9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Looks like Johnny isn't the only talent in the Depp family, February 25, 2009
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I guess when you're the half-brother of an A-list actor and your debut novel is an LA noir/Hollywood satire, you open the book with an author's note that starts:
They are not They.
He, She, or It, is not You.
Daniel Depp has written a sharp and stylish mystery. It opens with thugs Potts and Squiers running an errand for their boss, Ritchie Stella. Stella's a night club owner, drug dealer, organized criminal, and wanna-be motion picture producer. He's sent Potts and Squiers to remove a body from the home of newly-minted film star Bobby Dye. Just in case Bobby doesn't realize that he owes Stella big time, some highly incriminating photos are taken at the scene.
Armed with these, Stella asks Bobby to star in a film he wants to produce. The script's a stinker, and if he knows anything, Bobby knows that doing Stella's film will kill his burgeoning career. He needs help.
It is at this point that we meet our protagonist, David Spandau, a private eye we've been promised to see in future novels. Spandau's a former Hollywood stuntman and a part-time rodeo performer. He wears Armani suits with cowboy boots. His philosophy: "When all else fails, just be taller." What else do you need to know about the guy? He's good at his job, still hung up on his ex, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. Spandau decides he's going to solve the Stella problem, despite being hired, fired, and quitting the job any number of times throughout the book.
There's nothing really special or unusual about the plot of the novel, and I don't know that plotting is Depp's strength. I'm torn when it comes to the characters. Spandau's entertaining enough. And Potts turned out to be a pretty interesting character. A thug with a rich internal life, he's a good guy at heart, but he does some very bad things. Then there's Terry McGuinn, an associate of Spandau's. He's five foot six, a martial arts genius, catnip for the ladies, and has an Irish brogue you could cut with a knife. I guess that's it. Depp has gone a bit overboard making all of his characters... characters. They're all so special and idiosyncratic. It's a bit much, but they really are entertaining.
Where Depp really shines is with his prose and his dialog, both of which are wonderfully witty and fun to read aloud. The banter is fast-paced and humorous, and yes, the language is salty. I find myself amazed by how many people are deeply offended by a little cussing. The irony is, even Spandau doesn't appreciate the language, repeatedly telling other characters, "I've got better things to do... than sit around and be verbally abused." Anyway, if you're easily offended, you probably won't appreciate the dialog--but I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Depp's other strength is just knowing the world he's writing about. Insights into the privileges and pitfalls of fame ring true. His working knowledge of the film industry and the characters therein provide plenty of material for his satirical eye. Depp's got a fine sense of humor, but not everything in this novel is a joke, and there's a good blend of comic and more serious elements. I didn't have tremendous expectations going into this novel, but I liked it enough that I'll definitely be checking out the next in the series.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining but disjointed in places.., July 16, 2009
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In brief, PI hired to help movie star out of a sticky situation with low level mafia drug dealer/club owner.
I found the plot a little simple in this crime novel. Not that is was by any means unreadable, I'd finished it in a week, just that there was not an awful lot of story. There was ample character building, a lot of chit chat between characters.. I say chit chat as it was often simply that. There was also the annoying traditional back talk between the good guy and the bad guys, better off left in the 50's that stuff.
Judging by the title there will be a series following Spandau's antics so perhaps that explains the focus on charaters. I did enjoy the book, but I can't give it 5 stars as it needed a little more polish. Nice start though.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Wastelands, February 12, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Think of Andrew Dice Clay in the days he was good - not simply vulgar. And picture Clay waking up one on one of those good old creative days and deciding he was going to be Robert Crais. That will give you some idea of Daniel Depp and his debut novel, "Loser's Town." This snappy and edgy little gem had me chuckling out loud more than once in the first twenty pages - the opening scene with loser thugs Potts and Squiers is a classic, vaguely reminiscent of the brilliance of Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare in "Fargo." Not long after these hapless hit men remove the corpse of an overdosed co-ed from an exclusive Hollywood mansion, we meet David Spandau, a part time rodeo cowboy and former stuntman doing time as a private detective. Where could this be but Hollywood?
Spandau reluctantly accepts the assignment to play bodyguard for Bobby Dye, a spoiled and naive, but talented young actor who bears more than coincidental parallels, I suspect, to Owen Wilson. Dye has gotten in over his head with second class gangster Richie Stella, and needs Spandau's help. What follows runs the gambit from predictable to "wow, where'd that come from", with all solidly mired in Hollywood's deep muck and shallow character. For the crime fiction junky, Depp offers enough grit, sleaze, and mayhem to keep it interesting, spiced with clever dialog and a deliciously annoying cast - exactly the types of LA stereotypes that we'd expect - parodies of themselves.
Depp is at his best when sticking to the banter and the people - squishier in plot and substance. Towards the end, some razor sharp editing could have left some moralizing on the cutting room floor, and helped even out a sometimes jerky pace. And Spandau - in a genre that's running out of templates, scores some points as Depp tries to roll Elvis Cole and Joe Pike into one - with only moderate success. But all things considered, a fresh new face in crime fiction, and an initial effort that definitely deserves a sequel.
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