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Trailer Park Noir
Welcome to Riverside Mobile Home Park, where there is plenty of shade but no escape from the heat.
Marcus Reznick watched the love of his life blow her brains out and then dove to the bottom of a bottle of vodka. Now he’s living in Riverside Mobile Home Park and trying to pull his life together ... until a powerful temptation comes his way. Steve Regent is an internet pornographer who has moved to Riverside Mobile Home Park to work on a new website, Trailer Park Girls. He is looking for beautiful women ... but instead, he finds something very ugly.
Sherry Manning is a drug addict living in the trailer park with her boyfriend, Andy Winchell, who is a dealer. When a friend of a friend ODs in their trailer and turns out to be the son of a powerful politician, the truth about his death is covered up in the media. But Sherry and Andy know that truth ... and she fears what might be done to silence them.
Anna Dunfy is trying to make ends meet by doing temp jobs and stripping at night to support her mentally handicapped daughter, Kendra ... an astonishingly beautiful girl with a woman’s body, a child’s mind, and a dangerous urge to do something naughty.
It is a run‑down little trailer park in northern California, but it could be anywhere in the United States. It is unassuming, unremarkable, and looks like a million other trailer parks. But do not let the sleepy appearance fool you. It is a nest of dark secrets, boiling lusts, and murder waiting to happen.
Marcus Reznick watched the love of his life blow her brains out and then dove to the bottom of a bottle of vodka. Now he’s living in Riverside Mobile Home Park and trying to pull his life together ... until a powerful temptation comes his way. Steve Regent is an internet pornographer who has moved to Riverside Mobile Home Park to work on a new website, Trailer Park Girls. He is looking for beautiful women ... but instead, he finds something very ugly.
Sherry Manning is a drug addict living in the trailer park with her boyfriend, Andy Winchell, who is a dealer. When a friend of a friend ODs in their trailer and turns out to be the son of a powerful politician, the truth about his death is covered up in the media. But Sherry and Andy know that truth ... and she fears what might be done to silence them.
Anna Dunfy is trying to make ends meet by doing temp jobs and stripping at night to support her mentally handicapped daughter, Kendra ... an astonishingly beautiful girl with a woman’s body, a child’s mind, and a dangerous urge to do something naughty.
It is a run‑down little trailer park in northern California, but it could be anywhere in the United States. It is unassuming, unremarkable, and looks like a million other trailer parks. But do not let the sleepy appearance fool you. It is a nest of dark secrets, boiling lusts, and murder waiting to happen.
275 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2011
13 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Ray Garton
180 books563 followersRay Garton is the author of several books, including horror novels such as LIVE GIRLS (which has a movie in the works), CRUCIFAX, E4 AUTUMN, and THE FOLKS; thrillers like TRADE SECRETS and SHACKLED; and numerous short stories and novellas. He's also written a number of movie and television tie-ins for young readers. He lives with his wife, Dawn, in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
August 25, 2019
Just as trashy as I hoped, but masterful in execution. The entire last 50% feels like one continuous climax. Garton orchestrates disaster with a conductor's precision. By the last page, it almost feels like Hamlet. Almost.
March 7, 2018
Garton first impressed me by pulling off a nearly impossible stunt - writing an intelligent werewolf novel - Ravenous.
In this tale, steamy weather, meth heads, and porn producers come together to create the perfect storm of trailer park trash. It is sleazy, sordid, and unsavory, and yeah, I couldn't stop reading.
I kept thinking that there's nothing "noir" about this book other than the fact that it features a private dick who's definitely an antihero, but after looking up the definition of noir - a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity, I'd say, yup, this definitely fits the bill. Reznick, our trailer park detective, is morally ambiguous to the point of making me cringe, for you see - he covets his neighbor's daughter.
Never in his forty-two years of life - not even in his hormone-addled youth - had he ever wanted a woman so deeply, so desperately, so instantly.
The problem is . . . she's not a woman; she's a sixteen-year-old girl with the mind of a child.
Even though , there are trigger-warnings galore here. Have the brain-bleach handy, and don't say I didn't warn you.
In this tale, steamy weather, meth heads, and porn producers come together to create the perfect storm of trailer park trash. It is sleazy, sordid, and unsavory, and yeah, I couldn't stop reading.
I kept thinking that there's nothing "noir" about this book other than the fact that it features a private dick who's definitely an antihero, but after looking up the definition of noir - a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity, I'd say, yup, this definitely fits the bill. Reznick, our trailer park detective, is morally ambiguous to the point of making me cringe, for you see - he covets his neighbor's daughter.
Never in his forty-two years of life - not even in his hormone-addled youth - had he ever wanted a woman so deeply, so desperately, so instantly.
The problem is . . . she's not a woman; she's a sixteen-year-old girl with the mind of a child.
Even though , there are trigger-warnings galore here. Have the brain-bleach handy, and don't say I didn't warn you.
July 28, 2025
The Riverside mobile home park was so thick with trees, the sun scarcely shown on its residents.
Trailer Park Noir
by Ray Garton
This is what you get when you throw Quentin Tarantino together with Don Winslow, and John O'Brien and mixing it with a bit of Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter.
What do you get?
Trailer Park Noir by Ray Garton.
Man, I loved this book..
So..first thing. Not for the faint of heart. LOTS of triggers. I wouldn't be able to list all of them here. Drugs, sex, porn, Developmental disabilities, sex with developmentally disabled..more..so much more..
The book itself is gritty and the more you like and enjoy the writers mentioned above, the more..chances are..you will enjoy TPN..in my own humble opinion.
What's it about? Well..it does not really have a central plot. It's about people. It's a slice of some seedy and not so sunny life among the people of this particular Trailer Park.
I never lived in a Trailer Park. I have friends who did though. And do. And I almost considered it in a small, windswept, very rural town in Texas, once many moons ago.
The people in Trailer Parks include good, kind, smart, sensitive people with good morals and values and decency.
Those are however, not many of the characters in THIS particular trailer park.
In other words,,if you want hearts and flowers, put on Pretty Woman (a film I quite like.)
This book is about life among the lost, the jaded, the fragmented. And much like any dark and literary book of this style, it pulses with the atmosphere of the Trailer Park. Be prepared to be pulled in and recoil in horror a few times.
Living in life's fringes in sadness and sometimes squalor. I think one should read this not knowing a whole lot about the individual characters.
I will say though that I was surprised by the path taken by one character I had thought was pretty cool (in other words, not an asshole) who took a nasty turn I did not see coming and which did not seem to fit with said character's earlier actions. Hence the four and not five star rating.
But I deeply enjoyed this book. I was so reminded of Tarantino and John O'Brien whose film, "Leaving Las Vegas" was stunning and whose lesser known book, "Stripper Lessons" was a masterpiece. I really want to see this as a movie and hat's off to the writer. I will look for more works of his and if you like your literary Fiction visceral with a sharp edge, here is your novel.
Trailer Park Noir
by Ray Garton
This is what you get when you throw Quentin Tarantino together with Don Winslow, and John O'Brien and mixing it with a bit of Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter.
What do you get?
Trailer Park Noir by Ray Garton.
Man, I loved this book..
So..first thing. Not for the faint of heart. LOTS of triggers. I wouldn't be able to list all of them here. Drugs, sex, porn, Developmental disabilities, sex with developmentally disabled..more..so much more..
The book itself is gritty and the more you like and enjoy the writers mentioned above, the more..chances are..you will enjoy TPN..in my own humble opinion.
What's it about? Well..it does not really have a central plot. It's about people. It's a slice of some seedy and not so sunny life among the people of this particular Trailer Park.
I never lived in a Trailer Park. I have friends who did though. And do. And I almost considered it in a small, windswept, very rural town in Texas, once many moons ago.
The people in Trailer Parks include good, kind, smart, sensitive people with good morals and values and decency.
Those are however, not many of the characters in THIS particular trailer park.
In other words,,if you want hearts and flowers, put on Pretty Woman (a film I quite like.)
This book is about life among the lost, the jaded, the fragmented. And much like any dark and literary book of this style, it pulses with the atmosphere of the Trailer Park. Be prepared to be pulled in and recoil in horror a few times.
Living in life's fringes in sadness and sometimes squalor. I think one should read this not knowing a whole lot about the individual characters.
I will say though that I was surprised by the path taken by one character I had thought was pretty cool (in other words, not an asshole) who took a nasty turn I did not see coming and which did not seem to fit with said character's earlier actions. Hence the four and not five star rating.
But I deeply enjoyed this book. I was so reminded of Tarantino and John O'Brien whose film, "Leaving Las Vegas" was stunning and whose lesser known book, "Stripper Lessons" was a masterpiece. I really want to see this as a movie and hat's off to the writer. I will look for more works of his and if you like your literary Fiction visceral with a sharp edge, here is your novel.
October 20, 2015
Riverside Mobile Home Park in northern California is the first stop for internet porn mogul Steve Regent and his new pay per view porn site Trailer Park Girls. His new plush trailer contains a mini studio where he envisages the hottest trailer park girls will perform for cash on his tour to launch the website.
Anna Dunfy runs a temp job in the day and strips at a gentleman's club at night, her daughter Kendra is 16 years old with a body to die for and a catalyst for mayhem, yet she's handicapped with the mind of a child. Largely under her mother's care, she’s a good girl but she desires to do something naughty. Kendra harbours all the attention both from the reader and the male characters in the story but she's not entirely believable. Almost as if the author struggled portraying her blossoming sexuality combined with the mind of a younger girl, it's not an easy thing to write and I found it unsettling in places. The aim of the game was a girl with an extremely attractive body yet sexually repressed due to a mental problem, didn’t seem right to me and just touched on a learning disability presented perfectly, for the story anyway.
Marcus Reznick is a private investigator who works the divorce cases, his wife blew her brains out and he ended up at the bottom of a vodka bottle. Now he's in the trailer next to Anna and Kendra, the beginning of a temptation that he knows should not even get off the ground.
Andy Winchell is a drug dealer, his girlfriend is Sherry Manning and they've just found a dead kid in the trailer, one problem, he's the son of a politician and when two heavies turn up to claim the body. You just know it's not going to end well.
A wide variety of characters, that you know are going to end up either dead or doing the naughty on camera, log on and find out who does what. Trailer Park Noir is a catchy story that you could see happening anywhere, it's hot but kind of disturbing with regard to Kendra and those taking advantage of her. As the story unfolds we have a mother that will kill to protect her daughter and as the heat intensifies, as the blood falls on the pathways. It all slowly steams in a pressure cooker left unattended that's going to blow and blow big with an explosive ending.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
Anna Dunfy runs a temp job in the day and strips at a gentleman's club at night, her daughter Kendra is 16 years old with a body to die for and a catalyst for mayhem, yet she's handicapped with the mind of a child. Largely under her mother's care, she’s a good girl but she desires to do something naughty. Kendra harbours all the attention both from the reader and the male characters in the story but she's not entirely believable. Almost as if the author struggled portraying her blossoming sexuality combined with the mind of a younger girl, it's not an easy thing to write and I found it unsettling in places. The aim of the game was a girl with an extremely attractive body yet sexually repressed due to a mental problem, didn’t seem right to me and just touched on a learning disability presented perfectly, for the story anyway.
Marcus Reznick is a private investigator who works the divorce cases, his wife blew her brains out and he ended up at the bottom of a vodka bottle. Now he's in the trailer next to Anna and Kendra, the beginning of a temptation that he knows should not even get off the ground.
Andy Winchell is a drug dealer, his girlfriend is Sherry Manning and they've just found a dead kid in the trailer, one problem, he's the son of a politician and when two heavies turn up to claim the body. You just know it's not going to end well.
A wide variety of characters, that you know are going to end up either dead or doing the naughty on camera, log on and find out who does what. Trailer Park Noir is a catchy story that you could see happening anywhere, it's hot but kind of disturbing with regard to Kendra and those taking advantage of her. As the story unfolds we have a mother that will kill to protect her daughter and as the heat intensifies, as the blood falls on the pathways. It all slowly steams in a pressure cooker left unattended that's going to blow and blow big with an explosive ending.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
July 24, 2019
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Before we get started let’s get real clear on some things. Aside from my addiction to The Real Housewives In Every-Single-City-On-The-Entire-Planet franchise, I don’t watch a lot of television programs. The ones I do often find myself tuning into? Well, they tend to have some similarities. I like fellas like these . . . .
And chicks like these . . . .
Books that automatically get added to my Don’t-Care-How-I-Want-It-Now list? Those with covers like this . . . .
Or this . . . .
Or the one I’m currently reviewing.
My name is Kelly and I am addicted to the trailer park lifestyle. In theory Trailer Park Noir should have been a hit. Not only did it have a winner of a title and irresistible cover art, but the residents of the Riverside Mobile Home Park were just the type of folks I hoped to meet. Struggling single mother with a special-needs daughter, widowed PI with a booze problem, slovenly property manager, internet pornographer, methamphetamine manufacturer, dead person. You know, my kind of crowd. And the beginning and the ending of this book were what generally result in 4 and 5 Star ratings for me. So where did things go wrong in the middle???? Well to begin with, while I’m not personally “triggered” by many (okay, ANY) things, when it comes to items I feel others would potentially want to be warned about, it’s pretty much . . . .
