A review by chrispatrickhansen
Hit and Run by Doug Johnstone
3.0
I don't usually put spoilers in my reviews but, be warned, this one has 'em. This is honestly probably more of a 3.5 for me, I did enjoy it but I have my major critiques. Johnstone talks often in interviews about 'cutting the fat' from his stories, and this book can be commended for that. No chapter or page in this is really wasted in terms of storytelling - there's colour, but the writing stays strictly to what's relevant. I'll also say to it's credit that this book achieved its goal well, it's a short, gritty and easy love letter to noire. All of that said, engaging with a story becomes difficult when your protagonist is an irredeemable, unlikeable, stupid, mysoginistic, smarmy and above all childish asshole. Billy is the worst. He's the worst. It comes in the big things like sleeping with the widow of the man he just killed, it comes in the smaller things like being a real c**t and a half to his girlfriend whenever she tries to show affection or be loving. Towards the end of this book there's a part where he's walked out of hospital after serious brain surgery, his brother and ex-girlfriend call an ambulance for him and ask him to sit down and he says "No I'll stand". For no reason. Just to be a piece of shit about it. Just to be an asshole. He makes an ass of himself 24/7 and as a result I've never rooted against the main character less - every time he got a seemingly fatal injury I crossed my fingers and hoped! But, unfortunately, time and time again he made it through.
I'm cautious to bring this point up because I don't want to spend the next year of my life responding to Goodreads comments. But, to be frank, there's a strong argument that this book is quite sexist. I'm sorry, I said it. A lot of brash young unchained young men being praised for making asses of themselves and inserting their opinion where it doesn't belong. A lot of women playing the subservient role, way too many pervy descriptive paragraphs for my liking, disagree if you like and I'll bring out my references but the long and short is that the kindest argument you could make for this book is that it's viewpoint can be very mysoginistic and male-gazey at times. You could argue that that's a staple of the genre, but I'd argue it's a staple best put to rest.
Look, end of the day, this books okay. I don't regret reading it, I don't feel particularly changed by having done so. If you're a big reader, it shouldn't take you any more than a few days to get through, I guess I'd recommend it for it's well directed homage to the noir/pulp fiction (not the movie) genre, but it's by no means 'unmissable'.
I'm cautious to bring this point up because I don't want to spend the next year of my life responding to Goodreads comments. But, to be frank, there's a strong argument that this book is quite sexist. I'm sorry, I said it. A lot of brash young unchained young men being praised for making asses of themselves and inserting their opinion where it doesn't belong. A lot of women playing the subservient role, way too many pervy descriptive paragraphs for my liking, disagree if you like and I'll bring out my references but the long and short is that the kindest argument you could make for this book is that it's viewpoint can be very mysoginistic and male-gazey at times. You could argue that that's a staple of the genre, but I'd argue it's a staple best put to rest.
Look, end of the day, this books okay. I don't regret reading it, I don't feel particularly changed by having done so. If you're a big reader, it shouldn't take you any more than a few days to get through, I guess I'd recommend it for it's well directed homage to the noir/pulp fiction (not the movie) genre, but it's by no means 'unmissable'.