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Webster Filmore Goodhue has found temporary work as one of the mop-up crew for the Los Angeles County crime division. In other words, he cleans up grisly crime scenes for the cops. When the daughter of a recent Malibu suicide victim asks for his help cleaning up after her brother has gotten into a little trouble, every cell in Web’s brain is telling him to turn her down. But she’s very attractive, and before he knows it, he’s well on his way to getting his face kicked in, facing down some gun-toting L.A. cowboys, and hanging on for dear life. And that’s only the beginning.
Charlie Huston has for several years been one of the best-kept secrets in American fiction; this novel might move him into the mainstream. If you believe that the world is mad—a position that with each passing day becomes easier to accept—The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death will provide welcome support for your view. The novel had me laughing out loud many times, but of course, like all the best comic fiction (Catch-22 and Portnoy's Complaint come to mind), at bottom it is deadly serious. Life is violent, messy and all too short, and laughter is the best revenge.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Mark Singer
reviewed The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death on January 15, 2012 The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death
I didn't move.
Not being used to violence happening around me until recently, I didn't have a chance to move. But that didn't make Harris any more reluctant about planting the barrel of his revolver under my chin.
The barrel of a gun, it's cold to the touch.
-Do you know why you're alive?
-Man, I do not. I really don't.
He chucked my chin with the barrel.
-You are alive to clean up the mess after I kill these two.
Former teacher Webster Goodhue is sleeping his life away in an attempt to forget one horrific incident...hint: it wasn't the day they served mystery meat in the school cafeteria...
He stumbles into a job as a crime scene cleaner and is soon embroiled not only in a turf war with a rival cleaning crew, but one of the most cockamamie heist schemes ever.
This is a great read for those not squeamish about blood, guts and various bodily fluids. The dialogue is snappy and most of the characters are worth rooting for.
Technically, this is probably only a four-star book, but I was completely taken with Web's relationship with his alcoholic, writer father, who also happens to be a serious reader.
Here's a description of his dad's house:
Piled books squeezed the entryway, leaving just clearance enough to open the door and scrape through. Shelves lined the walls. Shelves that were little more than more stacks of books broken by the occasional strata of pine plank used to create stability. The fireplace, long out of use, vomited books. The couch rested on a pedestal of them. Looking into the kitchen, I could see that the doors had been removed from the cabinets to allow more room for the spines of oversized editions to jut out. If I opened the fridge, I had little doubt I'd have found paperbacks wedged into the crisper, first editions of Mailer growing ice crystals in the freezer.
I popped a woody and I don't even have a penis!
If you read only one book about crime scene cleaners...make it this one.
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