The Deputy by Victor Gischler

Toby has a normal mediocre life. A bit dull (He is) stuck in a rut and yearning for change. He faces life full force, not quite sure where he is heading.

While working part time for the local Sheriff in his small town, incidents occur and bad people as after him. Life is no longer dull as he tries to navigate and do what is right.

Moving at a fast pace, with true to life dialog, flawed characters and non stop action. Classic crime noir at its best. I was hooked from the first page, cheering Toby on along the way.

I highly recommend The Deputy to those who enjoy crime fiction. A good read! ( )

Quick read, plenty of action, I liked it. ( )

I should start by saying I love Victor Gischler's ridiculous style. Every chapter is like a speeding car heading towards a cliff, and he does it again and again in each of his books. That said, this one was a bit off for me. Now the story, dialogue, and action, were all great, but the main character (for me) was a bit too much of a tool to get behind. With one stupid decision after another, I kinda wanted to smack the idiot out of him.

Regardless, it's still a fun read, and as always, Gischler's style is a joy to read. ( )

http://moloch981.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/the-deputy/ ( )

Part-time deputy Toby Sawyer is called to the scene of a shooting by the Chief. Designated to be responsible for keeping an eye on the Luke Jordan’s body until the ME arrives, he gets tired of waiting and decides to hop down the street in this backwater Oklahoma town and visit Molly, his extra-marital girlfriend for a quick poke. Problem is when he gets back the body is gone.

Told in the first person, Gischler does a great job of keeping the reader as clueless of events as is Toby. He also wonderfully portrays the quiet desperation of a small Oklahoma town. I hiked the three blocks to Molly’s house. Molly was about the only good thing in this town when I came back. I’d left with a guitar and six hundred bucks I’d saved up mowing lawns and pitching sod. Came back to bury my mother and got stuck. The town hadn’t grown one inch since I’d been away. Hell, we were so far out you couldn’t use cell phones. Satellites didn’t fly over. We might as well have been in another fucking dimension. I’m surprised they bothered putting us on the road maps.

Toby is just a part-time but soon discovers his tenacious side and before long finds himself taking on a gang of Mexican worker smugglers and discovering he has a sense of justice he never knew was in him. Abandoned by everyone, it’s only his infant son that provides the grounding he needs to pull it off. The result is mayhem.

I’ve read several of Gischler’s books and so far, with the exception of the vampire-related one, has never failed to disappoint. See my other reviews for more about the other and his other titles. ( )