Customer Reviews

Vinnie's Head

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Seamlessly interweaving humor into a crime novel is no easy trick. Few authors can pull it off, and fewer still can do it successfully with their first novel. Marc Lecard has done it, however, with "Vinnie's Head", as darkly humorous and entertaining a novel as you'll likely read this year.

Johnnie LoDuco tries his best, but he isn't a very successful criminal. He's been accused of a robbery he didn't even commit, and has been forced to go on the lam. That's when his luck really turns bad. While fishing on Long Island Sound, he inadvertently catches the severed head of Vinnie McCloskey-Schmidt, his best friend and partner in crime.

That discovery sets off a madcap series of adventures, which have Johnnie being chased by a motley crew of mobsters, bent cops and a serial killer who really loves his Mommy. The whole thing would be ridiculous if it weren't so well done and so damn hilarious.

"Vinnie's Head" is not for every taste, but it's definitely for people who like their crime funny, brutal and over-the-top. Lecard is a true find.

Johnnie LoDuco isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but he does have dumb luck on his side. After fishing best friend Vinnie's head out of a river near Long Island, Johnnie finds himself in a real pinch. Already on the lam from the cops for a convenience store heist he didn't commit, he now has to decide what to do with his buddies disembodied body part.

The head is the driving force behind everything else that happens in the story. Johnnie carries the head around, locks it in a freezer, even stuffs it in a carrying cooler. And death follows the head. Gangsters, a beautiful fem fatale named Jennifer Smeals, dirty cops, and a pretty young thing that Johnnie falls for named Patrice. On top of this, Johnnie has to try and avoid a bounty hunter named Stosh who's dedication to his profession astonishes both character and reader.

But why is everyone interested in the head? Especially Jennifer Smeals and a local thug named Malatesta? Close examination of it by Johnnie and Patrice reveal nothing except noxious odors. But Paraguay, smut books, computer programs and deadly folk all play a part in what lay ahead for Vinnie's head.

There's a lot of dry wit (perhaps too dry) in author Marc Lecard's debut comedy crime-noir novel but with an ending plot that is -- unfortunately -- over-the-top. Death and redemption go hand-in-hand as Johnnie discovers all of the cons within cons that are designed to divest him not only of money, but probably his life. The overly-complicated ending plot wrap-ups didn't fit well with the dumbed-down LoDuco (the story is told in first person via Johnnie) whom most readers will probably sympathize with and get angry at for not seeing what's right under his nose.

That said, the story is a breezy read (up until the end) and has some chuckle moments but nothing that'll cause serious belly laughs.

A fun read that most readers should be able to finish in one or two sittings.

Vinnie's Head, a novel by Marc Lecard, gets its title from the fact that the severed head of Vincent McCloskey-Schmidt features prominently throughout -- usually, but not always, in a trash bag or a picnic cooler.

If you think that suggests this book is rather on the twisted side, you're right.

I've never read much crime fiction, but I gave this one a try on the recommendation of my friend Fred, who happens to know the author. Fred had earlier gotten me and Heather hooked on the novels of Christopher Moore, and he told me he thought Lecard's style of writing, though in a different genre, would appeal to someone who likes Moore.

Vinnie's Head falls into the bumbling criminal sub-genre. The main (non-decapitated) character is Johnnie LoDuco, known to some people as Kenny Moleri and to others, as it turns out, as Vinnie McCloskey-Schmidt. Johnnie, ex-con, bond-jumper, and general wrong-place-at-wrong-time person, goes fishing one day and reels in, to his dismay, his friend Vinnie's head. Now, anyone else might have thrown it back, or taken it to the police, or left it under a bush for someone else to discover, but not Johnnie. Vinnie was his friend, and Johnnie feels responsible for him, or at least for his head. And as for the police, no, he doesn't want to talk to them.

So the head comes home with Johnnie, and next thing you know, everyone -- Vinnie's girlfriend, organized crime, a bounty hunter, a video store clerk, and a serial killer with his own head collection -- has taken an interest in Johnnie and his prize catch. So what are they all after? Generally not what they say they are, of course.

Fred was right: the dark humor here reminded me a lot of Moore, and so did the motley characters and screwball plot. I liked this book a lot. This was Lecard's first novel and it was an impressive debut. Now I'm reading his second. It should be fun following his future career.

