To the best of my knowledge, this is the fifth printing of Joe’s terrific Vegas-based novel; if you have not read it yet, your knowledge of contemporary youth culture is seriously lacking. (Walter Kirn’s review of Methland in the Sunday New York Times Book Review, which we discussed here, brought TDM to mind over the weekend). I named the debut novel one of the Pop Matters Best of Books 2008:
Chase, a 25-year-old art school graduate, returns from college to his hometown and through a series of elaborate self-defeating moves finds himself hopelessly embroiled in a job as a “delivery man” (driver and protector) for a ring of teenage outcall hookers working from the Versailles Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Chase’s childhood friend, Michele, a beautiful Salvadoran immigrant with whom he shares an extraordinarily tragic past, runs the business for mutual friend Bailey, another foolish underachiever whose business skills are too limited even for the sex trade. A harrowing journey set in the suburbs and exurbs of Las Vegas, this debut novel by Joe McGinniss, Jr. provides a snapshot from hell of a contemporary youth culture in full cardiac arrest, children forced to become adults all too soon, compelled to absorb childhood traumas and adolescent catastrophes in a quiet and understated way until the whole bloody mess comes boiling to the surface in anarchic, anti-social behavior. Stephen King has nothing on Joe McGinniss, Jr. with this single line of dialogue on page 265 guaranteed to send chills up the spine of any warm-blooded mammal: “Oh, dude, you’re so fucked.”
You can visit Joe’s website and learn more about the The Delivery Man here.
The Delivery Man en espanol
Filed under: Pop Matters | Tagged: Las Vegas crime, Las Vegas, writers, writing, books, The Delivery Man, Joe McGinniss Jr., Las Vegas novels, contemporary youth
