Nothing Lost

Nothing Lost is narrated by Max Cline, who was ousted from the prosecutor's office when South Midland's born-again Christian Attorney General, Jerrold Wormwold (AKA "The Worm" finds out that he is gay. Max was supposed to prosecute trial of two white men (Duane Lajoie and Bryant Gover) accused of the gruesome torture and murder of a black drifter named Edgar Parlance. Gover quickly rats out Lajoie, who happens to have a supermodel sister, Carlyle. Carlyle has agreed to pay for his legal expenses and make a coffee table book out of the trial. This all turns the case too high profile in the eyes of The Worm, who takes Max off the case and replaces him with J.J. McClure. The Worm doesn't want a gay lead prosecutor ruining his chances of being elected - especially now that conservative talk show hostess and Congresswoman Sonora "Poppy" McClure has mentioned that she will run for Governor as well. Little does The Worm know, J.J. McClure is Poppy's husband. Max is down but not out, as he returns to the case as a Defense Attorney and goes head to head with J.J. A full blown media circus beings as Poppy tries to use the case to her advantage and The Worm tries to spin the case to his advantage. Nothing Lost is a fast-paced thriller that is cynical, profane and tongue in cheek funny.

I'm at home on bed rest and desperate for something good to read. This book did the trick.. The narrator is smart, funny, and clearly aware that it is next to impossible to do much about most of the evil sleaziness of the world. Certainly it is impossible to make changes in individual lives, one at a time. (Or maybe I'm just jaded, too. Some may call it maturity.) Clearly, the narrator is the most decent character in a novel full of morally bankrupt people (from both sides of the tracks). Ironically, his career is blindsided due to what others perceive to be questionable morals. Anyway, join Max as he watches pathetic people with and without class, power, and agency screw up their lives even more than they already have, and help him make sense of it. Great literature this ain't, but a smart, fun, cynical read it is.

John Gregory Dunne was a greatly underappreciated American writer at the time of his death in December 2003. His novel about the Black Dahlia case, "True Confessions" is a masterpiece of neo-noir and black comedy (forget about the dull movie version with DeNiro and Duvall.) His searing, direly funny "Dutch Shea, Jr." is a classic waiting to be rediscovered. "Nothing Lost" is set in the same fictional universe as "The Red White, and Blue" and "Playland". Those books tended to be longer on atmosphere than story, but "Nothing Lost" has the snappy surprise of his earlier work. It's Dunne's fictional version of those sensational, media-driven criminal trials of the 1990's. In a fictional midwestern state, a poor African-American man is tortured and murdered by some lowlife young white men in the horribly familiar manner of Brandon Teena, Matthew Shepard, or James Bird. Because one of the accused turns out to be the brother of a notorious teen supermodel the media is further sucked into the case. The model, Carlyle, seems to be based on Paris Hilton; a conservative congresswoman appears to be modeled on Ariana Huffington before her recent conversion to the left. (Another lady talk show host character, who has a lesbian affair with the congresswoman, seems to be the Ann Coulter figure, so to speak.) It turns out that eveyone involved, including the dead man, has secrets to hide, secrets that come back and bite them at the worst possible times. What prevents this book from being Dunne's best are a couple of things. In this one his bitterness and misanthropy are out of control. Dunne thought that if you lived in the middle of the country, away from the sacred precincts of LA and New York, you lived in a hell of yokelry and lower-class backwardness. These qualities are bracing and invigorating in his earlier books, but in "Nothing Lost" he seems to hate everything and everyone. A little light and grace would provide some contrast, at least. And the last hundred pages are rushed. Too much happens all at once to be completely convincing. The book has an aura of being unfinished, and it might have been a little better crafted but for Dunne's untimely death. Nevertheless, if you are a fan you don't want to miss Dunne's last effort. It's bleakly entertaining, but if you aren't already familiar with his books you should really start with "True Confessions."

I found this an excellent novel. Great characters, wonderful plot, and a profound rendering of various social classes. Having worked in the criminal justice system for thirty years noone writes about this milieu better than Dunne. Also there is humor and compassion in his writing; comic writing with a touch of sadness. Dunne will be greatly missed.

Totally disagree with AUGUSTABOOKMAN. ( I TOO AM A HARVARD GRAD !The College.) I write a mini review of each of the hundreds of books I read annually. This is it for "Nothing Lost":His last book; posthumously published.A complex story,beautifully constructed; rich, clever dialogue; many threads to surprise you, but all are brought together in the end. The reader is caught from the first paragraph. One of those books which you are anxious to get back to. Given a choice the book takes precedent over other activities. We will miss you John. Several years since your last effort,but well worth the wait