BY GIACOMO SELLONI
"Are Snakes Necessary"", the first novel by famed film director Brian
De Palma (Carrie, Scarface, Dressed to Kill among others), co-written by Susan
Lehman (an attorney by training, former NY Times editor and magazine
contributor) is a doozy. It's latest release of a Hard Case Crime series through Titan Books. The review could end right here but you deserve more
information, read: teasers.
At the risk of sounding much like the
introductory theme song to The Jetsons:
Meet
Barton Brock, campaign manager for Senatorial candidate Jason Crump who's
getting creamed in the primaries by incumbent Senator, Lee Rogers.
"Political
campaigns are brutal. The stakes are high. Not for the electorate - Barton
Brock does not particularly care for the electorate. But for the team that
boosts the candidate into office, the stakes matter, a lot. The guys on the
team get big payoffs, good appointments, cushy jobs, bigger campaigns.
It's a lot like fishing. You start small, then
throw away the little guys, the ones self-respecting cats wouldn't call dinner
- and then you cast out for the big mothers."
You
like similes and metaphors? Lehman and De Palma are masters of the craft. Wait.
Meet
Elizabeth DeCarlo,
a 19 year old "drop-dead gorgeous blonde" working the counter of a
McDonalds. Brock enlists her onto his staff to "conduct push polls"
but he has an ulterior motive.
Meet
Senator Rogers,
incumbent Senator. He has an ailing wife and an historically out of control
libido. He meets Elizabeth. In a hotel bar. After a successful primary victory.
Just what Brock planned. But things don't turn out quite how he planned.
Meet
Jenny Cours,
Jenny is 47 and has been for many years, a flight attendant for Loft Air. She
is a long-time ahem, friend of the Senator's and his aforementioned
libido.
"Why
do we never forget the ones that got away? Rogers quickens his pace. And, eyes
trained on her ass, he catches up with Jenny Cours."
Meet
Fanny Cours,
Jenny's 18 year old daughter who is "in the full flush of carnality. Neither
her vitality and ripeness nor the irrepressible sense of readiness that
surrounds her elude the impatient senator." The college student is
also a political junkie and a videographer who goes to work on Rogers' campaign
much to her mother's distress.
Meet
Nick Sculley,
a one-time famous news photographer who's down on his luck and during a
stopover in Vegas on his way to LA, he bumps into Elizabeth Diamond, nee
DeCarlo, coming out of the
Admiral's Club Lounge. He's as good looking as our old friend, Elizabeth.
Coincidentally, they're taking the same flight to L.A.. They bond over Graham
Greene's The End of the Affair, sit together and...
"Giggle.
Smile. Kiss the boy. Watch him light up. Knowing how to speak to the animal in
the man is half the game. The rest, Elizabeth finds, is really a matter of
will."
Meet
Bruce Diamond,
Elizabeth's rich, casino-owning husband. Seven casinos rich.
"Diamond
loves expensive cars, priceless paintings, beautiful women. He loves to throw money around. He's so full of
himself and all of his big hungry qualities, he is near to bursting."
There
we have the major dramatis personae. De Palma and Lehman have crafted a
well-woven tale that could be closer to the truth than evident at first.
Politics does make strange... well, you know. The
perfunctory "names, character, places, etc." disclaimer appears on
the copyright page. I bet it must have been written with a tongue in cheek. As
you may guess, due to the authors involved, the novel is very cinematic. The
characters come alive in your mind and you can see settings and scenes as if
you were viewing this, not just reading it.
"A
little conversation, with an old woman. Beats going through the motions of
seduction with some guy out of Vegas who is genuinely confused as to whether
the conversation is going to end up in bed or not. (Yes, mister, it is, why
else do you think I'm listening to you prattle on about your golf game, the
jazz that means more to you than anything in the world, the novel that will
bring you fame and fortune and change the way the world thinks? Darling. This
is the noise we make to fill up the time between here and the not so distant
moment when we'll be naked animals grunting and moaning in a world far from
conversation.)"
These
are Elizabeth's thoughts as she rides on a bus, towards the next stage of her
life as she sits
and
speaks with:
Meet
Lucy Wideman,
an elderly woman who has anonymously, for years, been the Boston Globe's advice
columnist, Dear Dottie.
With
this inventive, fast-paced page turner in your hands you will also be meeting
your next fun and exciting read.
As
a bonus, for those of you in the NY metro area, the authors will be at the
famous Strand Bookstore on Broadway at 12th Street, Monday March 16 beginning
at 7:00 PM. More information can be found at: www.
strandbooks.com/event/palma-lehman-snakes
(The book will be available on Kindle and in hardback on March 17. Click here to pre-order from Amazon.)