The Conviction and Subsequent Life of Savior Neck

Christian TeBordo's debut novel is a kaleidoscopic study in unholy alliances. In the literal sense, the characters in this absurd, tipsy noir pair up and turn on each other without thinking twice. But the book is also about how death and fate ally to throw a person's life into tailspin, making control just another illusion.

Discord, New York, is a downtrodden town full of abandoned textile factories and tenement housing. There are almost no young people left, just a collection of elder orphans who congregate in bars along the main street. The titular Savior Neck died as a boy, but continues to live on above the Thirteenth Step, a depressive tavern that serves as the book's main setpiece. The police pick him up one night and give him a paradoxical new lease on life by condemning him to death. And then, well, the book gets weird.

A woman who responds to an ad for quick, easy money goes on a misguided hit, shooting her new, gas-huffing boyfriend, igniting the petrol in his veins and setting local hero/troublemaker Richie Repetition aflame. Two police officers, both named Longarm, investigate and accidentally incite a shambling riot of octogenarians out for revenge.

Even TeBordo's writing is an unholy alliance. He's clearly working in the realm of whacko workshop writers like Ben Marcus (The Age of Wire and String) and George Saunders (Civilwarland in Bad Decline). And yet, one can't help but think Mel Brooks is in there somewhere, too, nudging along all of TeBordo's puns and wink-wink deadpan. The author may even be most indebted to Brooks, because it's the humor in the book that allows Savior Neck to succeed. While TeBordo's linguistic shenanigans and plot switcheroos are impressive and fascinating, they're always in imminent danger of becoming tiresome. But thanks to a few old-fashioned vomit gags and bumbling cop antics, Savior Neck ultimately wins out as a nutjob noir thriller.—Jonathan Messinger