Niketown: A Novel

by Vern, Tony Fleecs (Illustrator)

The Niketown job was a long time ago, and Carter Chase is finally out of prison. That's the good news. The bad news: his mother just died. And his brother is missing. And the world is weird now, much more corporate than he remembers it. Can Carter get his act together enough to find his brother and adjust to clean living, or will this whole thing go south as fast as when he robbed that stupid shoe store in the first place?

Unfolding in a crassly commercial near future where even our final resting places are covered in advertisements, Niketown is a crime tale, a social satire and a not-so-flattering portrait of the world we live in.

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 23, 2014

About the author

Vern, the self-styled ‘outlaw film critic’, is known to millions for his hilarious reviews on the Ain’t It Cool News website, and is described by Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro as “equal parts Hell’s Angels and Pauline Kael... a national treasure!”

Reviews

[John Bruni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Vern's reviews, and this is the first time I've taken a look at his fiction. It's the story of Carter Chase, a man who has recently been freed from prison after doing time for his part in a robbery of limited edition Nikes. It turns out that one of his brothers is missing, and no one knows what happened to him. This leads him down an odd, sometimes vengeful, sometimes flat out strange, path that will eventually lead him to the truth. It's fun, and Vern wears his influences on his sleeve. The one thing that I didn't like was that it lacked focus in lots of places. Sometimes it devolves into ranting at his, Vern's, personal pet peeves, which I think is cool, but I thought it slowed down the book. Who wouldn't want to make a dogwalker sorry he didn't pick up after his pet? Or chase down the junkie who tried to steal the tip jar of the hot dog stand? Or, my favorite, ranting against advertising, something I despise from the bottom of my heart. The idea of advertising cameras on gravestones for Pepsi disgust me. I had to believe that it was a creation of Vern's, but I googled it and discovered it's a very real thing.

But ultimately this book is fun and engaging, and Carter's endgame is simply wonderful, especially the moment he figures out what killed a certain someone.

[Tj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read after a few years. Loved how the city was a secondary character, descriptions and geography so well done it made me feel like I knew my way around. Also pretty funny how some of Vern's commentary on how prevalent advertising was becoming have come true in the worst way possible.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and entertaining read that starts familiar and goes off in a some unexpected directions, not all of which work. Has a nicely shaggy Elmore Leonard feel, mixing humor (of a type that will be familiar to those who read Vern's criticism) with a little social commentary. Sags a bit in the second act as the caper elements fall the to the wayside while and our protagonist sits around being a bit too passive, but everything dovetails nicely in the surprising conclusion. All in all, pretty good for a self-published novel written by a cult internet film critic.

[Justin Decloux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa. That was not what I was expecting from the king of DTV action criticism.

Fantastic.