Customer Reviews

Loser's Town: A David Spandau Novel (David Spandau Novels)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

By the time we are presented with an interview between an entertainment reporter and rising star Bobby Dye on the set of his new movie, we know enough about Dye and about Daniel Depp's take on Hollywood to realize that every word Dye utters is a lie, carefully crafted to enhance his image and to provide maximum benefit to the current production, a historical drama that has buzz.

Dye's in a bind because a local mobster is trying to blackmail him, so the actor's handlers hire a detective to protect him. However, no one really wants another body around their prize star. David Spandau is immune to the boorish behavior of Hollywood types who dwell near the top of the pecking order, which they find disconcerting.

Spandau is a promising protagonist, a former stunt man who's past his prime and now works as a P.I. He's a bit of a cowboy, in every sense of the word, and as the book opens he's bearing an injury from his latest bad encounter with a horse. He's as cynical as they come, and it's hard to imagine why someone who hates the city as much as he does and has so little respect for its primary business would deign to live and work there. One of the book's most refreshing aspects, though, is Spandau's ongoing commentary about the movie industry.

A noir crime novel set in Los Angeles isn't exactly new. Neither is a book that reflects at great length on the city's superficial nature and the grinding machine of the movie industry. Bringing the two ideas together has merits, however, especially when a writer can come up with a fresh pair of eyes through which to envision the story.

That's part of the problem, though -- Spandau's eyes aren't the only ones Depp uses, and he hasn't quite mastered point of view. There are numerous disconcerting POV shifts, often within a single paragraph, that are a hallmark of an inexperienced novelist. You simply don't write an entire chapter entirely from one person's perspective and then dip into another person's thoughts for a line or two when it's convenient or necessary.

He also hasn't figured out how to deftly orchestrate multiple viewpoint characters yet. The two men who are the focus of the opening chapter vanish for half the novel. When one of them returns, most of his subplot turns out to be irrelevant to the story (and also somewhat less than believable).

Depp has a good handle on characterization--the various secondary characters are colorful and memorable--but the story's focus is all over the place, and Spandau, the book's hero, isn't an active participant in some of the most crucial events in the story.

Loser's Town isn't a terrible book -- I would have given it 2.5 stars if allowed -- and Depp has potential to grow as a writer. He's a Palm D'Or nominee, after all, so his storytelling chops aren't in question. A little more attention to some of the fundamentals of storytelling at book length, and he might go far.

Daniel Depp's debut novel is good enough, but considering that there's no mystery, no suspense, and the only character with any personality is a supporting character, I don't imagine I'll be in a rush to purchase the next in the series.

The big problem is that the leading man, David Spandau, has virtually no personality. Imagine Sylvester Stallone being cast in a romantic comedy. Or Hugh Grant as a Navy Seal. Spandau just doesn't work or generate interest in the plot. He's leaden, and though he has a few action scenes, and lets us know about ten times that he doesn't like being called names, he's just not interesting.

Depp does a great job at providing Hollywood backstage scenes, so you can feel like you're learning something, albeit not much, about how Tinseltown works. And he also provides beautiful descriptions of the LA Hills as we follow characters on their scenic drives to LA locales.

Overall, I can't recommend this book. It will hold your attention, but not grab you.

Every once in a while, I read a novel where the author's writing style is so vivid and compelling that the book becomes enormously enjoyable despite its obvious shortcomings. This is pretty much the category where I put Daniel Depp's LOSER'S TOWN.

This novel is a private eye story, and it pretty follows the tropes of the genre. The lead character in LOSER'S TOWN is a 38-year old former stuntman in Los Angeles, who is predictably tough and witty and honorable. Because he works in Hollywood, he is surrounded by the usual stereotypical phonies: rude agents, crooked producers, loose women, vain movie stars, and so forth. The storyline of this book involves a blackmailing scheme, and is for the most part rather thin and familiar.

Still, LOSER'S TOWN is a great read because Depp is a terrific stylist. His dialogue is often brilliantly funny, and his descriptions of life in Los Angeles' underbelly is dead on. Depp is the type of author who is able to breath life into even the most minor of characters, and that is a rare gift for any author to have. As a result, this novel is pretty much a blast to read, especially if you're a fan of crime writers like Elmore Leonard and Robert Crais.

Daniel Depp is Johnny Depp's half-brother, but he is obviously quite talented in his own right. LOSERS TOWN is the first book in a proposed series, and I look forward to the future installments.

This edgy and irreverent crime thriller skewers the perpetual Hollywood movie machine, offering up a punch-drunk journey into the industry and its possible connection to organized crime. At the center of this tale is David Spandau, a washed-up beaten down ex-stuntman with a broken nose and tired eyes, who is being employed by as a private investigator. Forced to cut his vacation two days short, David is summoned to the Beverly Hills office of his boss Walter Coren. The shiny teethed Walter, "one of the best kept secrets in LA society" tells David that he's been expressly requested for a case. His important client is the up-and-coming young hotshot Bobby Dye.

Bobby is achieving a great deal of notoriety around town for his starring role in Wildfire. This is his one big breakthrough. Even his foul mouthed agent Annie Michaels, says there's even a possibility that Bobby can make the A-list if he can prove his acting mettle. Yet Bobbie is increasingly frustrated. A dark secret is threatening to derail his starry rise in the form of a death threat on a sheet of paper with a message in cutout letters glued onto it: "You're going to Die, Dye!" While Bobby is truly flummoxed at the note, suspecting it could be a pissed-off boyfriend of one of his muses, David is sure that the threat is somehow linked the evil machinations of local crime and drug king Ritchie Stella.

Owner of the notorious Voodoo Club on Sunset strip, Ritchie desperately wants to be a movie producer and wants Bobby for one of his movies. The script and financing are all in place and Ritchie, with a razor sharp brain that is always calculating the odds, will even resort to blackmailing Bobby with a series of incriminating photos to get him to star in the film. Bobby's Ritchie's meal ticket. But when the spoilt and neurotic Bobby threatens to go ballistic, David brings in his best friend, Irishman Terry McGuinn to go undercover, mining Ritchie's employee Allison Graff for information on Ritche's illegal maneuverings and any possible evidence that may connect Ritchie to Bobby.

As Depp moves is through the Los Angeles criminal underworld, all his characters come across as emotional and spiritual wrecks, tossed out and spun around by the vast Hollywood machine. While David drinks too much and is plagued by memories of his marriage to the beautiful Dee, his thoughts are constantly filled with the hope that she might want him again. Terry courts Allison with false promises that he can get Ritchie off her back, seeking comfort in the world of Middle Earth. Meanwhile, the author's other flawed protagonist, Dobbs, along with the huge pale and dumb Squires, is hired to clean up some mess, in this case an underage junkie girl with a needle in her arm found in the bathroom of Bobby's palatial glass-fronted Hollywood hilltop mansion. Even Potts, however, is not without his demons, having spent five years in a Texas prison, the man is mired in the burdens of self-deception.

An exercise on the price of duplicity and hypocrisy with dialogue that crackles with total irreverence, Loser's Town is all about people with such twisted world-views and high opinions that appear to be drunk on a vision of their own self-importance, especially the spoilt and transparent Bobby with his over-inflated ego. As the stifling heat of an LA summer shimmers and wavers, the western horizon turning a lovely but unnatural smoggy orange, Depp's city glides past like an overexposed film. In the end, three people are dead - "four if you count the poor stupid girl who started it all." In this fast-paced, entertaining and devilish expose on the ramifications unbridled power and money, crime bosses are star struck to the Hollywood A-list and innocence gets people in trouble, even getting them killed. Throughout it all, Depp's new hero David Spandau is determined as ever to follow his gut and instinct even as he roots out the bad guys, while eventually left to ponder the collateral damage of the price of fame in this big city of broken dreams. Mike Leonard 2009.