This book chronicles the misadventures of the hapless and not-so-bright Johnny LoDuco. Johnny doesn't need to look for trouble, as it has a way of finding him. His old high school friend, Vinnie, bails him out (literally) and promises to take him along for the ride of his life. There are many surprises along the way, including Vinnie's disappearance and Johnny's "luck" in fishing Vinnie's severed head out of the Great South Bay. What follows is mystifying, antic and totally captivating. You won't be able to put this book down, as it seamlessly weaves some absurd occurrences with some great plot twists. It will keep you guessing until the end, and laughing all the way.

One of Elmore Leonard's greatest talents is showing fools go wrong. But most of his work is within the realm of the possible. This book goes so far over the edge, so fast, that it whacks the reader over the head. Almost didn't finish this one.

Marc Lecard is a hoot. I don't know where he gets his ideas, but it has to be from a place where the buses don't run. A former resident of Long Island, Lecard now resides in Northern California, which explains --- at least in part --- where the characters in his darkly comic debut novel come from. But the ideas? Yikes!

VINNIE'S HEAD is about just that: Vinnie's head. Johnnie LoDuco, a very small-time (and largely unsuccessful) criminal from Long Island, finds Vinnie's head while fishing. The head in question belongs to the improbably named Vinnie McCloskey-Schmidt, who is in the process of involving his childhood friend Johnnie in a credit card sweep scam that will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams (or so Vinnie promises). But when LoDuco reels Vinnie's head in on the end of a fishing line --- without the rest of Vinnie to go along with it --- all bets are off.

In fact, it's worse than that. Everyone is now after him --- mob guys, Vinnie's girlfriend, the police --- and he has no port to escape the storm. Actually, that's not quite accurate. He does find two people: one is a slum goddess working in a video store, and the other is a gent named Bogdan. Bogdan is a crucial character --- he pretty much steals the book away --- but Lecard waits until readers are more than two-thirds of the way through the story before introducing him. A lesser writer would have brought in such a character more towards the beginning, but Lecard interjects Bogdan perfectly here, making him a major player in the conclusion. What ultimately results is at the end of a road that gets stranger and stranger with each and every mile.

VINNIE'S HEAD isn't so much funny as it is wacky. There are times where you want to reach into the page and smack LoDuco for being stupid or cowardly, but he's just lovable enough that you hold yourself in check and forgive him. On top of that, almost everyone in this book is worse than he is, so he gets your love --- or at least some of it --- by default.

This entertaining debut has enough characters --- in every sense of the word --- to fill five novels, and I have the feeling we're going to see a few of them in the future. At the very least, however, I want to see more work from Lecard.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Low-level crook Johnnie Loduco is in a bit of a pickle. Fresh out of jail he goes fishing on a Long Island pier and hooks what he thinks is a whopper. The only problem is, when he finally reels it in, it turns out to be his friend Vinny's head. He, Vinny and Vinny's girlfriend Jennifer have been planning a scam and it looks like things have gone terribly wrong. This starts a madcap tale with Johnny playing hot potato with the head and running from the cops, the crooks and everybody in between. What results is a morbidly funny novel, written in a dry and sarcastic style that keeps things moving along briskly.

Just like they say about acting: It is harder to do comedy then drama, goes true for writing a comic novel! Marc Lecard goes at it with his first novel and I hope he will continue with his second "Tiny Little Troubles". We need more people who can write with the wit and joy that this novel gave me.

Johnnie LoDuco did not show much promise for ever having a successful career. He had been writing cheap porn novels at $500 a pop, and working as a clerk in an adult book store. His present troubles started when he sold porn to someone underage. One thing led to another. He was facing a court date and the possiblility of doing hard time for someone else's B&E when he borrowed a fishing pole and went fishing. That's when he reeled in Vinnie's head.

Everyone seems to want Vinnie's head, and therein lies the tale, as a head makes a journey through bags, ice chests, and freezers. Some interesting people show up along the way. Who can you trust, and who is doing what to whom? LoDuco is stuck in the middle of events, but he is one of those people who can fall into it and come up smelling like roses.

The book has dark humor. There is some amount of violence, and scenes involving the head may seem a little gruesome. The novel contains a significant amount of earthy street language.

For a short story about LoDuco, see "Teardown" in the "Killer Year" collection of short stories (Lee Child, editor).

I'm a huge fan of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey and I have to say that Lecard's "Vinnie's Head" is just as good (and definitely better than Hiassen's last novel "Nature Girl").
"Vinnie's Head" is side-splitting funny - a great comic "mystery", definitely a great, light, funny read for anyone who's looking to escape reality for a few hours. Well written, great narrative style, and most important - funny as hell! It's Lecard's first book (very impressive!) - I sure hope that he writes a few more (if Serge Storms can survive several novels, why not Johnnie LoDuco?)