‘It was like the Wild West all over again, but with smart
phones and better guns.’
Worm (US) opens with an intriguing, rather cinematic set-piece
where a number of the main characters are introduced. Three men drive up to an
oil-drilling station and the boss, Pancrazio, steps out to meet them. The
bikers, members of the Sons Of Silence MC
ask for a word with one of the workers, Gene Handy. Handy goes out to
straighten things out while his friend Ferret watches from a safe distance.
Pancrazio and Handy are very tough people and a visit from a biker gang isn’t
going to phase them. Ferret, on the other hand, is a family man who is working for
the benefit of his wife and child. Without revealing the outcome of the
meeting, I can say that it provides a powerful opening that sets the tone
extremely well and which made me want to press on quickly with the rest of the
book. As opening chapters go, this is a great example to aspiring writers on
how to go about things.
Neither Handy nor Pancrazio are exactly who they seem.
Before long, it becomes clear that they have bigger intentions and plan to
supply the oil field workers with the drugs they want to help them unwind after
a hard day’s toil.
As soon as Ferret gets a sniff of this, he wants in. It’s
not that he’s an experienced criminal. He just wants to earn as much cash as he
can for that wife and daughter of his. Unfortunately, his naivety means he has
no real concept of what’s involved in joining such an operation and getting out
isn’t ever going to be as simple as handing in notice to quit.
There are twists aplenty as the trio reveal their true
colours and the plot is thickened by the crooked police chief Slow Bear and Pancrazio’s
wing men, Good Russell and Bad Russell.
All of this takes place in a Wild West setting. The town is
out of control. The workers are after booze and women and there’s a sense of
anarchy about the whole thing. The law is weak and corrupt, the oilmen are
stir-crazy and powerful and the women here are out to take advantage of their
situation in any way they can.
This isn’t a novel that shines a torch on the wonders of
humanity. Rather it looks down into the chaos of life and the extremities of
existence and refuses to shirk away from the darker crevices. Smith pushes the
characters hard and their flaws are ruthlessly exposed.
What the depths of this
world also does it to bring forward unlikely heroes who emerge from the mire
when it becomes deep enough.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and also admired the quality
of the writing. Smith does a number of things extremely well. His work on
setting is superb and there are at least four dimensions to this world.
He deals with a huge scope and a complex plot and yet always keeps control. The dialogue
is well delivered and the book is densely populated by brilliant phrases that
speak volumes in few words. Add to that the constant surge of the characters
and the story-line (even the back story moves forwards) and there’s one
page-turning novel that will satisfy the appetite of many a crime reader.
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