Tue 20 Sep 2011
JACK O’CONNELL – Wireless. Quinsigamond #2. Mysterious Press, hardcover, November 1993; paperback, 1995.
One thing you got to give this O’Connell dude, he don’t do the same old stuff. Box 9 was one of the strangest books I’d read in a while, and Wireless may be even stranger. It’s set in the same decaying New England town, Quinsigamond, and the presence of Lenore Thomas, the freak lady cop of the first volume haunts the second though she is not physically present.
The plot? Yes, well the plot … there are these anarchist-type radio jammers, you see, and several ethnic criminal gangs, and then there’s this lady cop who’s sort of the spiritual heir of the heroine (?) of his first book, and there’s a couple of dwarfs, a radio show hostess with a late night sex show, and a renegade FBI agent who likes to set people’s heads on fire … no, hell, no, I’m not making it up, that’s who it’s about, and it’s not funny at all, blackly or otherwise.
The activities of the jammers provide the focal point. but it’s about a lot more than that. All of these weird and diverse people come together and move apart, and things change, and there are several resolutions of a sort. It’s no doubt a metaphor for several weighty philosophical concepts, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to which and how valid.
It’s a difficult book to describe coherently, and impossible to categorize. I suspect, though, that semi-smug, middle-class whitebreads like myself are not really its intended audience. It’s well and powerfully written in the present tense, with shifting viewpoints that show each of the major players with sometimes startling clarity; though to say that it illuminates them might be misleading. It’s more akin to flashes of lightning on a stormy night, when a murky landscape is shown in bright relief for a brief instant, and then shadow reclaims the world.
It’s about alienation and family and love and hate and power, and it’s worth you time to read it, I think. You may not be able to believe in the flickering, off-center world it presents, and then again you may; but in either case it’s likely to drag you along for the ride, shaking your head and wondering where in the hell it’s all going to end. Be warned, though, it’s rougher than a split-oak log.
Bibliographic Notes: There were two more novels in this series, The Skin Palace (1996) and Word Made Flesh (1998).
Continuing to Google for information about either the author or his work, the series seems to have gotten more attention from Science Fiction fans than mystery readers. A long interview with the author, Jack O’Connell, can be found online here.
September 20th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I know I’ve never read either of these books. What I’m wondering is whether or not I bought either one.
I remember when they came out in paperback. I stood in Borders and thumbed through them several times, trying to decide whether there’d ever be a chance that I’d read them.
I think I finally concluded that I wouldn’t, and eventually they disappeared from the shelf, forgotten by me until now.
Without my having read WIRELESS, I think Barry did a great job in reviewing what’s obviously an all-but-indescribable book. Those last two lines of his are terrific!
September 20th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Thanks for alerting me to this book and this series. I am going to read it, most definitely. It is interesting how genre fiction such as mystery and science fiction can sometimes create the same philosophical depth as great literary fiction.
September 20th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
I liked WIRELESS marginally more than I liked BOX 9 (I wasn’t TOO crazy about either of them) I didn’t know there was a third one.
I’d probably pick it up if I find it at used bookstore……if I can find a used bookstore.
(Just kidding: I know every convenient used bookstore within thirty-five miles. Four of ’em, when three years ago there were eight.)
September 20th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
I have a feeling that the books didn’t sell all that well. I’ve never seen one in a used bookstore, none since I was pondering over them in Borders.
Of course it could also mean that people who bought them new aren’t giving them up!
September 20th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
PS. Things could be worse. I might have to drive 45 miles or more to find a decent used bookshop. And those paperback swap stores that you used to find all over? All gone.
September 21st, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I used to attend the LSU Book fair every year and find armloads of out of print treasures for less than a dollar each. I’d visit used bookstores and swap books out.
Then eBay. Suddenly, people giving books to book fairs and used book stores were selling them on eBay. Suddenly, those pricing books at book fairs and used books stores got a clue about what they were selling and prices rose.
Even before I switched to e-books, I had stopped visiting book fairs. They had little of interest and priced themselves beyond what I was willing to pay. In all my years of used book shopping I found most either run like a hobby where it was impossible to know when they were open or closed, or I found them so disorganized the amount of time I spent there was counterproductive.
EBay let corporate retail in and the prices rose. And quickly I was buying fewer books.
I still enjoy the hunt. Searching until you find that book you are looking for or on the way you find the perfect book you never knew existed. How I find books has changed, but, the important part, the books are still out there.
September 23rd, 2011 at 11:13 am
Another bunch of books to track down! They certainly sound off-beat.