By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: Last year, I became acquainted with the Mystery novels of Sean O’Leary through the novel, The Bangkok Girl. It was a modern hard-boiled noir novel with all of the usual trappings of the subgenre: a dark sinister urban setting, cynical detective, innocent victims, organized crime, inept or corrupt officials, and just a genuinely pessimistic feeling overall. It was a throwback to an old genre but it also had the psychological depth of current postmodern literature.
Now, O’Leary is at it again with his latest series, In The Gutter Looking At the Stars (such a poetic name) and its first volume, The Neon City. Similar to its predecessor, it takes a postmodern attempt at a familiar and deeply respected subgenre.
O’Leary excels at that. In The Bangkok Girl, his lead detective, Lee Jensen had all of the usual traits associated with such a protagonist: hardened outlook, teeth-grinding mist trust and grudging respect with local law enforcement, empathy for the victims, and hatred for the people who get rich and profit out of others’ misery and a system that allows this exploitation of misery to continue. However what set Lee apart from his literary ancestors was his health. Lee had Schizophrenia and required medication. The book reveals this dark cynical urban world seen through the perspective of a disabled character and how his condition limits and aids him in his investigations.
The Neon City also gives a fresh perspective but not on ability. The perspective is one of gender and sexual orientation. This book features two memorable female lead characters: a sharp cynical PI and a damaged trafficked young woman forced into sex work.
Candy Wong is a Hong Kong based PI who is hired to look for Maye, a girl who disappeared after accepting a suspicious housekeeping position. We get the story from both Candy's and Maye’s points of view, from the detective and the victim.
The dual narration is the strongest highlight of this book. O’Leary captures the deuteragonists’ individual voices, experiences, attitudes, personalities, and behaviors. They have very few moments together, so their individual stories are separated by proximity but are equal in impact and storytelling.
Candy is both a tough talker and nervous newcomer. She isn't above mouthing off to supervisors, clients, or colleagues. (When she is first introduced to the case by her boss and mentor, her first questions are “Who's paying me and how much?”). Her insatiable curiosity, rapid fire sharp tongue, and athletic energy give her the mental and physical advantage to excel at her job.
She is similar to the wisecracking heroines from Old Hollywood films usually played by the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Rosalind Russell, or Katharine Hepburn. She is the tough talking gal who can outsmart those around her and still display some vulnerability.
Candy’s vulnerability manifests itself into her romantic life and uncertainty about her profession. Candy is a lesbian and has an on-off relationship with her girlfriend, Odesa. During the case, the two have a passionate mostly sexual relationship which they contemplate taking further.
It's interesting to feature a queer character whose sexuality is not the main focus of the book. It is a subplot like other Mystery novels where the detective has to juggle professional and personal conflicts. Candy and Odesa’s relationship could move forward but it could also end rather abruptly. The subplot doesn't overpower the book, but allows Candy the freedom and breathing space to reveal her more emotional moments.
Another moment that reveals Candy's vulnerability is when she admits her own deficiencies in investigation. When she hits a stumbling block, she hits social media and chats with the experts: her fellow private investigators.
One of them is our old friend Lee Jensen. The siblings from another father/author compare notes about recent investigations and provide advice about present cases.
Even though I only read The Bangkok Girl previously, I do know that this is O’Leary’s 14th book. So I wonder if the other characters are also protagonists in O’Leary's books. If so, that's a humorous prospect imagining all of the main characters gathering together to mention their confusion about the plot holes or narrative blocks that take the form of investigation conflicts. It would be hilarious to also picture them talking smack about that weird guy that keeps writing about everything that they do and say.
The other point of view character in the book is Maye. Her trajectory is by far the most emotional and intense in the book. She begins as a terrified and frightened girl then transforms into a traumatized hardened woman.
When we are first introduced to Maye, she is running from the housekeeping position when she realizes that it is a front for a human trafficking ring. Her tension is palpable as she tries to enter a safe space only to encounter rejection and betrayal that returns her to where she started.
This lesson reveals a hard bitter truth that the world can be cruel and doesn't care about what happens to her. Now in captivity and forced into sex work, Maye is left with nothing. She moves and works physically alive but figuratively dead, playing the part of a beautiful object of desire while her independence, self-reliance, and emotional strength are crushed from within.
The traffickers use various means to control. They drug Maye to lower her inhibitions and change her name and appearance. This is a tactic that is often used on trafficking victims. It is their captors’ way of saying, “We own you. You are whoever we say you are. Your old self is dead now.” It has a psychological effect on Maye as she falls into and wearily accepts the identity that they give her.
However, Maye is not completely helpless. She tries to survive and even thrive in her new surroundings. She cultivates alliances with some of her captors and her clients. It is a survival instinct but it also creates conflict among her assailants so their ties are weakened.
If they want her to be the helpless victim, she will be the helpless victim. If they want her to be the seductive siren, well place her in water and point her to the sailor's direction. Because she is ready to pleasure, ready to seduce, and ready to fight by submission.
Maye does what her captors want and plays on their expectations. She can use their weaknesses against them so she can either escape or failing that ascend within the organization to a position where she is no longer the injured victim.
With Candy and Maye, this is a strong female led mystery novel. It tells an engaging case from the victim and their potential rescuer and makes them both fascinating characters surviving in the intense hardened cynical dark urban nourish world.
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