Very Mercenary by Rayo Casablanca
With his second book, following last year’s 6 Sick Hipsters, Rayo Casablanca is proving his strength as the go-to cultural thriller writer. Anywhere art and self-expression can be crammed into a single seamless narrative, expect to find Casablanca, and expect a damn fine ride.
Hipsters explored the extraction and evaluation of trends among the Williamsburg hipster elite, pushed by a serial killer’s intent on taking out prominent hipsters. Very Mercenary not only matures beyond a single city, following its protagonists across the US, but ups the empathy as well. We aren’t simply subjected to killings based on hipster hatred; we are rooting for the very people responsible for the cultural movement.
Strategic Art Defense, a group of capable, though perhaps image obsessed, would-be saviors discover the kidnapping of multi-millionaire heiress, Leigh Tiller, and devise a way to combine her rescue with a performance art piece. Their official, press release-friendly message:
We’re here to tell you that your life is no longer safe from art…You push it away. You enclose it in museums. Trap it in books…But art is alive and it is real…And you are not safe from it. (pg 18)
While reminiscent of Fight Club’s transgressive Project Mayhem, S.A.D manages to maintain a focus of intent. This is anarchy for art’s sake, not anarchy for anarchy’s sake. And every seemingly crazy scheme, from murals hidden under wallpaper (in which the wallpaper is removed to the viewing public’s astonishment) to an impromptu dance-off amidst a small-town parade and beyond has the reader unabashedly rooting for success.
Leigh, seemingly the epitome of spoiled excess, slowly embraces her rescuers, mirroring the reader’s evolving understanding of S.A.D’s objectives. She is never the falsely entitled rich kid lording over a group of servants; she is always an intriguingly receptive and interested apprentice. Her position is perhaps best expressed during a scene in which S.A.D member and rescuer Cody lists the best places to meet loose women. A misogynistic subject to be sure, but Leigh embraces the conversation, even contributing: “You guys are killing me. Why did you have to rescue me? (pg. 151)”
Very Mercenary is honest action from cover to cover. Though rife with ninjas, prepubescent hit-men, a patchwork Frankenstein psycho, animal-costumed assassins, and a female pompadoured scooter gang, the novel plays with the absurd while maintaining respect for the reader’s intellect. If Casablanca makes this his trademark, he’s got a lifelong fan in me for sure.
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Author: Rayo Casablanca
Purchase (AVAILABLE 04/2009)
From Kensington Books (publisher)
From Amazon.com
