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Fine For What It Is (Beach Reading), 23 Nov 2003
Never heard of Sandlin before this, but I"m a sucker for books set in DC, so I picked this up. What I discovered is a light, fluffy farce—perfect is you're in the mood for something requiring little concentration, but possibly disappointing if you like your stories to have a little meat on their bones. The style and tone is not unlike someone like Carl Hiaasen, plenty of snappy chatter, pop culture references, and comedic murders. The story starts by introducing RC Nash, a 40ish journalist in decline, and Jimmy Sebastiano, a smalltime mafia bagman. The story is set in motion when Jimmy's catches his delectable girlfriend Honey in a comprising position with the President and the president accidentally dies in the struggle that follows.Fleeing the scene with the dead president's body, Honey and Jimmy embroil Honey's old friend Farlow (a gay professional football player) in their problems. Soon, through a variety of contrivances (you just have to roll with them), RC shows up and joins them on the lam. Meanwhile, the White House—spearheaded by a nasty chief of staff and the astute and efficient first lady—is quietly trying to locate the missing president. However, the foursome (five if you count the prez), is also being pursued by Mafia don Gino Olivetti, who is after the $650,000 Jimmy was supposed to deliver to him. Lots of running around, shoot-outs, machinations, sexual tension, and light satire ensue. Populated with nothing but a series of cardboard characters (the nasty scheming editor, the airhead vice-president, the crazy homeless guy, and so on), each with a signature tic or phrase, the novel is well-suited to Hollywood or a lazy summer day by the pool.
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