Always the Dead by Stephen J. Golds #BookReview

 

Los Angeles, California. 1949.

Scott Kelly is a World War Two Marine veteran and mob hitman confined to a Tuberculosis sanatorium suffering from consumption, flashbacks and nightmares from his experiences of The Battle of Okinawa and a botched hit for Bugsy Siegel. When his movie actress girlfriend disappears, he goes to search for her. What follows is a frantic search, a manic murder spree, stolen contraband, and a briefcase full of cash. An exploration into the depths of L.A crime, PTSD and twisted love. A semi-fictional novel based around the disappearance of Jean Spangler.

Always the Dead by Stephen J. Golds is the second instalment in his The Dead, The Dying & The Gone series of interconnected hardboiled noir stories. Set just before events in Say Goodbye When I'm Gone, the clever ties to this and I'll Pray When I'm Dying are superb; whatever order the series is read in will reward readers of the previous books but each is an outstanding standalone story too. 

Although crime fiction novels regularly exceed 500 pages these days, Stephen J. Golds continues to prove the adage that less is more. Not a word is wasted in this searingly hard-hitting and intensely emotional story which was inspired by the real-life, unsolved disappearance of bit part actress, Jean Spangler. The main character, however, is actually Scott Kelly, who while not a likeable character, is a brutally authentic portrait of a man irrevocably traumatised by war. At the start of the book, he is in a sanatorium, stricken with tuberculosis but more painfully still, haunted by the memories and nightmares of his past. The stark depiction of his illness is as unsanitised as the portrayal of his abusive, doomed relationship with Jean. After he bribes his way out of the sanatorium, he embarks on his hopeless endeavour to find her. The flashbacks and hallucinations that Stephen J. Golds describes with his unflinching ear for bleak lyricism perfectly encapsulate his mental and physical debilitation. 

Nobody comes out of the book well, this is Los Angeles and Tinseltown at its most depraved and violent. Hardboiled noir is often considered to be glamorous as well as gritty but Stephen J. Golds assuredly strips away any illusion of glitziness associated with both Hollywood and organised crime here. Meanwhile, the examination of PTSD and the horrors of war is heartbreaking and sickening. However, despite being a graphic exploration of despair and the dark side of humanity, it is also an exciting, compulsive drama which simmers with temptation and danger. 

In less skilled hands, Always the Dead might have become too joyless and confusing but Stephen J. Golds imbues his writing with such empathy, it's impossible not to become almost viscerally immersed in this chaotic, vicious world. It takes a special writer to describe something so undeniably toxic and yet still somehow infuse this blackest of noir with gut-wrenching tenderness. 

The sense of time and place is exceptional and is complemented throughout by the piercingly observed dialogue which brings the period vividly to life. These tormented characters with their terrible, shocking lives leap from every page and left me reeling in their tragic wake. This is fiction at its most risky; it is uncompromisingly dirty and savage and not everybody will like it or should read it. However, for those who appreciate breathtakingly powerful, honest writing of the highest calibre, Always the Dead is surely an unmissable read. 

Always the Dead can be purchased here, it is also available on Kindle Unlimited.

About the Author

Stephen J. Golds was born in North London, U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his adult life. 

He writes primarily in the noir and dirty realism genres and is the poetry editor of Close to the Bone Press and editor of Punk Noir Magazine. Some of his writing influences are Charles Bukowski, John Fante, James M. Cain, Tobias Wolff and Jim Thompson. 

He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, traveling the world, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs.

He is the author of Say Goodbye When I’m Gone, I’ll Pray When I’m Dying, and Always the Dead, (Red Dog Press) as well as Poems for Ghosts in Empty Tenement Windows and the story and poetry collection Love Like Bleeding Out With an Empty Gun in Your Hand.

He has had stories and poetry published in a wide variety of online magazines and anthologies.

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