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CURIOUS EAT THEMSELVES, THE
by John Straley
Bantam, July 1995
$5.99
ISBN: 0553568051


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I remember reading John Straley's first Cecil Younger book, The Woman Who Married A Bear and I remember thinking it was a good book, and also that I probably wouldn't read any more. Until I read the first forty pages of The Curious Eat Themselves, I couldn't remember why; then it hit me. Damn, this guy is a good writer and damn, is he depressing!

Cecil Younger is a borderline case; he's had drug and drinking problems, still faces the serious temptations. He can't hold a job, works as an investigator when he can. He never really has money, hangs out on the fringes, knows the insides of the jails; he's just a mess. But Cecil's a good man in a lot of ways. He lives with Toddy, whom he describes as autistic, and tries his best to ensure that Toddy, a grown man with many problems, can live independently - as does the rest of the community in Ketchikan, Alaska. He's also very determined and while he will take money from a lot of people, he's also willing to stick it to them if they've done wrong.

At the beginning of this mystery, Cecil is watching the police drag up the body of Louise Root. Younger's ex-lover Hannah sent Root to him for help. Root was working in a gold mining camp, and came to Younger to seek help and revenge. She was raped at the camp and the crime was ignored and covered up. Instead, Root ends up dead. The mining company sends two men to Younger to pay him supposedly for another job, essentially getting the goods on an environmentalist. The mining operation has the potential for great damage to the environment, as cyanide is used.

Straley is a wonderful writer; a lesser writer would have lost me before long because the society, the mining executives, almost everyone, is ugly, evil and slimy, or at the very least, wasted, depressing and a mess. Younger is so self-aware that you keep reading to get to know him. You want to know if he and Toddy reconcile; Toddy's dog ran away and Younger found him, already dead. He hid the truth from Toddy, who ended up deeply wounded and angry with his friend and benefactor.

There aren't too many surprises in The Curious Eat Themselves - by that I mean that much of the story line, the plot, is a standard mystery pitting good against evil, but there is so much more to the book. Straley's superior writing, while not very linear, is compelling. This, as well as the chance to learn about Alaska, a place that still holds much mystery for readers, makes this book worth reading.

Reviewed by Andi Shechter, May 2000

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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