Vital Crime Fiction: Tommy Shakes by Rob Pierce
It doesn’t take long into Rob Pierce’s new noir novel, Tommy Shakes, before you realize he’s got the pedal to the metal — the novel is not only a fast read, but also a head-spinning dose of neo-noir. Spoiler alert: No happy fucking endings in this one. But that’s never the point with noir, is it? As much as any writer working today, Pierce has his finger on the pulse of what it is to be down and out. Career crook Tommy gets it every which way in this story, but what goes around comes around…And Tommy finds a way to give it back to whoever deserves it. Like Pierce’s other books, this is a beyond-dark story with doses of sharp humor and impeccable action scenes. I’m glad to present this interview with one of our modern noir masters, Rob Pierce.
Rob Pierce wrote the novels Tommy Shakes, Uncle Dust, and With The Right Enemies, the novella Vern In The Heat, and the short story collection The Things I Love Will Kill Me Yet. Rob has been nominated for a Derringer Award for short crime fiction and has had stories published in numerous ugly magazines. He lives and will probably die in Oakland, California.
Right away, we’re in a dark place with Tommy. His state — let’s just say he’s sick — reminds me of a lot of great noir novels. I’m thinking in particular of Thompson’s Savage Night, but you pair that with a prose-style that brings to mind Elmore Leonard, Jean Paul Manchette…I say all that to ask: What’s your writer’s pedigree? Who’d you grow up reading? Who do you read now? I want to know all that shit.
Hi, Matt. Yeah, I read Thompson, but I also read Hammett over and over, especially Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon. Something about the morality of his writing. But also Chester Himes (the best writer of action scenes, in my opinion), Richard Wright, Vonnegut, Le Carre, Cormac McCarthy. Eastern European writers featured in the Philip Roth series — those folks were badass.
Current writers? Tom Pitts, Mike Monson, Marietta Miles, Benjamin Whitmer, Greg Barth. Greg seems to have disappeared but he and his family are doing fine in South America, for those interested.
This novel is true noir — hell, I’ll lovingly call it pure pulp if you’ll let me — and I see it as a character-driven story…Shit, it’s a love story, too. How did you craft these Tommy v Wife and Tommy v Love Interest relationships? Real? Fake? A little of both?
I didn’t feel I did anything much regarding Tommy vs. his wife or love. Except in real life, where I was fighting to keep my marriage together while at the same time resigned to it ending. I drink, my ex doesn’t, so that was part of the essence of the book; putting parts of me in this career criminal, and he gets tempted by another woman. Of course he gives in to temptation; what does he have to lose?
Man, you know how to strip things down to their essence. Crack dialog. Prose that does what it’s supposed to — move the damn story forward. Is that all you? Your editor? How long did it take you to refine that voice/style?
By the time I got signed by All Due Respect for Uncle Dust, I had that voice. That book took years to write and by the time Mike Monson read it for ADR he was blown away. No one else seemed to like it much and I’d withdrawn it from consideration, then watched a friend’s video about how her acclaimed first novel took nine years before it was accepted. At that point I sent it out to dozens of agents and publishers and was rejected by all except ADR. They loved the book, published it, and it sold. Of course, future books were written in a year or two and took a lot of editing, especially Vern in the Heat, so I gotta give some credit to Chris Rhatigan. But I don’t think he altered the voice.
Alright, let’s not give away the end, but let’s talk about ending books. For me, it’s always a point of grief. And relief. But writing a true noir ending is particularly tough. After reading this, you don’t strike me as a particularly nostalgic dude. But give us the skinny…How hard was it to write this ending? How hard is it for you to end any damn thing?
Yeah, that’s a funny question, Matt. Writing the ending to all of my books has been difficult. It has to ring true, which doesn’t generally bode well for the characters remaining. And it always hurts to rid myself of a character, whether it means death or just shunting them aside. On the other hand, keeping some characters around isn’t all that pleasant either. But I wind up loving all of it. Because I’ve written the truth.
Last question: If you had to take a final drink: Bourbon county or the old country? Or something else?
A final drink? I suppose I’d take a shot of Suntory Toki. It’s a Japanese whiskey, so basically a scotch. I could be persuaded in another direction, I suppose, although that’d take some doing. Plus I’d want a beer with whatever I drank. If it’s in a bottle I’d take a Racer 5, by the pint I’d take something from Fieldwork. Let me see the menu and I’ll decide which one.
Thanks for the chat, Rob —I’ll see you at Bouchercon.
Buy the book, people: Pick it up via the Down & Out Books website or on Amazon.
If you found this post informative, enlightening, or just plain well-written, remember to ‘clap’ — clapping helps other readers find great writing on Medium.
