Juice

Vice cop Panama Heath and his partner Missy investigate Alfonso "Puffy" Pachoulo, a loan shark involved with a lenghty and surprising list of clients

Armed with a salable blurb from Elmore Leonard, the publisher is touting this as Campbell's ( In La-La Land We Trust ) breakout novel, and that may be true. Written in a terse, cinematic Leonardian style, the book has all the right ingredients. In a crime clean-up headed by an ambitious special prosecutor, L.A. detective "Panama" Heath goes out on an illegal limb to help Billy Ray, the feckless husband of Heath's old flame Lisa. Billy is in big trouble with big-time loan shark Puffy Pachoulo, who's planning to move in on the Porsche dealership of the Doohan brothers. Pachoulo is using the "respectable" lawyer/wheeler-dealer Al Nadeau to close the trap on the Doohans, while Nadeau's cocaine-addicted wife Helena is having an affair with special prosecutor Fitzsimmons. Pachoulo's humiliation of small-time bookie Benny Checks is almost a gruesome sidebar until Benny's wife turns nemesis in a bloody climax. The gritty milieu and lowdown characters are almost all believably sleazy, and if he isn't as funny as Leonard, Campbell's plot is as snappy and complicated as the master's. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Not actually mysterious, thrilling, or suspenseful, this heavily promoted title instead approximates a slice-of-life glimpse at the world of loan-sharking. Author Campbell rambles through the lives and tribulations of drug users, gambling addicts, and other risk takers who borrow from Alfonso "Puffy" Pachoulo, violent Hollywood money man and slime bucket. The police watch, mostly from the sidelines, and finally arrive too late to do much good for anyone. Razor-edged prose, fascinating characters, great dialogue, and acute observation promise much but ultimately cannot exonerate the weak climax.--
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.