Slicky Boys
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Slicky Boys description
This thriller by a retired army officer has many things going for it: two very well-drawn central characters who are U.S. military police based in Seoul; a large cast of colorful secondary characters; some lively and inventive plot twists; and a setting--South Korea in 1975, 20 years after the Korean War--quickly brought to vivid life. George Sueno, the brains of the two-man Army CID team, grew up in foster homes in East Los Angeles, learned Korean quickly, and isn't nearly as baffled by the complexity of Korean customs as most of his fellow soldiers. His partner, Ernie Bascom, found a home in the Army better than the one he'd left in Detroit to go to Vietnam; he's a blaze of mad action and sexual energy. They make an excellent team, bringing back memories of Chester Himes's Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson--two cops who also bent the rules to get results. |
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Slicky Boys Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Entertaining, even gripping story of GI cops set in Seoul in the seventies
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This is the second book by Limon that I read. The first, unfortunately, was "Buddha's Money", which follows this and I thought was unpleasant enough that I almost gave up on the series. Fortunately I persisted and read this next, and I was really pleased. This is a much better book than "Buddha's Money." It is more plausible, better plotted, less gruesome, and with just as much if not more local color. The picture it paints of GI life in South Korea in the seventies may be shocking and to some offensive -- prostitution, hard drinking, thievery, and even corruption are routine -- but my sense from talking to friends in the military who served abroad, including Korea, is that whether we like it or not, it's probably a reasonably authentic portrayal.
The author has a real gift for depicting the daily life of the GIs, and the Koreans who happen to be in their orbit. The author nevertheless manages to present the characters sensitively and sympathetically, even when they are prostitutes, black marketeers and thieves. I think this is a real achievement. I think a lazier or less skilled would author would have given into the temptation to present such characters as over-the-top caricatures.
The plotting stays within the bounds of reason. Whereas certain aspects of the plot in "Buddha's Money" were simply outlandish, and not credible, the plot here does manage to remain plausible, even when it becomes quite complex. There are a few places here and there that are a bit of a stretch, but outlandish, at least not by the standards of the mystery genre.
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Slicky Boys Books In Print, Audio Books.