C4 BOOKWORLD


A crooked path to the straight and narrow


BY DANIEL STASHOWER


years doing the bidding of a pair of criminal heavyweights, Carlo and Israel Monsanto, working his way up from er- rand boy to full-fledged drug runner. The Monsanto broth- ers have Riley in an iron grip, having kept him out of jail when an early job went horri- bly wrong. Over the years, however, Ri-


A


ley has nourished the dreamof going straight, parlaying his part-ownership of a local bar into a “nor- mal, one might say, boring existence” and perhaps even marrying his Ameri- can girlfriend. The very notion of a street kid making a fresh start strikes many of his friends as absurd: “Ahh, this idea — the New Be- ginning,” says one. “Such a common de- lusion.” But first Riley


long the back roads and waterways of Belize, Ri- ley James has spent 20


River,”Vasquezwrites. “As soon as he reached within a few feet of the grassy bank, stroking hard, exhausted, a cold, swift current would turn him slant- ways . . . tugging him back to the deep spot he’d started from.” “Mr. Hooligan” is the third


MR. HOOLIGAN By Ian Vasquez Minotaur. 342 pp. $25.99


must strike a risky deal with the Mon- santos. He approaches the brothers with a plan to square his debt with a final high- stakes drug run. In a few lines of dialogue, author Ian Vasquez captures the sheer au- dacity of Riley’s proposal, as well as the devastating conse- quences if he should fail: “You’re asking me for plenty, son,” IsraelMonsanto tells him. “But you know something? I’m gonna go along with it. Only this one time, and only because it’s you, Riley. Because you won’t last long without me. You’re going to come back to me one day after your business fails and you need some fast cash, you’re going to come back and beg for a job. Because this work we do, that’s what you do best, so don’t fool yourself. And if I hire you again, Iwant you to know: It’ll be onmy terms.” For all his determination,


Riley’s drug-running plan quickly unravels as he falls afoul of corrupt government officials, forcing him to impro- vise a set of dangerous feints and dodges if he’s to keep his vow to the Monsantos. Soon, amid escalating violence and betrayals, Riley sees his hopes fading. “He needed to feel, and soon, that he was through with the Life, but the Life was like swimming across the Sibun


book fromShamus Awardwin- ner Vasquez,whowas raised in Belize but now lives in Florida. Vasquez has a bone-deep con- nection with his setting that transforms an otherwise con- ventional story line into a dark modern-day morality play, complete with a pot-smoking ex-nun, Sister Pat, who com- ments on the action from the sidelines. “I know this story by heart,” she declares at one stage. “I wish when I come to this part I could change it, say something else, change the end- ing.” The author’s crisp dialogue and low-life atmospher- ics have drawn com- parisons to Elmore Leonard, with whom he shares an abiding respect for the cruel loyalties that can lead decent men


astray. When Riley’s girlfriend urges himto walk away, telling him he owes nothing to the Monsantos, a lifetime of re- sentment boils to the surface: “ ‘Don’t owe—’He shook his


head and looked away. ‘Yeah, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You come here, you think you know these peo- ple because of what they do, they’re criminals, that’s all you see, so you’ve got them figured out, right? Nah, that’s not how itworks, though. The thing you don’t know is they’re the ones, the Monsantos, that fed me many eveningswhenmymoth- er was so drunk off her ass she could barely stand up, much less cook a little dinner for her son. Israel Monsanto’s the one took me in after my old man passed and Ihadnohouse to go to. . . . And now you’re saying, after all these years I worked with them, all they did for me in my desperate days, I just drop them and move on, no worries?” This is a sharp, gritty novel


of redemption and its costs. At the same time, as Sister Pat might say, it’s “a crackling good story.”


bookworld@washpost.com Stashower’smost recent book is


The author’s crisp dialogue and low-life atmospherics have drawn comparisons to Elmore Leonard, withwhomhe shares an abiding respect for the cruel loyalties that can lead decent men astray.


BEST PICTURE 4 NOMINATIONS INCLUDING


GOLDEN GLOBE


WINNER! ®


EZ SU


KLMNO Television 6 tv review from C1


of concerns that it never address- es about the real biggies: class, race, ethnicity, money, family. And it’s not even terribly origi- nal, seeming to piggyback on the History channel’s popular reality show, the Las Vegas-based “Pawn Stars.” Ostensibly about the crazy


day-to-day life at American Jew- elry and Loan — a large, family- run pawnshop on Detroit’s sto- ried 8 Mile Road — “Hardcore Pawn” is preoccupiedwith all the wrong story lines that take place on the wrong side (the safe side) of the plexiglass. The show centers on the ironi-


cally named owner, Les Gold, a true-to-stereotype pawnshop owner with a mustache and a baldingmini-mullet of curls, and Les’s wife, Lili, adult children Seth and Ashley, and a few of the trusted employees who run the place. It also revels in the general


malaise of Detroit, as a steady stream of unlucky customers waft in and out, hoping either to pawn their goods or to benefit from the misfortune of those who’ve pawned past the point of no return. Les seems to enjoy the possibility that anything and ev- erything is for sale, talking the sad sellers down in price. This includes the desperate offering of a seemingly deranged man who tries to pawn a DVD player that, the man babbles, is “a transistor that communicates with aliens!” “Showme,” Les says, hoping to


at least acquire a DVD player for 10 bucks.


HIGHLIGHTS TurnerClassicMovies pays


tribute to directorBlakeEdwards —who died onDec. 16 at age 88— by airing five ofhismost famous films, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (at 8 p.m.), “Days ofWine and Roses” (at 10), “ThePink Panther” (atmidnight), “Victor/Victoria” (at 2 a.m.) and “OperationPetticoat” (at 4:30 a.m.). Local special


“HighSchoolSports.net’s FootballSeasonWrapUp,” airingMondaynight onWUSAat 8:30, looks back athighlights fromWashington’shighschool football season—and inaddition to athletes, also spotlights bands and cheerleaders. “AmericanMasters” (WETA andMPTat 9) airs “Genius


4.1 WRC (NBC) 5.1 WTTG (Fox) 7.1 WJLA (ABC)


7:00 u News


u Seinfeld u Wheel


9.1 WUSA (CBS) News 7:30 u Access TRUTV “You done broke it,” the man


screams and demands retribu- tion. Actually, what the man is de-


manding (and receiving) is a few seconds of TV time,which culmi- nate in Les having himtossed out of the store by one of the bounc- ers. Everyone in American Jewel- ry and Loan, whether customer or employee, mugs for the cam- era and shows us what they’ve learned from watching “Cops” and a host of other parking-tick- et and pawnshop reality shows. The way the show is made all


but obstructs a possibly better premise: Perhaps the activities within any American pawnshop could tell us something new about . . . well, there’s the prob- lem. The pawnshop has become this recession’s easiest cliche set- ting; viewers aren’t crying out for more shows about the junk trade and the iffy state of the


economy. We’re certainly not crying out


for more shows in which entre- preneurial family members gin up some conflict among them- selves to satisfy a producer or lift ratings. Watching Gold’s chil- dren bicker through theworkday is a waste of everyone’s time. But what does interest me


about “Hardcore Pawn” is the show’s loathsome, 19th-century- style regard for race. The black Detroiterswho filter through the store, demanding service and railing against Les’s strict no- refund policy, seem so much more interesting than the Gold family. Yet they are reduced to the role of the great herd, made to seemas if they lack identity or worth. Some of the customers’ faces


display an emptiness and de- spair that indicate years of social and economic neglect. It seems


bizarre and even callous that a TV crew’s members could spend as much time as they’ve spent here and still decide that the Golds are the real story. The customers who cause a fuss and act crazy are in turn exploited once more, furthering Les’s tough-guy fantasy of himself. Yet there are other people in


the store, most of them minori- ties, who are not here to make fools of themselves on TV. See them in the background? With those haunted eyes? The ones waiting in long lines, spent down to their last bits of Wal-Mart jewelry and video game con- soles? Tell me there isn’t a more true TruTV show there. stueverh@washpost.com


Hardcore Pawn


(30 minutes) returns Tuesday at 10 p.m. on TruTV.


3


TV NEWS ONLINE From TV’s top shows to industry buzz, get the latest television news in the TV Column blog at washingtonpost.com/tvcolumn.


MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010


INTERACTIVE TV LISTINGS Keep track of your favorite television shows and movies with our interactive TV listings at washingtonpost.com/tv.


True stars of ‘Pawn’ stuck in the shadows GRIM


REALITY: LesGold, right, and offspring Ashley and Seth return for another tedious season of what should perhaps be called “Hardcore


Within:The InnerLife ofGlenn Gould,” a profile of the eccentric pianistwho died at age 50, and looks at archival filmfootage, alongwithphotographs and private recordings. The contestants on“Cake


Boss:NextGreatBaker” (TLCat 9)must find away to cleverly insert pyrotechnics or cool stunts into their cakes, as they’re tasked withhelping create something to help a special-effects company celebrate ananniversary. Brendahas enoughtoworry


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divorce and issueswithhis teen daughter. The country’s best chocolatiers


—also probably knownas the peoplewiththemost friends— face off during a fierce competitioninLasVegas on “America’sChocolate Championship” (TLCat 10), hosted by chefGeorgeDuran. Don’tworry, only 10more days


until the “Jersey Shore” cast is back . . . but if you still can’twait, anewepisode of “MyBig Friggin’ Wedding” (VH1 at 10)— produced by the same peoplewho gave you “Jersey Shore”— features the big day finally arriving for Johnny andMegin, thoughMegin’smomthreatens to ruinthewhole event.


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