Freeze Dry

A likeable con man named Shickie Doone. His whorish ex-wife with her shellacked beehive hair-do. Her well-dressed, slimy Cuban lover. A Gatlinburg tycoon who makes his millions off fudge, stolen meat and the Bible Alive Museum. His hired hit man, called The Hammer, who punctuates his palsied gun shots with Yiddish expressions. A wanna-be Native American who goes to tanning booths. The Reverend Creely Patch who has God's own ear and translates his lust for the lovely Ginger Rodgers (who wants to be a star) into sacredly sanctioned schemes. Her Firefly cohorts, members of a slickly organized church promising imminent Rapture. And the academic, Plato Scopes, desperate for recognition beyond his position at one of the country's foremost buttonhook museums, south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, of course. What do all these outlandish characters have in common? They are all after the same freeze-dried victim. A case of mistaken identity becomes satirically complicated as the dead body is simultaneously regarded as an ancient mummy, the focus of a politically charged profaned ritual burial, a much needed DNA specimen for money grubbers and proof that heavenly Rapture indeed exists. Hirschfeld's crisp prose, his attention to detail and knack for dialogue, as well as his capacity for subtlety, save the zany plot-line from becoming too slapstick, but, as the story comes to a climax, it is difficult not to laugh aloud at the comic absurdity of his characters' shenanigans. Perhaps most masterful of all scenes is the one in which complete Chaos breaks loose, against an audio background of God's ordering of the universe in the Genesis creation story. Freeze Dry is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure for anyone with a sense of humor who appreciates the combination of good writing and intelligent satire within a playful and compelling story. The smile on your face as you finish the last page will bespeak Hirschfeld's skill at pegging the little bit of con man in us all.

Freeze Dry is a story of illusion, deception, and misidentity. Mummy, mummy, who's got the mummy? Hirschfeld retains his distinctive brand of off the wall humor, shifting venues, strong sense of local color, and engaging cast of misfits. I wondered at first how so many loose ends could ever come together, but, sure enough, he wrapped it up oh-so-neat at the end. Loved especially the choir girl Ginger Rodgers, you-love-her-you-hate-her, Rita Rae (returning from Too High), the conned con-man. Shickie Doone, and the octogenarian hit-man, Maury Finkle. Hirschfeld has been compared to Hiassen, Westlake, and Leonard but his style is as different from theirs as they are from one another. If you like off-beat and a good laugh, give Freeze Dry a tumble. And here's a bonus: beneath Hirschfeld's humor lie some delicious ironies and clever social commentary.

I stumbled on Hirschfeld's first book, "Aloha Mr.Lucky," and quickly realized I was reading something a little more rare, slightly more challenging and tasty than the Westlake/Leonard diet I'd been on, while being every bit as funny. Naturally, I read the second book, "Too High." Once again he hit the mark with his quirky characters and clever plot. Now there's "Freeze Dry," and I think it's his best yet. However, I'm sorry to admit in public that it's taken all three books for me to figure out what Hischfeld's doing that the others who write in this genre can't. Back at book number one, I noticed how quickly he could put me in a scene, a location. He was getting me there in a sentence or two, when it might take other writers paragraphs. Suddenly I figured out how he does that. He's a professional photographer. He sees things differently than you and I do. That aspect of his writing, alone, has made each book a terrific journey . "Freeze Dry" is loaded with wonderful examples of colorful scene-setting that are great mental backdrops for this book's nutso characters and wacko plot. I hope there's a fourth book in the works. Because wherever it goes, I'm going, too.

Clever plot, diverse (in the widest sense of the word) and engaging characters, plus plenty of laughs. The editorial reviews give a sense of the story, so no need to reveal more except that it's full of surprises. The return of Rita Rae and Orlando from Too High are reason enough to read Freeze Dry. Hirschfeld has Vegas nailed and if you've ever been to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, you'll love this. While his previous novels, Aloha, Mr. Lucky, and Too High were of the murder/suspense/adventure genre, Freeze Dry is more of a caper--a caper gone wild. The story is more like a Donald Westlake or Elmore Leonard novel. Should make a heck of a movie!

What a wonderful book! In tradition with Hirchfield's other books, Freeze Dry is full of surprises and crazy characters. Highly recommended.