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Drama vs. Boredom: A Phil Allman, P.I. Novel
138 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 17, 2026
About the author
Brett Wallach
18 books18 followersMy name is Brett Wallach, and I'm a father of two daughters from the Philadelphia area. The protagonist in my Phil Allman, P.I. series of mysteries is a misanthropic, sentimental, bitter, funny, romantic, lustful, tough, sometimes amoral, slightly (?) insane divorced father of two daughters from Philadelphia. Any resemblance to myself is highly coincidental. I've tried to create a character who often says and does the wrong things, after reading so many books in this genre where the main character, despite quirks, is usually unrealistically virtuous. Think Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, only funnier. My favorite authors are John Steinbeck, Graham Greene, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane, and many others. I have no delusions that my novels are on that level, but as my reviews (please see them on Goodreads) show, most people seem to find them entertaining. After my former publisher recently went out of business, I decided to self-publish, and my six books (so far) in the series (Jesse Garon, And I Love Her, Young Blood, Freeze Out, Susceptible, and Torment) are all available on Amazon, and candid, objective reviews are always welcome. My seventh book, The Last MAN On Earth, is a sci-fi/social and sexual satire, and I hope you like that as well. My email address is wallachbrett@aol.com, and feedback is welcome.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 26, 2026
On the shady side of his sixties, Philadelphia-based Private Eye Phil Allman, the sarcastic, sardonic, self-absorbed protagonist, is at an emotional crossroads in his life. Retire, change his taste in women to kind but boring, and admit he’s in the rearview mirror of his life? Or keep the drama and adrenaline fix he’s always needed by continuing to work, and date sexy young women half his age to maintain the illusion he’s still in his prime? Phil is an interesting, complicated character who you want to beat the crap out of one minute and cheer on the next.
Drama vs. Boredom is a stinging indictment of how men react to aging, their misogynistic opinions, and their treatment of women. But Wallach is an equal-opportunity disparager with his cast of vindictive, man-hating women you love to hate.
By having Allman speak in the first person directly to the reader, Wallach turns a story into an interactive event where the audience is involved on such an intimate level that they feel they’re part of the tale. Wallach writes in a hilarious whipsaw, spit-in-your-eye narrative writing style that is like having Ricky Gervais and Trevor Wallace taking turns explaining the meaning of life.
Drama vs. Boredom has a loosey-goosey plot that is less a story and more like Phil Allman kvetching to whoever will listen to his angst. Wallach takes readers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as Phil comes to grips with who and what is really important in life. This humorous yet deadly serious tale forces readers to examine their own longevity, successes, failures, missed opportunities, and disappointments by Phil rubbing their noses in them.
This is a story of aging, loss, survival, the price we pay for the choices we make, and the inner strength one must summon to face one’s demons created by both human fallibility and fate.
Drama vs. Boredom is a stinging indictment of how men react to aging, their misogynistic opinions, and their treatment of women. But Wallach is an equal-opportunity disparager with his cast of vindictive, man-hating women you love to hate.
By having Allman speak in the first person directly to the reader, Wallach turns a story into an interactive event where the audience is involved on such an intimate level that they feel they’re part of the tale. Wallach writes in a hilarious whipsaw, spit-in-your-eye narrative writing style that is like having Ricky Gervais and Trevor Wallace taking turns explaining the meaning of life.
Drama vs. Boredom has a loosey-goosey plot that is less a story and more like Phil Allman kvetching to whoever will listen to his angst. Wallach takes readers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as Phil comes to grips with who and what is really important in life. This humorous yet deadly serious tale forces readers to examine their own longevity, successes, failures, missed opportunities, and disappointments by Phil rubbing their noses in them.
This is a story of aging, loss, survival, the price we pay for the choices we make, and the inner strength one must summon to face one’s demons created by both human fallibility and fate.
May 13, 2026
Philadelphia’s erstwhile PI Phil Allman returns in the fifteenth entry of the series, older, crankier, and—much to this reader’s delight—no wiser than before. Drama vs. Boredom finds the now sixty-something gumshoe taking stock of his past and squinting toward whatever future he hasn’t already sabotaged. Will it be filled with surprises, both welcome and unwelcome, or should he resign himself to the staid and predictable? Do you even need to ask?
The “drama” arrives in the form of a much younger, dangerously alluring woman who has Phil outmatched from the jump. “Boredom,” meanwhile, is represented by a kind, age-appropriate discount store clerk whose virtues Phil can’t quite appreciate because they don’t come wrapped in youthful heat or intellectual challenge. Add to this combustible mix a disgruntled wannabe client with a psychotic streak, Phil’s ongoing verbal jousting with his best friend, and the two daughters who love him fiercely while despairing over his Neanderthal worldview, and you’ve got yourself a corker.
The mystery itself is slight, but that’s hardly the point. Readers come to a Phil Allman novel for Phil Allman—for the maddening, magnetic, self-deluded, self-aware, and endlessly entertaining man at its center. He is equal parts arrogance and vulnerability, bluster and insight. And he is, above all, funny. His asides alone are worth the price of admission.
Drama vs. Boredom is character-rich, and it’s a pleasure to spend time with a protagonist who remains, after these many novels, impossible to resist.
The “drama” arrives in the form of a much younger, dangerously alluring woman who has Phil outmatched from the jump. “Boredom,” meanwhile, is represented by a kind, age-appropriate discount store clerk whose virtues Phil can’t quite appreciate because they don’t come wrapped in youthful heat or intellectual challenge. Add to this combustible mix a disgruntled wannabe client with a psychotic streak, Phil’s ongoing verbal jousting with his best friend, and the two daughters who love him fiercely while despairing over his Neanderthal worldview, and you’ve got yourself a corker.
The mystery itself is slight, but that’s hardly the point. Readers come to a Phil Allman novel for Phil Allman—for the maddening, magnetic, self-deluded, self-aware, and endlessly entertaining man at its center. He is equal parts arrogance and vulnerability, bluster and insight. And he is, above all, funny. His asides alone are worth the price of admission.
Drama vs. Boredom is character-rich, and it’s a pleasure to spend time with a protagonist who remains, after these many novels, impossible to resist.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews