Books: Double Feature by Donald E. Westlake (1977/2020)

 

Double Feature is one the latest re-releases through Hard Case of Donald E. Westlake’s oeuvre. Originally published in by a smaller imprint back in 1977 as Enough (a rather cryptic title, and really has nothing to do with the book itself) it contained two stories, the novella length A Travesty and a long-ish short story Ordo.  These tales are fairly different in tone, but they are influenced by Westlake’s experience with movies. 

A Travesty is –more or less- a send-end up of the murder mystery genre. It’s the tale of film critic Carey Thorpe, who accidently murders one of his two girlfriends (not be confused with a divorcing wife we hear, but never see), Laura Penny. As the police begin to investigate, and Carey is somehow cleared, he then teams up with a cop named Fed Staples, who seems more enamored with Thorpe’s lifestyle than anything else. So much so, that Staples begins asking Thorpe to aide in other cases –some which Thorpe actually solves (in the traditional style of the whodunits from yesteryear). There is also a private detective who had been paid to follow Penny by her husband to catch her having affairs. Edgarson proves to a thorn in Thorpe’s side, as he tries to blackmail the critic. And while this is going on, Thorpe begins an affair with the Staples wife and things just get odder…

“If you’re going to commit a murder –and in the first place, I don’t recommend it- one thing you should defiantly not do afterward is have sex with the investigating officer’s wife. It merely makes for a lot of extraneous complications” Thorpe narrates and he seems totally able to pull off the perfect murder. But also, as I’ve read on Westlake’s recurring theme in those Parker books, you shouldn’t make murder the answer to all your problems. So like all these types of mysteries, complications ensure, forcing Thorpe to kill again and again. While its A Travesty is a farce, and all the characters are rather thin, the plot has many twist and turns (seemly a lot for a short 182 page tale) does keep you reading, wondering how the film critic will get out this latest jam. There is some funny passages on writing for the movies and Westlake seemly enjoys poking the Hollywood system of filmmaking and writing (“the script. Only a hack cares about the goddam script”). 

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Ordo is an odd story, as there is no crime, some humor (none that would make you laugh out loud) and its only seemly connection to the other tale is that is features actors and other movie people. The real thrust of this unusual tale is about how people can change over the years and this makes Ordo Tupikos a sort of detective.

From Trent at the Violent World Parker: “Ordo Tupikos is a sailor in the US Navy. One day, one of his fellow sailors says, ‘You never said you were married to Dawn Devayne.’ Dawn Devayne is a hugely popular and famous movie star, and according to the article in the magazine Ordo’s fellow shipman is reading, used to be named Estelle Anlic. Ordo was married very briefly to Estelle when he was twenty-one. Estelle had said she was nineteen, but was only sixteen. Estelle’s mother had found them, and had the marriage annulled. Ordo is familiar with Dawn Devayne. He’s even seen a couple of her movies. But the woman on the screen was so different from the Estelle he was once married to that he drew no association.”

Strangely, this throws Ordo into a state of confusion, as he ponders how a person can be two different people in the same body, so to speak. He eventually takes a three-week leave from Navy to talk to Estelle…or Dawn…to seek out his questions. Ordo comes off as confident man, not some strange hick. He seems a man set in reality, in a modern world (of the 1970s). I’m not sure what Westlake was really trying to say here, but I guess it was some commentary on the differences between ordinary (Ordo) people and the ones that populate Hollywood.

“Then how, “I asked him.”She decided to be somebody else. How is it possible to do that?”

He shrugged and grinned, friendly and amiable but not really able to describe colors to a blind man. “You find somebody you’d rather be,” he said.

So Ordo is a bit of tale about people who feel the need to recreate themselves after growing up and also one about people who sort remain the same (whether this is good or bad is up to the reader to decide). Maybe this is the key to success for some –leaving behind everything that made their youth hard and becoming someone new. 

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On a side note, both of these tales have been adapted -one for TV and one for the French silver screens. A Travesty became A Slight Case of Murder, a 1999 TNT movie that starred William H. Macy (who co-wrote the screenplay with director Steven Schachter), Felicity Huffman, Alan Arkin, and James Cromwell. 

Ordo was adapted into a French film in 2004 and starred Roschdy Zem and Marie-Josée Croze.

Books: Double Feature by Owen King (2013)

In his debut novel, Double Feature, Owen King creates a darkly humorous look at family and low-budget film making, along with doses of screwball comedy.  The youngest son of best-selling author Stephen King, the writer shows a deft hand at creating odd characters that are sympathetic and very real.

The novel is about filmmaker Sam Dolan, who always had a difficult relationship with his father, a B-movie actor/director Booth Dolan—a boisterous, opinionated, lying lothario whose screen legacy falls somewhere between cult hero and pathetic. Sam has a half-sister Mina, who is, at times, violent yet endearing as well. While she sees the faults of their father, she loves him despite Booth’s tendency to screw-up repeatedly –though Mina’s mother is alive, while Sam’s mother Allie is dead, their relationship is strained due to the possible issue that Sandra may be a bit crazy. 

While still young, Sam makes his first film, "Who We Are." But the money man, who is also the first AD, hijacks the film in post-production, altering the film and destroying almost everything else. With his film irrevocably ruined, he’s trashes the only known copy. But as he tosses the DVD into the bin, it misses and lands on the ground. Too depressed to make sure it’s gone, he leaves.

And that little misstep sets in motion a ten years odyssey for him, as the film develops a cult following. Meanwhile, he toils at Brooklyn video store and doing wedding videos. But one weekend in 2011, Sam is forced to come to terms with his failed opus, "Who We Are," his dad and his messy life –which includes seeing two women, one who is married. Along the way we are joined by Mina, Wesely –his housebound roommate who has become famous on the internet- and Sam’s Godfather Tom, a contractor who can’t seem to stop adding additions onto his house. 

As a long-time reader of his father, Stephen and also now a fan of his brother Joe, Owen King’s turn into the realm of such authors who deal with family –John Irving, Jonathan Tropper- in a humorous way is great. While his dad has done the same, the elder King’s family dysfunction has always been sort of mean. Here the younger King takes a more real (maybe) look at regret, resentment and ambition. And he creates real people, who speak real words of everyday people –a hallmark of what I like about the elder King’s novels. 

While I felt the story petered out towards the end, I was still impressed with the novel, as King’s prose is different from his famous father and rising star of a brother; it seemed wilier, I guess. Finding the human condition is always difficult, but Owen King’s perceptive about people is sometimes what is best about the book; it’s very funny and always charming.

Note: 

Now that I've joined the working world again, I'm bound to slow down my reading time. The last week has been awfully tiring, and while I'm not sure I want to stay with this new company, I also realize I'm in no position to turn it down as well. I fully intend to get back to the Setting Free the Bears, but I needed to read this first. 

Still, until I can find a happy balance of not being so exhausted when I come home from work that all I want to do is watch TV, I might end up reading one or two books a month.