And what is the author of the first customer review talking about? It seems as if he or she knows Thomas Sanchez and has a personal vendetta against him. It reads more like a jealous lover's hate letter than a sincere review. How could he or she have read the book and written an obviously edited piece on April 22nd when the book wasn't available until the same day? It seems as if the customer-reviewer wrote the piece without reading the book unlike the brilliant reviewers from Publisher's Weekly and Booklist. And to say that Thomas Sanchez is copying Ellroy's style is uneducated because Sanchez wrote the great noir novel Zoot-Suit Murders in the 1970's which effectively predates Ellroy. Also, just because King Bongo is set in the tropics doesn't mean that it has to be the same book as Mile Zero. How does that make any sense? Thomas Sanchez is a master of many styles and is one the greatest authors around. You will love King Bongo.
There is a good story here, but it lacks depth. There are plenty of complications of plot and plenty of atmosphere. I know nothing about Havana, but I felt as if I could see and hear and feel and smell it. And considering the barely 300 pages of length, he does a good job of exploring a few of the characters. But I wanted more - more about the childhood of King and his sister, more about the relationship between Zapata and the Panther, more about the Armstrong woman, and especially more about Sweet Maria, whose transvestitism seemed to be thrown in as an afterthought.
One of the major problems I had with this novel was the character of King Bongo himself. He didn't seem like any insurance agent I could ever imagine. A private detective, yes; but as an insurance agent, surely he was a failure. Where were his clients? And for pete's sake, where did he get the money he paid out to Mrs. Armstrong?
I also had a little trouble with the occasional remarks that indicated that most of the people were actually speaking Spanish, and the English dialogue in the book was actually a "translation." Of course this made sense in the context, but I kept wondering why he couldn't have just mixed more Spanish in with the English.
Still, this is a good solid story and I would definitely go to see it as a movie. Good acting could supply a lot of the "back story" that Sanchez barely hints at. It's a good enough book that I will read it again in a few months, and see if it grows on me some more.
Sometimes this book seems to be going where it isn't, but there's nothing you can do about that, because Sanchez grabs you right from the beginning and keeps tugging at you all the way through the story as you find yourself driving that Oldsmobile Rocket with Bongo as he tries to track down his beautiful, but missing sister.
Bongo is such a wonderful smuck who is afraid of nothing. His friends are loyal. His enemies formidable and the story is glorious. Circles within circles, prose to die for, characters you'll never forget. Books just don't get better than this.
Reviewed by Olivia Louise Louis