The Loose End

Noir comes in many flavours, not just 1940s black and white detective. There have been classic noir novels that have reflected the decades they were written. The 90s noir I enjoyed had a bright Hollywood gleam to it; that was only shone to hide the grime set shallow below the surface. The Loose End by Dave Dwonch and Travis Hymel, is a graphical return to that 90s, early 00s era of killing Zoes and getting away with very bad things. 

Steven Hollis is not a successful enough screenwriter to turn away the chance of a lads' bachelor party where a leading producer will be one of the guests. It is a perfect opportunity for Steven to make some connections and make a killing. You see, Steven is in a lot of debt to some very bad men. If he wants to see the wedding, he is going to have to kill the producer and make sure there are no loose ends. 

Dwonch has written Loose in the style of pacy 90s/00s colourful thrillers. It has the feel of Swingers with as much cocaine, but more death. One of the key elements of this type of film was that the majority of the cast are jerks. That is absolutely true of Loose, the entire slate of characters is unlikable, even Steven. Steve’s redeeming feature is that he is not entirely morally bankrupt, although his many failings have led him to being hired to kill to pay off debts. 

The rest of the bachelor party is made up of vain actors and producers. The types of Hollywood elites you can assume visiting and partaking of private island entertainments and not batting an eyelid. At least Steven has many second thoughts. Dwonch layers twists and farce into the story, so nothing is straight forward. A book about Steven just trying to kill a producer would have been fun, but this is a lads’ holiday gone wrong when the crew upset the local Mexican drug cartel. 

There is plenty of action on offer and not much in terms of competence. It is fun watching actors used to their aides trying to work out how to survive a gun fight. As a story, I enjoyed the pacing and dark humour. There is also a nice conclusion to the story which throws in an extra twist and brings the story full circle. 

Hymel’s illustrations capture the colourful noir feel that was 90s noir, all white suits and gun fire. Some of the characters were a little difficult to distinguish between at times, but that is when the action is at its highest. The book is full colour and feels like a coherent story, not just installments. If you are someone who likes noir but has a certain fondness for some of the films from the 90s, then Loose is not only a nostalgic reminder of the era, but a fun read in of itself.