In this colorful reinvention of a classic, Philip Marlowe finds
himself tangled in two missing persons cases; "Ide has chiseled off the
rust while keeping the soul of one of American fiction's icons" (Dennis
Lehane).
The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler's detective,
Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles. Here
is a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent
inequality, and washed-out police. Acclaimed and award-winning novelist
Joe Ide imagines a Marlowe very much of our time: he's a quiet, lonely,
and remarkably capable and confident private detective, though he lives
beneath the shadow of his father, a once-decorated LAPD homicide
detective, famous throughout the city, who's given in to drink after the
death of Marlowe's mother.
Marlowe, against his better judgement, accepts two missing person cases,
the first a daughter of a faded, tyrannical Hollywood starlet, and the
second, a British child stolen from his mother by his father. At the
center of The Goodbye Coast is Marlowe's troubled and confounding
relationship with his father, a son who despises yet respects his dad,
and a dad who's unable to hide his bitter disappointment with his grown
boy.
Steeped in the richly detailed ethnic neighborhoods of modern LA, Ide's
The Goodbye Coast is a bold recreation that is viciously funny,
ingeniously plotted, and surprisingly tender.
