Snitch Jacket [Hardcover]

Christopher Goffard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2007

"Everyone knows that California sunshine is the world's loneliest light," says Benny, who inhabits an underworld of desperados and grotesques and spends much of his free time at the Greasy Tuesday, a squalid, southern California neighborhood dive teeming with local legends.

One night, one of these legends walks through the door: Gus "Mad Dog" Miller, a huge, tattoo-laden Vietnam vet who sports a necklace of severed ears and whose job at the Greasy Tuesday is "to keep the riffraff out." "But everyone's riffraff here," Benny protests. But Benny, our morally ambiguous hero, soon finds himself transfixed by this twisted Falstaffian personality, and six months later Benny is arrested on suspicion of double murder.

Combining elements of classic noir, dark comedy, and a misfit's memoir reminiscent of "Notes from the Underground," Christopher Goffard, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, brings life to the darker side of westcoast counter-culture in a literary crime novel that will be a delight for fans of Elmore Leonard, the Coen brothers, Carl Hiassen, D.B.C. Pierre, and Charles Bukowski.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In Goffard's impressive debut, a darkly comic romp through the Southern California underworld, Benny Bunt, a 41-year-old dishwasher, finds his main escape in the Greasy Tuesday, a blue-collar bar in Costa Mesa. Among the recidivist misfits, his is a harmless familiar face. What they don't know is that Benny is a snitch who earns pocket money by ratting out his buddies to the cops. Enter one Gus Mad Dog Miller, a massive, bearded Vietnam vet, covered with prison tattoos; Gus holds court at the bar with outrageous tales of his exploits, military and criminal. Gus soon becomes Benny's best friend, and seeks his assistance in a contract killing. Only problem is, the police botch their surveillance and Benny ends up taking the fall for a double homicide committed at the Howling Head festival in the Mojave desert. Goffard's prose shimmers with intelligence and humor, and he has a keen ear for telling detail. Fans of such cultish neo-noir scribes such as Charlie Huston and Duane Swierczynski will be richly rewarded. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Snitch Jacket is a great read, full of the blood and grit of true character. Sometimes hilarious, and sometimes all too disturbingly real, this book announces the arrival of a great new writer in Christopher Goffard." -- Michael Connelly

"Snitch Jacket is a wonder of sentences that sing . . . the sights and smells and fast talking are all so memorable that we can't help looking forward to what comes next from this talented writer's mind and pen." -- Sarah Weinman, Los Angeles Times

"Christopher Goffard sees Southern California with a keen eye, and he writes with an incandescent humor that is remarkable. Pull up a seat at the narrator's favorite bar--the Greasy Tuesday--and enjoy the madness going on around you." -- T. Jefferson Parker

"Goffard's prose shimmers with intelligence and humor, and he has a keen ear for telling detail. Fans of such cultish neo-noir scribes as Charlie Huston and Duane Swierczynski will be richly rewarded." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"In its dark vision [Snitch Jacket] would probably give Raymond Chandler night sweats . . . you won't close it until the last page." -- Gregory McNamee, St. Petersburg Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Overlook/Rookery; 1 edition (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585679542
• ISBN-13: 978-1585679546
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,566,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, funny and entertaining, October 3, 2007

By 

Bryan Gilmer "Author, FELONIOUS JAZZ, a thriller" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Snitch Jacket (Hardcover)

That Christopher Goffard could suck me into a tale this outlandish and have me laughing my (posterior) off at the same time is a testament to his skill as a novelist. Incredibly, a debut novelist.

I'd heard that this book was published to acclaim in the UK last year, but I could never find a copy. So I was pleased to see Overlook/Rookery publish it this summer in the US. I preordered.

Goffard does not waste your reading time or book budget. His roots as a newspaper reporter are evident here. His fabrications are woven seamlessly with the real-life absurdities that surface under small headlines in the best newspapers. Research and meticulous anthropological observations underlie the story and characters. The characters -- including a barfly protagonist with a vocabulary that would shame a Harvard English prof -- are gigantic, and the noir is over-the-top. This book's the perfect vacation from life in your middle-class cubicle. In this way, the book made me think of Fight Club.

I get the comparisons to Charlie Huston, but I have to say, Goffard does this kind of book better, striking the right tone, keeping it all just believable and bringing us profound observations while we take his entertaining ride. So go ahead; press buy. You won't be sorry.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars YOU'LL NEED A STRONG DRINK AND MAYBE A SHOWER AFTER THIS ONE, August 2, 2008

By 

Red Rock Bookworm (St. George Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Snitch Jacket (Hardcover)

To be nominated for an Edgar, a first time writer has to have a book that offers the reader an outrageous tale filled with humor, intelligence and characters that are definitely out of the ordinary. With Snitch Jacket, author Christopher Goffard gives us a book that, in this readers opinion, ranks among the best in unconventional crime fiction replete with a couple unusual characters in the persons of Benny Bunt the consumate anti-hero, and Gus "Mad Dog" Miller - Vietnam Vet with more war stories than General Patton. The question is are the stories true or the result of a psychotic personality?

Benny, our narrator, is a 41 year old dishwasher with an extensive resume covering several incarnations, both past and present, as a meth user, barfly, cop wannabe, police informant, and runaway husband. Most of his leisure hours are spent "socializing" at a Southern California dive known as Greasy Tuesday, whose other patrons Benny occasionally rats out (for their own good) to a local detective named Munoz.

When Gus approaches Benny seeking assistance with a contract killing, the fun really begins. Not wanting to spoil your enjoyment of this little jewel I will not divulge any further plot points so if your find yourself like Oliver Twist, wanting "more please", you will have to buy Goffard's book.

Just know that if you are a fan of the dark humor of Carl Hiaasen, or a movie buff who enjoys movies like the Coen brothers Blood Simple, this book is an A-ticket to a ride your sure to enjoy.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure reading entertainment, January 7, 2008

By 

David Rizzo (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Snitch Jacket (Hardcover)

One of the best crime novels I've ever read. Certainly the most entertaining. Think of a noir-Cheers, and you get the idea of the tone for the numerous bar scenes depicted in the book. For as accurate a picture of the underbelly of any given community this book paints, it provides a surprising amount of laughs. Yet, the story is totally engrossing, and dangerous, in true crime story fashion. It keeps you guessing until the final five pages. Yet, the story is different in a totally refreshing way. Even the choice of the "first person" puts a different twist on the typical novel. This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to enjoy an intelligent, well told story.