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NoirNovels.com - A unique repository for all things noir
Scavenger Hunt
Reviewed By Steve Nester Robert Ferrigno's seventh novel, Scavenger Hunt is the story of artistic triumph and the redemption of the innocent, posing as a murder mystery. Slap magazine reporter Jimmy Gage uncovers the story of a lifetime while participating in a scavenger hunt in his hometown of L.A. He meets fallen film director Garrett Walsh, a two-time Oscar winning boy wonder and convicted murderer who, now out on parole, is trying to prove his innocence in the rape and murder of Heather Grimm, a California beach-bunny who makes friends way too easily. With his latest project, Fall Guy, the most dangerous screenplay in Hollywood, Walsh hopes to show he was set up for murder and asks Gage for help. Curious, game, and always in need of copy, Gage agrees. When Walsh is found floating in his koi pond two weeks later, the scavenger hunt in this character driven novel begins in earnest. Possessed of vaunted cowboy sangfroid; the type of empathy that can lead him to anonymously pay the bills of destitute single-mothers; and the willingness to ignore the word no, Gage's character is a noir loner who has made the successful transition from Chandler's L.A. of the 1930s and 1940s to the new millennium without any of the tough guy stylistic baggage that he might have possessed in the hand of a lesser writer. Gage can crack heads without being Superman and can show a sensitive side without being mawkish. If there were a soundtrack to this book, it wouldn't be the melancholy moan of a tenor sax, nor would it be the breathing of synthesized New Age hymns; it would be something like Steppenwolf Live turned up real loud, just daring someone to lower the volume. There is just the right amount of seediness to Gage's Los Angeles to remind readers of the obvious danger of the streets and those who walk them; and just enough of the hovering Hollywood elite for the reader to remember that these silent puppeteers are the most dangerous of all. When Gage starts turning over rocks in his investigation of who killed Heather Grimm the players from the past are awakened and their crimes become vulnerable to exposure. Jimmy Gage is marked. Ferrigno's prose is concise and pared down, and the vivid descriptions and black humor are all the more memorable for their short and sweet summations. A desert development named Tumbleweed Valhalla doesn't so much comment on its location; it points a finger at who would actually live in such a godforsaken place. Walsh is characterized as a prole with a two-picture deal; a janitor blessed with a vivid imagination. What keeps Scavenger Hunt within the realm of reason are the lessons Gage learns while solving a murder. Other crimes - horrible ones - are committed as a result of his investigating, and although these are tragic and regrettable, the truth and how it can affect the living, both innocent and guilty, is too important to be hidden. |
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