Title: The Goodbye Coast by Joe Ide
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 351 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Raymond Chandler’s iconic detective, Philip Marlowe, gets a dramatic and colorful reinvention at the hands of award-winning novelist Joe Ide
The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler’s detective, Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles. Here is a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent inequality, and washed-out police. Acclaimed and award-winning novelist Joe Ide imagines a Marlowe very much of our time: he’s a quiet, lonely, and remarkably capable and confident private detective, though he lives beneath the shadow of his father, a once-decorated LAPD homicide detective, famous throughout the city, who’s given in to drink after the death of Marlowe’s mother.
Marlowe, against his better judgement, accepts two missing person cases, the first a daughter of a faded, tyrannical Hollywood starlet, and the second, a British child stolen from his mother by his father. At the center of COAST is Marlowe’s troubled and confounding relationship with his father, a son who despises yet respects his dad, and a dad who’s unable to hide his bitter disappointment with his grown boy. Together, they will realize that one of their clients may be responsible for murder of her own husband, a washed-up director in debt to Albanian and Russian gangsters, and that the client’s trouble-making daughter may not be what she seems.
Steeped in the richly detailed ethnic neighborhoods of modern LA, Ide’s COAST is a bold recreation that is viciously funny, ingeniously plotted, and surprisingly tender.
Review:
The Goodbye Coast by Joe Ide is a clever mystery which features a re-imagined Philip Marlowe set in modern day Los Angeles.
Private Detective Philip Marlowe reluctantly takes has-been actress Kendra James’ case. Although her husband Terry’s murder is still unsolved, Kendra wants Marlowe to find her runaway stepdaughter, Cody. The seventeen-year-old young woman is surprisingly easy to locate and Marlowe convinces his alcoholic father, Emmet to temporarily take her in.
Marlowe then takes on a second case when he agrees to help British professor Ren Stewart locate her young son Jeremy. Her son’s father failed to bring him back to her after a custodial visit. Ren knows he is somewhere close by and she urges Marlowe to follow every lead they find. Marlowe is intrigued by Ren and sometimes goes against his better instincts while investigating her case.
The Goodbye Coast is a multi-layered detective mystery that is quite atmospheric. Marlowe is a solitary figure with a complex relationship with his father. Emmet is still grieving the loss of his beloved wife and his future with the police department is in jeopardy due to his drinking. The storyline is a bit convoluted and pits Marlowe against dangerous Armenian and Russian criminals. Despite occasionally uneven pacing, Joe Ide brings this engaging mystery to an action-filled conclusion.
