Citizen Vince

Vince Camden is a low level hood. Living in Spokane in the witness protection program, he's vacillating between an honest life as a baker at a donut shop and the low criminal enterprises (sells a bit of Mary Jane and flogs stolen credit card numbers) that got him in trouble in the first place. Unfortunately, his quiet and marginally successful life is disrupted when his criminal scheme blows up and a hired killer from back east arrives on the scene. Vince, in an unusual move, goes back east to see if he can somehow make amends and save his life. Turns out he's miscalculated on why the killer showed up--and now he's in a whole different sort of trouble. This really is more of a suspense novel and character study than a crime novel in the traditional sense. The story line drifts between Vince and a local rookie cop trying to figure things out after one of the credit card gang winds up dead. It's a novel of twists and turns and deep thoughts expressed by interesting--even, in their own slimy way--captivating characters. The characters are vividly and deeply painted with a loving and skillful touch by Walter. Walter writes both fiction and nonfiction and is also an investigative reporter of some stature. The intertwining of real world brutality and effective and mob style humor is effective and compelling. The entire story is told in tangent with the Reagan/Carter presidential election and Vince's struggles intermingle with the candidates struggles in an interesting and arresting manner. This isn't normally my preferred genre of fiction but I have to say I was enraptured by this effort. I'm looking to read all of Walter's work. What higher praise can one offer?

Vince Camden is a baker on the run from the west coast to the east coast because he believes someone is after him. What seems like paranoia at the beginning is really a story of character and action as the novel turns out to be something you don't expect, how politics become meaningful to individuals. Vince is a criminal on the run trying to figure out who to vote for in the '80 presidential race and that becomes the vehicle for his growth. Hilarious tough dialogue and great writing made this book powerful.

As wise-guy stories go, this one is uncommonly thoughtful. Walter's sardonic and suspenseful story -- about a small-time crook trying to go straight -- is populated with a cast of vividly drawn, constantly unpredictable characters. Wait until you meet the off-kilter Det. Charles, to name just one. Yet Walter adds another, deeper layer. He infuses the story with a running meditation on the importance of one vote in a democracy. Vince Camden had his voting rights taken away as a felon, but now he has a new identity in the witness protection program and he's free to vote in the 1980 election. But why should he bother? And who should he bother to vote for, Reagan or Carter? Walter smoothly turns these election-year questions into metaphors for the issues in Vince's life. Crooked or straight? Petty selfishness or civic responsibility? Mobbed up in New York or mowing the lawn in Spokane? As it turns out, one vote doesn't affect the outcome, but it sure has an impact on the guy casting the vote.

Citizen Vince is a truly unique book and character! Vince lives in a very dark world of crime with friends of "questionable character". However, there is something redeeming in Vince---as he himself discovers over the course of the novel. Walters has a rare talent for making the "bad guy" attractive and likeable. This is an unforgettable story about redemption and growth. Vince stays with the reader long after the last page is read!

Jess Walter never stops surprising. He followed two excellent nonfiction works --- EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW and IN CONTEMPT --- with OVER TUMBLED GRAVES and LAND OF THE BLIND. CITIZEN VINCE, his latest novel, mixes a strong, present tense narrative with historical events to present a dark, restless study of lives gone awry. CITIZEN VINCE isn't a novel that readily fits into a particular genre classification. There are elements that certainly will appeal to readers of crime fiction, but it's also a character study, one that explores the concepts of second chances, redemption, and even penance against the backdrop of the week leading up to the 1980 Presidential election between incumbent Jimmy Carter and former California Governor Ronald Reagan. The storyline is fairly straightforward. Vince Camden is a two-bit thief from New York who has been witness-relocated to Spokane, Washington, where he works a "public job," if you will, running a donut shop. Camden is supplementing his income playing poker in the early morning hours and being the conduit for a credit card scam. He has settled into a reasonably quiet, secure life that includes --- for the first time in his adult life --- the chance to vote for president. Camden has no idea how fragile his situation is until a mysterious killer appears in Spokane, looking to take over his credit card operation and wipe him out permanently. As if this wasn't enough, Camden finds himself embroiled in the life of a local politician and emotionally torn between a prostitute and a legal secretary. Camden believes that the source behind his imminent demise is back in what he refers to as "The World" --- New York. He hopes that by returning to New York he can square the reasons that caused him to leave there to begin with and hopefully call off the hit. A fateful high stakes poker game gives him the opportunity to obtain forgiveness --- and destruction, depending on how things fall. Walter's prior forays into documentary works hold him in good stead here, as he uses a real-world dilemma --- Camden spends a lot of time agonizing over whether to vote for Carter or Reagan --- to provide a backdrop to the narrative. Toss a couple of real-world figures as brief but necessary participants into the story, infuse a street-level view of the action into the mix, and you have a novel that is impossible to put down even as you sense that the only way it can end is badly. Whether that is true or not, however, may depend on your point of view. Jess Walter has developed a reputation for delivering quality fiction that is unpredictable but riveting. CITIZEN VINCE, from first page to last, lives up to that high standard and never disappoints. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub