Deadbomb Bingo Ray

By Jeff Johnson

Turner     2017

288 pages     Noir

How could I pass up a book with a title and a character named Deadbomb Bingo Ray? I couldn’t. I wavered a bit. Started and stopped it several times, but I just couldn’t let it go. Finally, this weekend, I was able to focus and concentrate on it. I descended into a rabbit hole of noir that I had to claw my way out of. Deadbomb Bingo Ray set me on a path of understanding the genre of noir and neo-noir. I soon learned that each author has his/her own definition of what noir is and how they are going to express it.

Johnson has created his own definition in the highly intelligent, elegant “fixer” Ray, who is not above killing anyone who gets in his way. (By the way, his name came from a casino incident.) He is well known in Philadelphia, where he has landed, and Philly is close to Atlantic City, where he does a lot of business. He has a reputation of being able to get things done, but he is being hounded by a man named Tim Cantwell, who is seeking revenge for past injustices and is determined to bring Ray down. And herein lies the plot.

Ray summons a vast cast of characters who work for him off and on, including his secretary Agnes and her son, Cody, a fixer in training. Skuggy, his henchman, is almost as colorful as Ray, wearing vintage suits and hats--a black Humphrey Bogart. They are on call to aid and abet the crimes Ray and company perpetrate in order to bring Tim Cantwell down. Sometimes the plot is a bit murky, and I lost track of several of the characters and their relationship to the plot. But I just kept reading on, enjoying the quick-witted Ray, his antics, and his romance with the lovely Agnes—a PhD physicist, no less.

To live his life, Ray has to be well-prepared. His house is filled with firepower; he sleeps under the dining room table, where he has a gun taped to the table’s underside; he has several safe exits; and he pays proprietors of four restaurants, a grocery store, and a dress shop to stand by in case he needs help. There are many great lines. One time when Ray was on surveillance at the train station, he sat and watched the people, “letting his mind wander and listening to where it went.”  “. . .sadness had trouble being alone.” And my favorite “the costume brought out the side of him that was dangerous in a next-level way, beyond angry beehive and well into biblical-serpent territory.”

There may be a lot of killings, but it is all in good fun. One of the most enjoyable parts of the book is the soundtrack that shows  up for each chapter. I found some of the music and listened as I read.  Very clever, by the way. It reminded me of the soundtrack Jennifer Egan included in A Visit from the Goon Squad. I would suggest to Johnson, that he do like Egan and put the soundtrack on his website so that readers have an easy time finding the music.

By the way, Johnson’s first career was as a tattoo artist, so I think that he must be as cool a character as Deadbomb Bingo Ray. I assume that this is the first book in a coming series. Library Journal named Deadbomb Bingo Ray the pick of the month for November.

If you like noir or hard-boiled detective fiction, you will enjoy the noir books that are in the next review. If you are looking for an understanding of noir, read my explanation that you will find here.