I decided to start this side-series off with a book that I've been interested in for a while now:
The Detective: Mark Genevich
Eccentric Trait: Narcolepsy
Mark Genevich wears a dirty brown cotton suit from the 1980's. He never washes it, and he constantly sleeps in it. He also always wears an old brown fedora that's rugged and bent. He's also been dealt a shitty hand in life. A car accident in college took his best friend's life, left him physically and aesthetically damaged, and gave him severe narcolepsy. Here are some of the traits he suffers:
- Extreme exhaustion
- Hypnagogic Hallucinations
- Automatic Behavior
- Memory Loss/False Memories
- Cataplexy
And Mark Genevich, if anything, is a very frustrated person. He is constantly battling himself. He is insecure. He's quickly losing moments of his life to bouts of 'little sleep'. He hates that his single mom, Ellen, still takes care of him and that he can't provide for himself. He isn't very close to his mother, constantly hides things from her, and the only memory of his father is a repeating dream. He wants to be a Humphry Bogart smooth-talking wise-guy bad-ass, and he tries, but he's too busy blaming himself as a fuck up to really succeed. It makes it all the more difficult that Mark is our narrator. We see everything he sees, we hear how he feels. When he hallucinates, we hallucinate. When he dreams, we dream.
The book opens with Jennifer Times, a local celebrity from the national talent reality TV show American Star, visiting Genevich. She has an interesting case for him: someone has stolen her finger tips, and she'll pay him $50,000 to find where they are. Then he falls asleep and she's gone. But she conveniently left black and white nude photos of herself on his desk. He also has a notepad full of rambling gibberish and scribbles.
Wait, what?
Exactly. So Mark tries to get in contact with Jennifer, but it hits a rough patch when he realizes she's never met him before. And she has her fingers. It doesn't help that her father is the local DA, a pretty popular and powerful guy, and she thinks Mark's a stalker.
Oh, okay. So who left the photos? Are they really Jennifer? What's with the gibberish? Who actually hired Mark, and why? What exactly did they hire him for? Do they know who he is, and about his condition?
The book sets itself up in a confusing/interesting way. The first few chapters contradict each other by giving you information, and then cancelling it out. Once it gets moving, you start wondering what scenes are real, and which were dreams. It doesn't help that Mark's grasp of reality is questionable, and his insecurities fire up quite often. Despite this, the book never makes itself a chore to read. The plot is cohesive, it follows a direct path, and it never gets too confusing.
The writing style is modern hard boiled Noir. Sparse and direct. With it's surreal style, the metaphors tend to get a little bizarre. But, as it's name implies, it takes direct inspiration from Raymond Chandler in more ways that one.
I thought the concept of the novel could bring some good humor. I was surprised that it didn't take this route. There is humor in the novel, as Mark tries to make a wise-crack in sticky situations (and usually fails at both), but the narcolepsy is taken at face value. It's a prevalent problem, and Mark doesn't think it's funny, and neither should the reader. It adds a bizarre spin to a fun genre, and it can get informative without being heavy-handed.
For a first step in the Unusual Detective series, this was a fun one.
There is a sequel called "No Sleep Till Wonderland". I'll happily be reading it eventually.
Purchase "The Little Sleep" Here
Learn about the author Paul Tremblay
Learn about Narcolepsy
Watch a video about a Narcoleptic Puppy
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