Snitch Jacket

A few weeks ago, I was loafing in the stacks of my local library while my wife looked for some things to read. Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard happened to catch my eye and I decided to check it out. Finding Snitch Jacket was remarkable good fortune; it is a great novel that all fans of mystery and suspense should read. Snitch Jacket concerns a "confidential informant" named Benny Bunt who becomes enmeshed in a sinister plot in the Los Angeles underworld. This book has colorful characters and atmosphere to spare. I lived in a California for a year, and I think that Goffard does a great job of evoking the underside of the Golden State that we don't often see in the media. The pathetic actions of Goffard's would-be tough guys bring to mind Elmore Leonard's characters. Snitch Jacket is also very funny; many times, it had me laughing out loud. In some particularly-amusing material, Goffard pokes fun at the tabloid media and at true-crime writers. Goffard's cynical humor reminds me of Joseph Wambaugh's The Choir Boys. Finally, Goffard`s twisted plot keeps the reader guessing right up to the finish. Though I wholeheartedly recommend Snitch Jacket, I have a few quibbles with the book. The characters, at times, respond to very serious problems in lighthearted ways that aren't entirely plausible. (Snitch Jacket resembles Carl Hiassen's work in this regard). Potential readers should also be aware that Snitch Jacket is extremely graphic; the scene in which Benny applies Preparation H just before having sex is enough to turn anyone's stomach. I can't believe that Goffard didn't even get an Edgar Award nomination for Snitch Jacket. Let's hope that Snitch Jacket is just the start of a long career for Goffard. I can't wait to read his next book.

This is a surprise, I kept reading and thinking that it was bound to have a down moment... But it never came. A page turner until the last page. I hope to see this as a Tarantino screenplay, as promised on the back cover.

To be nominated for an Edgar, a first time writer has to have a book that offers the reader an outrageous tale filled with humor, intelligence and characters that are definitely out of the ordinary. With Snitch Jacket, author Christopher Goffard gives us a book that, in this readers opinion, ranks among the best in unconventional crime fiction replete with a couple unusual characters in the persons of Benny Bunt the consumate anti-hero, and Gus "Mad Dog" Miller - Vietnam Vet with more war stories than General Patton. The question is are the stories true or the result of a psychotic personality? Benny, our narrator, is a 41 year old dishwasher with an extensive resume covering several incarnations, both past and present, as a meth user, barfly, cop wannabe, police informant, and runaway husband. Most of his leisure hours are spent "socializing" at a Southern California dive known as Greasy Tuesday, whose other patrons Benny occasionally rats out (for their own good) to a local detective named Munoz. When Gus approaches Benny seeking assistance with a contract killing, the fun really begins. Not wanting to spoil your enjoyment of this little jewel I will not divulge any further plot points so if your find yourself like Oliver Twist, wanting "more please", you will have to buy Goffard's book. Just know that if you are a fan of the dark humor of Carl Hiaasen, or a movie buff who enjoys movies like the Coen brothers Blood Simple, this book is an A-ticket to a ride your sure to enjoy.

Don't let the low budget, comic book-like cover fool you: Christopher Goffard is the real deal, and "Snitch Jacket" may be the sleeper of the year - an amped up, in-your-face, irreverent tale of human wreckage - the stuff J.D. Salinger would be writing were alive today. This is the story of Benny Bunt, a 40ish burned out product of drug abuse and a dysfunctional family, scraping by as a dishwasher, making only enough to keep him on booze and the occasional crystal while wasting away the hours the squalid "Greasy Tuesday", a dive bar of Dantesque calibre tucked away in the seedy hills east of LA, well off the tourist trails and Hollywood Star maps. He is also a snitch or, as the local PD prefer, a "confidential informant". And as noted on the book jacket, "you will like him." Well, yeah, kind of, but not in a way you'd like a friend, and certainly not in a way you'd like your own kid to turn out. So Benny's life is predictably dull, dead-ended, and pretty much despicable - when into 'Tuesday' rolls Gus "Mad Dog" Miller, the beer gutted and tattooed giant, self-proclaimed Viet Nam War hero and sometime assassin. In addition to his less desirable traits, Benny is also a good listener with a near-photographic memory for mostly useless trivia, who sits spellbound as Gus regales the regulars with tales of war and murder, increasing in violence and unbelievability. They are soon inseparable in a distorted friendship that eerily reminiscent of Dustin Hoffman's creepily brilliant portrayal of "Ratso" in "Midnight Cowboy." But what gives the talented Goffard the fifth star is the depth and complexity of not only the story line, but the character portrayals of this rich but depraved cast, and Goffard's brilliant rendering of the relationships between them. While the author could have fallen back on the trite and overused "unfairness of American society" pap here, he offers no apology nor pulpit, and simply tells his story without overdone indignation. In the process, he transcends the expected (and expertly done) violence, black humor, and an intriguing premise, and rises to a superior tale with clever twists, unexpected poignancy, and a punch-in-the-gut climax that will linger long after you've put this one back on the shelf. If you like well-written and intelligent crime, and aren't addicted to glossy, happy people performing impossibly unlikely feats of valor, this new author's debut is a must read. And for fans of Huston, Swierczynski, McKinty, Gischler, McCarthy, or Bruen - take heart - there's a new voice on the streets you'll want to get to know.

That Christopher Goffard could suck me into a tale this outlandish and have me laughing my (posterior) off at the same time is a testament to his skill as a novelist. Incredibly, a debut novelist. I'd heard that this book was published to acclaim in the UK last year, but I could never find a copy. So I was pleased to see Overlook/Rookery publish it this summer in the US. I preordered. Goffard does not waste your reading time or book budget. His roots as a newspaper reporter are evident here. His fabrications are woven seamlessly with the real-life absurdities that surface under small headlines in the best newspapers. Research and meticulous anthropological observations underlie the story and characters. The characters -- including a barfly protagonist with a vocabulary that would shame a Harvard English prof -- are gigantic, and the noir is over-the-top. This book's the perfect vacation from life in your middle-class cubicle. In this way, the book made me think of Fight Club. I get the comparisons to Charlie Huston, but I have to say, Goffard does this kind of book better, striking the right tone, keeping it all just believable and bringing us profound observations while we take his entertaining ride. So go ahead; press buy. You won't be sorry.