Dark Ride

By Kent Harrington

Book Overview

Failing insurance man Jimmy Rogers was once the Golden Boy of Clarksville, California, who could have any woman he wanted. Then came Eve, the wife of Phil, his boss and friend. Together, they indulge... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312139551
• ISBN13: 9780312139551
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Dark Ride, dark writer

Kent Harrington's Dark Ride is the real deal--a contemporary noir novel that makes you cringe as you read it and while you're cringing, delivers one gut punch after another until the word "drain" takes on a kind of superhuman meaning. Since anti-hero Jimmy Rogers has been sliced out of his former mayor father's will, he works as a lowlife insurance salesman trying to get by selling cheap policies to working class slobs and elderly residents, somewhere in northern California. He has a girlfriend, Kelly, who adores him, and also a lover, Eve, his boss' wife, who gets off on playing rough in the sack.Phil, Jimmy's boss, never catches on that Jimmy's diddling his wife. He's too busy being an inflated ego of a boss and hitting on Kelly. Eve, one mean femme fatale, tells Jimmy she needs Phil's money. And there's only one way to get it...Complicating matters is Phil's brother Nigel, an ex-con who's learned a lot of stuff from the law books while incarcerated in Folsom Prison--so much, in fact, that he knows exactly how to put the squeeze on Jimmy and Eve. What makes this a whole lot of cuts above the standard, run-of-the-mill noir novel is Harrington's sharper than a barber's razor writing, and his relentless probing of Jimmy's psychology. Identifying with a murderous loser like Jimmy, in the hands of a less talented writer, would be a tough job. But Harrington is smart enough to give us the stuff that Jimmy's dreams are made of. This is what keeps us going, long past the thud of the first body Jimmy wipes off the face of the earth.This is a stinging punch of a noir novel, just perfect for those who like their noir nasty and gripping. Give it a go if you like 'em like this....

Tremendous first outing. Too familiar, though.

There is little need to read this if you are up on your James M. Cain or Jim Thompson. The only difference is Harrington offers up lots of sex and some violence to update the genre AND he does an admirable job of preventing the familiar from getting overly trite. I will say that this is an impressive debut work. I hope Harrington finds his own plots and his own voice.

Double Indemnity squared

Really potent and troubling, hard-hitting noir. Easily one of the best things I've enccountered in a genre that's prone to cliche. I recall reading that Harrington took a cue from Madame Bovary too, and it sounds right.

Tremendous!

Highly Recommended - - Born with athletic abilities, intelligence, wealth, and handsome good looks, Jimmy Roger has it all. He takes his attributes for granted, thinking the good times will never end, but the success-wave rolls on, leaving him high and dry on the shore of life. When the job offers stop coming the Golden Boy of Clarksville, California drifts into the position of a semi-successful insurance agent. Angry at the turn of events, Jimmy feels he deserves more. His own father, the ruthless old town mayor, cuts him from the will, leaving all his wealth to his business partner, Phil Stack. The only thing Jimmy gets is Phil's wife, Eve. Obsessed with their wild sex, the days of endless drugs, and the pain-pleasure induced nights spend in her secret basement bedroom, Jimmy plots to retake what he knows rightfully belongs to him, but caught in a web of his own making Jimmy quickly becomes a pawn in a deadly game of murder, politics, sex, and intrigue. Kent Harrington, a first-time novelist, unfolds a tale of psychological obsession. Character studies of intensity and depth reveal the neurosis of failure and the repercussions of narcissism and youthful bravado. Mr. Harrington draws the reader in an atmosphere of murder and mayhem, leaving us breathless with anticipation as we turn the pages ever faster. His writing skills are exceptional, as is his research. I look forward to reading his next novel. Kathee S. Car