Crooked Little Vein

Kinky Friedman is enthusiastic in his praise of Warren Ellis’ first novel, Crooked Little Vein, comparing Ellis to “a bipolar Raymond Chandler.”  Warren Ellis is a well known and respected author of comic books.  Among his works is the recent and critically acclaimed Desolation Jones comic.  The Amazon write-up for DesJo echoes Kinky, calling the comic “Chandleresque.”   Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, blurbs, “this book is Dante on paint fumes.”  Intrigued, I had to read on.

The story begins as many detective stories do.  A down on his heels private detective sits in an office on the shadier side of skid row, hungover, broke, and hating life. Things quickly veer into the bizarre. For starters, the client who arrives to hire detective Mike McGill is the President’s Chief of Staff.  The Chief of Staff is a heroin addict – “I have a stressful job.” The assignment? “Find the other Constitution of the United States.” This one contains the “real intent” of the founders and contains invisible amendments.

Mike McGill is the perfect man for the job. He knows the seamy underbelly of the world, reluctantly, better than anyone. McGill explains it like this:

You want to call me a shit magnet, fine, I’m a shit magnet. But what I am is the unluckiest bastard you ever met. I have to take this work because it’s all I can do, but please, I don’t look for this stuff.

What comprises “this stuff” are uniquely scummy scumbags that more often than not have the strangest sexual predilections that you’ve never thought about.  Not once. You’ll either laugh out loud or be horribly offended.  Honestly, it can go either way.  Or both ways simultaneously.

The novel is more than just a book length roll in filth.  Underneath the framework of the classic detective story/thriller (and the hilarious/shocking depravity), Ellis presents a sly look at the modern world from the viewpoint of deep within the handbasket we’re all going to hell in.   The book also poses questions about the limits of – ahem – personal freedoms.  As you may have guessed from that bit about the Constitution and the President’s Chief of Staff, Ellis has a few things to say about the state of our body politic as well.

The description of Desolation Jones on Amazon reads, “Ellis’ best comics are character-based thrillers involving high concepts and heavy attitudes.”  I’m going to say that Ellis hit each of those touchstones in this debut.   Hopefully it is clear that this book isn’t for everyone.  The easily offended and humorless should head for the exits.  And for God’s sake, keep it away from the kids.  It is good fun and an entertaining read for everyone else.

Additional reading:

• Spend some time looking around the author’s blog for a sense of his style/viewpoint.
• Check out the cover of a special limited edition that will keep you up nights.
• Entertainment Weekly says, “It is impossible to make the following point too early in this review: Crooked Little Vein, …is not for the faint of heart. It cannot be responsibly recommended to those who are prudish… Fans of the Bush administration are cautioned, as is just about everyone’s mother.”