Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

Weaving various stories together.  IQ & Dotson as teenagers.  Dotson trying to pull a job on his own after he sells stolen goods without consulting IQ. Skip/IQ  battle of wits.  IQ wanting to kidnap Skip's massive pit; Skip trying to kill IQ. Cal still depressed and unable to perform--who among his posse is the traitor. Enjoying this.  Plot is the weakest link--characters, settings--terrific

70% Skip is the hitman, so there's no drama there.  Ide takes us back to IQ at 17 with Dotson using a battering ram to rob stores.  Nearly captured by cops. Dotson being willing (maybe) to kill the cop to escape jail.  Now Skip is in IQ's apartment, hiding in his room, ready to kill.  My guess: IQ will defeat him with his brain, not his brawn.  Inventive metaphors, witty, but a bit clunky with exposition at times.

Listened today in car.  IQ using inductive reasoning to track down the owner of the pit bull that attacked Cal.  Good sections on pit bulls and the history of the breed.  IQ and Dotson becoming a team, different strengths.  IQ searching for hit-run murderer of his brother. Funny/pathetic descriptions of the life (excesses and misery) of rap star who is the target of the pit bull attack.

Initials of Isaiah, black sorta detective.  His history as teenager and now on the case of rap singer, Cal, who was nearly murdered by a pit bull sent through his doggy door in his house to attack him. Tremendous Audible reader.  Some very funny moments. 

These strike me as modern day Chekhov stories. Great observations of character. Quiet lives are nevertheless filled with drama. Liked them very much. I listened to audio tapes, and I was a little put off by the reader. A bit too laconic. I think I'd have enjoyed these even more had I read them on the page.

Sea Oak:  Main character is a male who works in a sleazy sex restaurant (Joysticks) as a waiter. He lives in a miserable place with a dysfunctional family just able to make ends meet. "Sea Oak's not safe"  Brass knuckles, crackhouse, shots fired.Then his aunt Bernie dies.  She's lived a bland life, but in death -- whoa!  She digs her way out of her grave, returns to her home, decomposes, falls apart, foul mouth. She missed out, and in her second coming, she continues to miss out. The whole family misses out. Maybe the whole world misses out. Grim

A "little" man goes to a self-help seminar where he learns how to become a forceful man.  He's thrilled . . .  what he needs to do is throw his sister out! Then he'll find Inner Peace. Saunders wonderfully captures/parodies the self-help jargon and milieu. Our "hero" returns home, determined to begin his new forceful life, and immediately upon seeing his poor sister returns to the person he was and always will be.  Interestingly, it would have been sadder had he thrown his sister out.