In many ways, "Loser's Town" is a classic hard-boiled detective novel: the protagonist is a private investigator with a tough guy attitude (and the characteristic snappy dialogue) and a willingness to engage in violence to accomplish his goals. And he smokes too much and has a lousy love life. But there are differences that keep the book from being clichéd. David Spandau is a loner but he works for an agency that caters to upscale clients, so he isn't the stereotypical solo PI in a ratty suit and rundown office. He wears Armani and drives a BMW for work. His background is also very different from most private investigators: he was a longtime Hollywood stuntman before taking a bad fall. That background comes in handy in this book where he needs to figure out who is threatening a young actor.

Another difference is the reason for his lousy love life: he's still in love with his ex-wife, who left him in part because of his job. They remain friends and the place where Spandau feels most at home is the ranch owned by his ex's mother (who wants them to get back together). Spandau's personality, code of conduct and life perspective aren't always warm and fuzzy but ultimately I found him a likeable "hero" and wanted to see him do well.

The book revolves around the movie business (actors, agents, production, etc.) but also around the gangster who is blackmailing the young actor to be in a movie he wants to produce. The gangster has 2 guys who do his dirty work and one of them (Potts) is a large focus of the book. In addition, there is a friend Spandau asks for some very specific and limited help but instead he goes off on his own tangent that leads to more violence and death. These parallel anti-heroes add a lot to the book; in particular Potts is what Spandau could have become with some bad decisions.

One caution: if you are offended by vulgar language (particularly the F-bomb), you may not like this book. Several of the characters swear profusely. The first few chapters are expletive filled to the max. After hearing the clip of the actor Christian Bale cursing out one of the movie production people, the foul language seems fairly realistic for the book. I lived in NYC for several years and got used to more cursing than I hear in Minnesota. A male co-worker is reading the book now on my recommendation and his first comment to me was that he's not a prude but was surprised by the language used. Just know in advance there is a serious amount of bad language.

I really enjoyed the book and found it a fast and enjoyable read. I would definitely read the next book in the David Spandau series. Spandau is a macho sort of character so this would be a good book for guys.

Most first-time novelists would take their titles from Shakespeare, the Bible, Hemingway, etc. Daniel Depp takes his from Robert Mitchum. Most first-time novelists try to throw everything into their first work (after all, they might not have a second chance). Daniel Depp gives us what we need to know, what we want to know (but didn't know it), and just enough more to keep us entertained. Most first-time novelists try too hard to impress us with "insider" knowledge. Daniel Depp makes it all seem as natural as breathing. Most first-time novelists don't create as memorable a set of characters as is found in this book, including main man Daniel Spandau. Daniel Depp does. A very good beginning to what promises to be a very good series. Now if Depp only knew someone who could perhaps turn his book into a movie... nah!

I just LOVE this book! By page 6 I had laughed (yes, trite as the saying is nowadays, it was out loud) 4 times. I kept laughing throughout the book - until the last few chapters when things got real serious in a real hurry.

This story is a real page turner - it is obvious that Daniel Depp has written screen plays and that he has, in fact, written this novel with an eye toward making it into a movie. The dialogue between his characters is just wonderful, and each character is made very "real," even if we only spent a short amount of time with them. Potts and Squiers - Richie Stella's stooges - are the original odd couple and their interplay is just delightful. David Spandau refuses to be impressed by anybody and has the perfect comebacks for everybody. Born in the wrong century, Spandau yearns for the life of a cowboy - since he can't have that and since too many accidents on the set (and the death of his mentor and father-in-law) caused him to quit doing stunts in the movies, he spends his time working as a PI in a "boutique" private investigation firm.

The only thing that sort of bothered me were the many coy references to past events that, obviously, we don't know about. "Spandau is an old friend," they seemed to say. "Feel comfortable with him - remember all these hair-raising adventures?" But, of course, we don't, because we didn't know him until now. I do hope there will be either prequels or else flash-backs in future books to clarify some of this.

Overall, I've been spreading the word to everyone I talk to, telling them to watch for this book when it comes out. This is a must-read for anyone who likes Elmore Leonard, early Harry Bosch and Stone Barrington, Carl Hiaasen and the like. Give it a read, you will NOT be disappointed!