I picked this one up at the library because I was intrigued by how anachronistic the idea of a detective with Tourettes seemed to me. I mean, how much more unsuitable for the job could you be? That kind of thing really tickles me. I once wrote a short story called The Agoraphobic Farmer. But I digress...
Told in first person, this book is a unique insight into a Tourtettic mind. Lionel's thoughts are clear for the most part, but he gets caught on things regularly and can only move on by shouting these oddly connected thoughts out loud. Obviously not ideal on a stakeout which is where we first meet him. Other tics include the need to compulsively touch people, again not ideal when the people you're dealing with are often armed and dangerous.
The mystery Lionel is trying to unravel isn't that unusual in its self, but viewed through his eyes and fractured thought processes, it's a wild ride and one I enjoyed very much. I also liked the relationships between the boss, Frank, and the four orphans he picked out when they were young teens and kept together into adulthood. These people might not like each other a whole lot, but somehow they are a family, albeit one that scraps and scrambles over each other for power.
In a mystery that takes you from the mean streets of Brooklyn, through a Zen Buddhist commune and into one of Manhattan's most exclusive buildings, Lionel's first person narrative takes the reader on a wild journey through a completely different way of thinking and reacting to outside stimulus.
I really enjoyed this book and know that Lionel is a character who will stick with me for a long time to come. I would recommend it even if mysteries and gangsters aren't really your thing, just because it is so unique.
But don't just listen to me. Here's the blurb:
Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn’s very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart our language in the most startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of the St. Vincent’s Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster Frank Minna’s limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank Minna, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable, so who cares if the tasks he sets them are, well, not exactly legal. But when Frank is fatally stabbed, one of Lionel’s colleagues lands in jail, the other two vie for his position, and the victim’s widow skips town. Lionel’s world is suddenly topsy-turvy, and this outcast who has trouble even conversing attempts to untangle the threads of the case while trying to keep the words straight in his head. Motherless Brooklyn is a brilliantly original homage to the classic detective novel by one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation.
Sounds really interesting. I like characters with very different ways of thinking.
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