BOOK REVIEW

Citizen Vince by Jess Walter. Edgar Allan Poe Award winner.

(Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com)  Vince Camden (not his real name) tries to make the best of his sorry lot in life. He used to enjoy the excitement of a con-man's life in New York City. He made a good living, too. He had a beautiful fiancée and a lawyer for a brother-in-law, which came in handy given his lifestyle.

But then Vince had the bad luck to be caught by the feds.  It gets worse.  He was railroaded into testifying against the mob. Not that he had much in the way of information to cough up, but the mob is not known for forgiveness. A couple of guys went to jail, and Vince got whisked off into the Witness Protection program.

Now he lives in Spokane, Washington. He manages a doughnut shop named, regrettably, Donut Make You Hungry.  His main employee, a spacey kid named Tic, talks non-stop of conspiracy theories.

Spokane is a dull and frozen town (though the river is pretty), and there is nothing to do aside from the all-night poker games that flourishes at Sam's Pit, an after-hours joint where the handful of criminals in Spokane like to hang out.  This is where Vince met his current (sort of) girlfriend, a vulnerable hooker named Beth who is supposedly studying for her real estate broker's license.

When he's not hanging out at Sam's Pit or working at the doughnut shop, Vince will often go to the federal courthouse and play chess with the U.S. Marshall in charge of his case.  It's a humble life. Can anyone blame him for needing a little excitement?  He starts up a variation on his old credit-cards scam with a small crew, including Clay, a mailman who removes newly-issued cards from people's mail; Doug, a photographer who forges new cards; and Len who manages an electronics store where Vince uses the new cards to buy stuff and get cash advances.

The book opens in Vince's present-day life in Spokane (actually in 1980, eight days before the Carter-Reagan election).  The presidential election intrigues Vince:  he has no idea who he should vote for. As an ex-felon, he has never before enjoyed the privilege of being able to vote. But the Witness Protection Program has given him a new identity, and made it possible now.

But bigger changes are coming for Vince.

Little does he know that a new guy Ray has come to town. An obvious mobster from "back East," Ray meets Len who happens to brag about the credit-card scam. Ray decides he wants to cut out Vince and take over.   Ray and Len go to discuss this with Doug the forger. All they need is to get their hands on Vince and make him give up the stolen money he's been stockpiling and the name of the mailman whom they need for the scam to continue.  Len is all for this, but Doug has his misgivings. So Ray shoots Doug.

Vince, who walks everywhere in Spokane late at night, stumbles upon the crime scene a few hours later. The police have roped off Doug's deserted little shop. They rush around, trying to figure out the murder.

No one notices Vince staring in dismay at the parking lot crowded with cop cars except for a rookie cop named Dupree. This cop, a small persistent man, insists on engaging Vince in conversation and asking him several pointed questions.  Vince slips away as soon as he can.

From here, the lively plot slams into high gear. Vince has a close call with Ray and makes the assumption that the mobsters against whom he testified have sent Ray to kill him.  He takes his stockpiled money and rushes off (against federal regulations) to New York City. He thinks his only hope is to find the mob boss who wants him dead, and make a deal.

Dupree follows Vince to New York City on the hunch that Vince is more than he seems, and had something to do with the murder of Doug back in Spokane. He is an excellent cop with an intuitive flair for uncovering Vince's past. But he's also in way over his head, especially when he's paired up with NYPD Detective Charles who is an absolute lunatic and a psychopath.  Charles drags an appalled Dupree through the corrupt wasteland of New York City, creating mayhem wherever they go.  Soon Dupree isn't sure if he should try to escape Charles's company so that he can continue to search for Vince, or risk his own life trying to take the rogue cop down.

In the end, all roads lead back to Spokane.  A final show-down must happen.  And there's still that presidential election in which Vince needs to cast his vote!

Citizen Vince is an excellent read with two great characters in Vince and Dupree. Vince is talkative, philosophical, intelligent, and humorous.  Dupree is dogged, optimistic, intuitively brilliant, and full of misgivings.

Citizen Vince gets four stars out of five, and can be found on Amazon through this link: 

Citizen Vince: A Novel

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