Tribulations of the Shortcut Man by P.G. Sturges
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ah, the shortcut man. these books have such potential, but they are beyond infuriating.
The shortcut man is a highly amusing anti-hero unleashing a fairly inventive set of methods to enact some measure of justice for the downtrodden. I did particularly like his voice, and his color commentary on his misdeeds particular in the form of jokes and short stories is an endearing trait.
The villains and the utter trainwreck that is their story arc is giddy fun.
And, to Sturges credit, he attempts to fit in a nuanced commentary on race relations in america that upon reflection I think is more right than it is problematic.
Unfortunately, in the narrative, none of these three subplots have much to do with each other. The save-the-ex-girlfriends house from gentrification story is utterly disconnected from the rest of the plot and the tonal shift was beyond jarring. Plot holes abound, from minor research issues*, to serious inconsistencies**, to just plain nonsensical plot twists.***
And sturges should be jailed for the abomination that is his point of view structure. The narrative jumps willy-nilly from character to character, occasionally in and out of first person within a few paragraphs.
I have said it before and will say it again, p.g. sturges is in no way shape or form the heir apparent to any of the detective mystery greats. I really wish people would stop saying that, in fact, because it detracts from the some of the truly fantastic mystery writers who are working now. The shortcut man is an enjoyable, but flawed series of mystery novels, and that's just fine.
* A glock 17 is not a revolver. Do you even know what a revolver is?! Hint, it has something quite obvious about it that revolves.
** If Pussy had the entrance code to the Art's gated community, why did they need to sneak in as gas company employees in the first place?!?!
*** Why the #$%^ did he steal the toe only to do nothing with it and feed it to the dog?!?!?!
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