warning on that. I didn't find any of it gratuitous; Blake is just depicting the world in which he lives and the people who feel trapped there and use sex and violence as their "outlets".

The only thing I would suggest, and the only thing that keeps me from giving this all five stars, is that it's a slow start. You love the characters from the very beginning, but there just isn't much they do. It's more like you're meeting everyone and, Blake being a seasoned raconteur, eases into the story w/ no great haste. It's charming in a way, but I think could cause some potential readers to feel turned off that not enough is happening. Plus, the same material is sprinkled periodically throughout the remainder of the text, so isn't truly necessary.

But all in all, this is a fine read. But do avoid if you have a weak stomach :)

If you cannot handle the small challenge of reading some low-brow British slang, if you cannot glean the meaning of the words from the subject matter and figure out what it going on, then you are just not going to get it, are ya? But give it some time & effort, and you've got yourself a "cheeky" page turner full of mystery and murky surprises. And oh! How I loved the ending. Hit me where I least expected it! Should have seen it coming, but I didn't did I? I laughed out loud! This is a good 'in!

Got it on me Amazon Kindle, didn't I? So happy, I be goin' back for more just to see what old Charlie has got in store for me. I can take it-whatever he dishes out-with a smile. He's a sly one, that Charlie is...always thinking ahead. And so many books, so affordable for a Summer read on me Kindle! Ta!

General Fiction, which is not my thing, does has one area that does interest me, the "mystery/crime" genre, and if you read enough of it you find publishers, not the writers, tend to produce a whole host of subset variations for mystery readers, you probably know some of them, from the autopsy/forensic approach to the 'tea cosy' we have detectives (cops, amateurs, freelancers, criminals) who are losers, or inept, or hounded by their own demons, or smart, sassy and dangerous all on their own, or just deliciously well crafted character studies (my faves) and it hardly matters what the alleged crime/mystery is at the center of it all.

This author avoids that publishing morass, which is why he has a foot in several camps, and possibly because there is a touch of the "literary" writer in him. If you are a reader who liked John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces from a few years back then you may well be ready for this ambitious novel. He has a finely developed feel for subject description and an ear for dialogue - and - there is not a single page one could call routine or formulaic. That is quite an achievement all on its own. If there is a rather absurdist edge with violence, it is closer to Sweeney Todd in character than Freddy Kruger. Many authors who we would consider to be "classic" today used many of the same horrific imagery and events (Dante, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Sinclair Lewis, etc) so don't let that stop you from letting this author tell you his story the way he wants to tell it.

BTW, the reviewer xkydivr left a witty review that is worth checking out.

The story line is interesting and understandable. The main character is well established, well known, and has unquestioned respect in a small, close nit community. Then some things happen to undermine his status.

He makes a mistake, there are undermining rumors, he suffers some public humiliation and his self confidence, self respect, self image and public image, thereby suffer damage. He has to over-ride his new self-doubt and set out to re-establish his reputation and himself as a man of honor in this small community. His plan is simple, but things don't go too smoothly. It's both humorous and it's bloody.

The author successfully achieved a consistent and unique vernacular for the main character including a lot of what I assume is local street terminology from an area in Great Britain.

However, by the same token it was sometimes difficult for me to catch the meaning of what was being said without going back and re-reading, being unfamiliar with some of the language and its structure. There was more than a little terminology which lost me until further on with increased context.

It wasn't my cup of tea, but I'm sure many will enjoy.

I thought this was the funniest book I'd read in years. It's bleak, depressing, dirty and *hilarious*--also the villain who narrates the tale is curiously likeable. Seriously, this book is a winner. Worth every penny. Buy it.

If you are used to Inspector Lynley, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, et al, you will find much to like in "Deadfolk" the debut novel by Charlie Williams, but in a different kind of tale. "Deadfolk" differs from those classic British mysteries in that there is no erudite, resolute detective tracking down a killer -- just a beery, uneducated bouncer who works the door at a 3rd-rate bar stumbling his way through a string of personal crises that includes a dead body or two... or three.

Royston Blake, the protagonist and narrator of the story aspires only to driving his Ford Capri 2.8, beer and telly with his mates Fin and Legs, the occasional shag with his gal Sally, and to keeping his job as the doorman/bouncer at Hoppers Wine Bar & Bistro -- and his reputation as a bloke not to be messed about with -- in the dreary English Midlands (?) town of Mangel. Oh, and one more thing -- to steer clear of the Munton brothers. The Muntons are the town's hard cases, and as the former owners of Hopper's, they have a beef with the new owner, Fenton, and Royston Blake. Trouble, in the form of the Munton brothers -- Baz, Jess, and Lee -- plagues Blake, and he makes some of his own as he tries to solve the problems confronting him: restoring his reputation, keeping his job, and staying alive in the face of the determined efforts of the Muntons to the contrary.

"Deadfolk" is written in 1st-person narration, in the coarse, lower-class voice of the protagonist, Royston Blake. A certain amount of familiarity with British slang is helpful when reading "Deadfolk", but not critical -- the meanings of most of the terms which might be unfamiliar can be gleaned from context. I took time out from the Inspector Lynley mystery "Careless in Red" to read "Deadfolk", and while struck by the contrast between the two stories, I found "Deadfolk" to be enjoyable and fairly engrossing. A mystery -- indeed, any book -- should keep you wondering what will happen next, and "Deadfolk" fills the bill, though in more of a "what-will-the-next-train-wreck-be" kind of way than you expect from a Lynley, Poirot, or Marple tale. This book is quite different from anything you will have read before, I can almost guarantee, but there are surprises, revelations, and interesting characters; all prime ingredients in a mystery, and presented in a mixture that makes for a jolly good read.

As hardboiled as it gets, shot through with bleak humour and violence. If you like Josh Stallings - and who doesn't - this is every bit as good. The only real difference is that Moses McGuire has LA and the entire American Southwest to play in, whereas Royston Blake has a small west country English town which no-one ever leaves. A townful of yokels and a couple of bars and a couple of small flats are all Charlie Williams needs to unfold a story as nasty and involving and surpisingly deep as the aforementioned Mr Stallings, told in a brash 1st person but with a surprising deftness as the characters unfold.

This is top drawer writing, understated, nasty and fun. Surprisingly complex. Highly recommended.