Reviewer: Janet Davies
Title: The Desert King
Author: T.F. Torrey
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1-59998-368-0
Release Date: June 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: Mystery/Suspense
Year/Setting: Phoenix 1985
Overall Rating: 3.75
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity/Slang) Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: Minimal
T.F.'s Website:
tftorrey.com
When Jack Trexlor’s old friend Macy Barnes walks into his bar one into night, it changes Jack’s life forever. What starts out as a wild night of shooting guns and running from the police as a boyish prank turns out to be a turning point in Jack’s life.
Macy is in awe of his mentor John Lupo. He is a man that is teaching him about life and the desert. When Macy invites Jack on a trip to the desert he gets more than he bargained for. First there is Macy’s wife Sharon. Once she was Jack’s friend but now she is not and Jack wonders why. He also is surprised when his ex-lover Erica turns out to be John Lupo’s girlfriend. What started out as a promising boy’s weekend away is becoming so much more complicated and uncomfortable.
But ex-lovers and angry friends are not Jack’s only problem. Someone is out to teach him and her friends a dangerous lesson. Jack soon learns that the past is not always buried and that sometimes it can come back to bite hard.
To me, The Desert King has a Pulp Fiction feel about it with the whole back tracking and going over people’s lives. I liked that and I was instantly interested as I wanted to know who these people were and what were they doing. It’s a book where everything is not as it seems. As a reader I kept thinking I knew what would happen next and then was surprised when it didn’t.
There is a real lonely feel to this book and that reflects in the characters. Jack is a guy with a lot of emotional baggage working in a bar and just getting by. The other characters are just as ordinary and flawed as Jack. I didn’t particularly find any of them likeable but I don’t believe I was supposed to. I think the reader is meant to look at these people and wonder what is their story and their common link and how on earth did these people all become acquainted. I don’t always want to read about heroes. I want to read about the guy at the bar, his no-hoper friend and the girl that he let get away through his own stupidity.
Maybe in parts in drags just a little but then this is a story about average people and their fears, mistakes and vulnerabilities so maybe like real life that reflects in the few slow parts. However it did not detract greatly from the book as I still wanted to know what was going on with these people.
The Desert King is an interesting read. It’s all about mismatched people who are thrust together and start to learn more about themselves and each other. It’s well worth a read especially if you like something more gritty and Pulp Fiction like.
Janet
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