The Goodbye Coast
A Philip Marlowe Novel
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3.7 • 235 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The Goodbye Coast is a totally fresh take on a beloved character. Raymond Chandler practically invented the hardboiled detective genre with his midcentury series starring private eye Philip Marlowe. In this riveting mystery, Joe Ide—author of the IQ mystery series—reboots the tough-as-nails character and plops him in present-day Los Angeles, where two different mothers have hired Marlowe to track down their missing kids. Ide’s take on Marlowe keeps all the pulp-fiction appeal of the original and adds some fascinating new wrinkles, including a disastrous relationship with his dad, a cantankerous LAPD veteran. Ide honors Chandler’s famously clever style with his own witty one-liners, like “The movie went by like a cement wall taking a walk.” We loved getting lost in his seedy underworld of brutish gangsters, rebellious teens, and sleazy Hollywood types.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this uneven detective novel, Thriller Award finalist Ide (the IQ series) reimagines Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled sleuth, Philip Marlowe, as a contemporary PI. When the rebellious Marlowe doesn't last long on the police force, his father, a veteran LAPD cop, helps him get his start as an investigator. Marlowe's latest client is megastar actor Kendra James, who hires him six weeks after her husband was fatally shot near their Malibu home. Though that murder's unsolved, Kendra doesn't want Marlowe to take a crack at it, instead asking him to trace her 17-year-old stepdaughter, who hasn't been seen for weeks. Despite his distaste for the unpleasant Kendra, Marlowe takes the case. Things get complicated after he lands a second missing person search from British academic Ren Stewart, whose ex-husband has kidnapped their seven-year-old son. Ide's fans will appreciate the humor and evocative descriptions of L.A., but Chandler purists may miss the intimate first-person narration of the originals and not care for the attempt to deepen the lone wolf character of Marlowe by giving him a complicated relationship with his father. Not everyone will be looking forward to a sequel.
Customer Reviews
No Chandler
Perhaps Marlowe couldn't exist in this time, he didn't in these pages.
Terrible - an Insult to Raymond Chandler
This novel is terrible. Joe Ide is a good writer, but he didn’t seem to care at all about writing this novel. Tons of holes in the plot. Virtually every character is toxic - you only need one of those. Characters quipping each other in the face of violent death - several times. Never once did I feel any danger for the characters - this is a bad, poorly plotted ycomic book.
To illustrate the laziness of this novel take this example. Marlowe needs to reach a character at her hotel. For whatever reason, Ide wants Marlowe to walk. Ide writes: “It was too early for a taxi or an Uber.” Marlowe is in Los Angeles. In what world, is it ever too early for an Uber or a taxi in LA? Only an author who doesn’t care would keep this line.
What a waste of time….
Poorly written, save your money.