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The story is good and well written. The paperback is described as 144 pages. That's before the interview with the author, the bibliography, about the author page, and other books from the Publisher, PM Press.
First time I tried to read The Underbelly, it didn’t work. Total fail. Struggled. Second attempt: I read it in one evening with only breaks for a dog walk and a drink. Totally gripped and kept me on the second go. Impressive.Homeless, hustles, hustlers, noir, and property developer corruption. LA, a city I’ve never seen but now I feel like I’ve had a tiny taste of the grit—experiencing the not-Hollywood and not-glamour. Great dialogue; good description; narrative voice that grew on me, became co...
This was my first foray into crime noir, and I enjoyed it. I felt like I got to know LA a bit along the way. Fun, quick, and suspenseful - a worthwhile read. I probably would have enjoyed it even more were I more versed in the conventions of the genre.
I picked this title up ... I can't remember why. Something about reading alt fiction. Is this the first L.A. homeless noir mystery? Perhaps.The story is pretty tight, with a homeless Vietnam veteran, Magredy. He's now in his 60s, serially homeless, struggling to stay clean, and wanting to reconnect with the family his addictions took from him. With only his disability check until he can turn things around, he becomes caught up in an unusual mystery. A bizarre Aztec or Toltec artifact becomes the...
Slow at the start, and didn't catch me till even halfway through, it had a great sudden increase in tension leading up to a bizarre climax. Taking the classic detective novel formula but having the protagonist be a homeless vet in Los Angeles trying to stay sober gave it more depth than a classic detective story. All in all I enjoyed it.
Excellent, although the chief story wanders a bit.
Required reading for anyone who lives in Los Angeles. A terrific book by an amazing author.
Written with sensitivity about a bunch of diverse, f-ed up characters, this amateur PI novelette in the hard-boiled vein is emotionally satisfying, if not necessarily intellectually so. (The plot, concerning a stolen mummified head of an Aztec shaman, is a bit weird. The villain is not particularly believable.) There aren't any real heroes here, except Magrady, who's working on getting himself together--the goal for him is to stick to something, to see it through--and Janis Bonilla of the Urban
PM Press's Outspoken Author series is well worth reading by every writer and reader of genre fiction. I give these brief books only four stars because the $12 asking price seems too high for what you get.
Because the hardboiled genre has become so mainstream, many forget it has its roots in anti-establishmentarianism. Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest is on some level a mea culpa for his time as a strike-busting Pinkerton agent. Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe frequently made an enemy of the local police, whom he never trusted. His last short story functioned as a screed against the American healthcare system.Gary Phillips’ The Underbelly may be seen as a unique take on the genre: a homeless PI maneuveri...
This special collection from the Outspoken Authors series has a single novella, along with an interview with the author."The Underbelly" features a homeless Vietnam vet who tries to figure out what's going on with a buddy of his and why he's being fingered by the cops as a suspect in a murder. This has great atmosphere and characters, but a confusing plot. I'd recommend for anyone who wanted a noir tale set in LA with a guy who's really down on his luck.
3.5 stars not three. Not quite as good as i wanted the book to be. Very likeable non cop/pi yet still a detective novel. The is kind of muted for me with the extended ending. Definitely worth a read if you like low key modern crime drama. Fast read, breezy dialogue and one great food description.
Whenever crafting a novel, character development must be at the forefront of the authors mind, as believable or relatable characters help the reader become involved in the story. In the novel, The Underbelly, author Gary Phillips does a great job at creating a very real and very relevant Magrady. As a Vietnam vet, the protagonist is searching for a friend and for answers, all the while dealing with his own sobriety, his damage from the war, and his accelerating age. I like how he author shows th...
This was a delight to edit, the language is pure South Central ghetto gold: "Who you supposed to be, old school?" Savoirfaire taunted, flexing his shoulders and shifting his weight onto his back foot. "Captain America don't live here no more." "I'm telling you it's through," Magrady repeated calmly, eyes moving from the man's hands to his face, locking onto the faux designer shades the discount desperado wore. "You and Floyd are done." "You his older brother, cousin, somethin' like that?" "You'r...
Really enjoyed it! Gritty, full of explorations of social justice vs gentrification. I don't usually read mysteries, but this was real enjoyable.
Noir with awesome, unlikely characters, set in contemporary LA. Somehow very Chester Himes in style.
Eh, it was ok, a bit confusing language though, not as suspenseful as I want in a crime thriller.
