"you killed wesley payne" -- book in review
summary: He's come to do a job. A job that involves a body.A body wrapped in duct tape found hanging from the goal posts at the end of the football field. You Killed Wesley Payne is a truly original and darkly hilarious update of classic pulp-noir, in which hard-boiled seventeen year-old Dalton Rev transfers to the mean hallways of Salt River High to take on the toughest case of his life. The question isn't whether Dalton's going to get paid. He always gets paid. Or whether he's gonna get the girl. He always (sometimes) gets the girl. The real question is whether Dalton Rev can outwit crooked cops and killer cliques in time to solve the mystery of "The Body" before it solves him.
Sean Beaudoin (Going Nowhere Faster, Fade to Blue) evokes the distinctive voices of legendary crime/noir authors Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson with a little bit of Mean Girls and Heathers thrown in for good measure. It'll tease you, please you, and never ever leave you. Actually, that's not true. It's only a book. One that's going to suck you in, spit you out, and make you shake hands with the devil. Probably. (as found on back of dust jacket, and inside cover)
author: Sean Beaudoin
published: 2011
pagecount: 362
snagging a 20-some-page excerpt of you killed wesley payne on my nook was the best chance encounter to come along in a while. during an extraordinarily bored hour-and-a-half (while my bf and his buddy played goofy audience to the utterly ridiculous piranha 3-double-d) i took refuge in the electronic device and came up aces with a too-short fragment of a surely worthwhile read. funds delayed the continuation of this novel but when i finally got my grubby hands on the intriguing hardcover (only two days after purchase! thanks, amazon prime!) i was unable to put it down. because you killed wesley payne is brimming with originality and wit, a sharp seventeen-year-old detective, and a school full of racketeering baddies. honestly, this cannot be a true representation of the high school experience or, heaven forbid i ever have children, they will never step foot in a such an unhallowed hall of education. that of course aside, you killed wesley payne was completely entertaining, wickedly entertaining. only mildly confusing, but absolutely recommendable.
excerpt:
Dalton looked at his mother, half made up, disheveled, a mischievous grin on her face. He wondered why he so rarely too the time to consider how excellent she actually was.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Can I, uh, sit over there with you? Like, maybe hold your hand for a while?"
Sherry looked amazed. Then shocked. Them sensing a trap. "Do you really want to?"
"No," Dalton said. "Not at all. But if I do, it'll be so like the end of a cheesy movie where the doe-eyed son learns to come to terms with his angrily beautiful psychologist mom, that for a few minutes it'll seem like we both deserve an Oscar."
Sherry laughed again, this time louder than before. "Get out of here! I have to get dressed! My god, who knew my son was going to be such a walking cliche?"
"Pretty much everyone," Dalton said.
story/plot: (5/5)
as a fan of classic film noir (all the good bogart films, along with the gratuitous nick/nora martini soaked stories too), you killed wesley payne tickled straight to my fancy. however, this isn't your average hard-boiled private eye, holed up in some dingy office with a sassy secretary, or crossing a police line with invitation and spunky canine. oh no, this is dalton rev, seventeen, stepping off his scooter into the parking lot of salt river high, where cliques and slang run in packs like wolves. the modernly modern day wasteland of i've-been-out-of-high-school-clearly-too-long takes a bit to get used to: jarring tapestry of overpriced coffee, no-nonsense principal, hordes of strangely-named groups of children replace the black-and-white setting of yesteryear in a few ways at first unclear. but the flow starts to feel natural after a few pages, during which we slowly begin to piece together some backstory -driving forces, details of the case, involved persons. what builds from there is a twisted tale of murder and stolen monies, thankfully familiar despite its unusual style, drawing from any and all classic noir you may or may not have heard of (even throwing a few references back for those who may be able to catch them). the mystery itself has it's confusing rabbit-trailing parts, but it always seems to swing back on course just when you're asking yourself why he's manipulating the lock to the yearbook headquarters. the end is satisfactory, coming to a close with all the bruised and battled ends tying up nicely. there's only a small bit of predictability, if you have an eye for these things, but enough twists and last-minute discoveries to keep you guessing.
notability: (originality, believably, characters, world... etc) (5/5)
with the genre-mashing, you killed wesley payne is a truly original execution of a classic concept. or rather, a mush of concepts. there's ways in which this novel is a bit social commentary-like, all without lingering too long: drugs, cliques, school-setting hierarchy, bullying, and corruption all play their small roles. it works, in a strange, wildy imaginative way. bound together by sean's simplistic yet clever voice and side-kicked to a very charming protagonist. dalton rev plays big the charming rouge, a bit mystery and a bit sweet son, balancing his double life between unsure teenager and suave private eye, sidestepping a questioning mother and brute fists with charm and implied ease. at the heart of this character we find a catalyst to root for, keeping us solidly behind dalton's determination despite the countless left-turns (and left hooks) he encounters along the way. the rest of this world's population add flair and dimension to a tale that, although rooted in reality, tends to be a bit unbelievable from afar. the goal here is to sit back and accept that everyone at salt river high belongs to a sort of metaphor for crime syndicates stoolies, posh upper-class citizens, and femme fatales.
writing/format: (5/5)
dalton rev leads the charge, interspersing his tale with blurbs of knowledge gleaned from lexington cole, his most-revered fictional private eye, and additions to his own 'private dick handbook' which starts off rather straightforward and turns a little inner-conscience-y towards the end. it all works together, paired with expect narrative and descriptions, bracketed in by a wild world of salt river high slang and colorful characters.
in final:
you killed wesley payne is just as enjoyable as i'd hoped it would be. a fantastic escape, a well-devised mystery, and a swift read. my only complaint is that it is now over, yet i'll be thinking about it for weeks.
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