Book Review: The Way Down, Ardin Lalui

A while back, i read Ardin Lalui’s novella, There Is No Otherwise, which was atmospheric, pognant, and evocative.  I had high hopes for this novella, The Way Down.

It is the story of a man who is a loser on many levels, in a hapless marriage and a gambler with a large amount of debt to a very bad man. The debt and interest can disappear, plus a $3,000 bonus if only Art would agree to kill Roose’s wife Martha.  Art agrees, and thus begins an endless road trip. The road trip starts in California, and as Art gets to know Martha on the way to Mexico, he falls in love. He kills her anyway, comes back to California and continues to mess up his life further.  The opening chapter was written the way I would have expected from Lalui, clear and haunting.  The rest went from mediocre to ridiculous.  I am beyond unimpressed.

Art cracks his victim on the head with a boating oar, and instead of her screaming and crying, she lectures him sweetly about how she understands. After a long conversation, he finishes killing her.  Then he proceeds to cross the border back into California, tries to find someone who cares that Martha is dead, tells his wife Constance about it and she sees the mark of Cain on him.  Her husband is cursed.  Constance runs back to her family in Amish country in Pennsylvania, and Art proceeds to drive across country to rejoin her, spending perhaps $40 in gasoline to drive across the entire United States in a 30-year-old junker car, and falling in love with a different Martha along the way.

Are you bored yet?  This is the first time I’ve ever asked Amazon to refund my money for a Kindle book.

Definitely do read There Is No Otherwise (modern Western), and definitely skip The Way Down.