And the people who could potentially be offended by this????
To me there’s a HUGE difference in writing about topics that you know will limit your audience (i.e., ANY book in the “grit lit” genre) and writing about a topic with the intention of turning off your readers. There’s not a fine line between gritty and squicky, there’s a giant cavern. Books like this or The Traveling Vampire Show leave a bad taste in my mouth because I question whether the taste level has been turned so far South as an attempt by the author to mask their inability to write well or because they get off on telling these types of stories. Either one is going to result in a low rating from me. Trailer Park Noir gets a bump from 1 to 2 due to its potential to be better than it was (and that title and cover, obvi).
Before we get started let’s get real clear on some things. Aside from my addiction to The Real Housewives In Every-Single-City-On-The-Entire-Planet franchise, I don’t watch a lot of television programs. The ones I do often find myself tuning into? Well, they tend to have some similarities. I like fellas like these . . . .
And chicks like these . . . .
Books that automatically get added to my Don’t-Care-How-I-Want-It-Now list? Those with covers like this . . . .
Or this . . . .
Or the one I’m currently reviewing.
My name is Kelly and I am addicted to the trailer park lifestyle. In theory Trailer Park Noir should have been a hit. Not only did it have a winner of a title and irresistible cover art, but the residents of the Riverside Mobile Home Park were just the type of folks I hoped to meet. Struggling single mother with a special-needs daughter, widowed PI with a booze problem, slovenly property manager, internet pornographer, methamphetamine manufacturer, dead person. You know, my kind of crowd. And the beginning and the ending of this book were what generally result in 4 and 5 Star ratings for me. So where did things go wrong in the middle???? Well to begin with, while I’m not personally “triggered” by many (okay, ANY) things, when it comes to items I feel others would potentially want to be warned about, it’s pretty much . . . .
And the people who could potentially be offended by this????
To me there’s a HUGE difference in writing about topics that you know will limit your audience (i.e., ANY book in the “grit lit” genre) and writing about a topic with the intention of turning off your readers. There’s not a fine line between gritty and squicky, there’s a giant cavern. Books like this or The Traveling Vampire Show leave a bad taste in my mouth because I question whether the taste level has been turned so far South as an attempt by the author to mask their inability to write well or because they get off on telling these types of stories. Either one is going to result in a low rating from me. Trailer Park Noir gets a bump from 1 to 2 due to its potential to be better than it was (and that title and cover, obvi).
January 4, 2020
Garton has opened up a doorway into the flaming depths of hell and stuck it in a run-down trailer park outside Redding. And, he filled this world with a sad sack private eye whose career has just about run down the drain, a couple of junkies, a corpse, secret service agents, a stripper with a developmentally delayed Lolita-like sixteen year old daughter whose body has grown beyond her reasoning, a seductive porn producer, and various others drowning their sorrows in booze and television and various substances..
Pretty much no one in this is a hero and most of these characters degenerate into various deviances. But, even if you can guess where this sordid Jerry Springer show is going, you can't stop watching even though some parts might make you a bit uncomfortable.
Pretty much no one in this is a hero and most of these characters degenerate into various deviances. But, even if you can guess where this sordid Jerry Springer show is going, you can't stop watching even though some parts might make you a bit uncomfortable.
August 28, 2015
Riverside Mobile Home Park is the place to be. Unit 9 is home to a recovering alcoholic PI. Unit 5 is a porno den for an up and coming website. Unit 17 is a meth lab. Unit 8 is a part-time stripper mom with a super-hot mentally handicapped 16 year old daughter. You see where this is going? Man that shit goes together with trailer parks like peas and carrots. Throw in some drug OD’s, jealous husbands, plenty of inappropriate trailer park sex and the Secret Service and you have a Garton classic. Twisted, man, twisted. Oh yeah, and pretty good too. Exactly what you would expect from Garton with this subject matter, except without the vampires or werewolves or soul-sucking succubus’s.
March 23, 2020
I went into this wanting trashy Jerry Springer movie type stuff and got so much more than that! A porn trailer, meth lab, private investigator, secret undercover government stuff, and our classy daytime television trashiness of mother/daughter porn. It gets pretty messed up and I don't want to ruin the best parts.
Recommend to fans of Trailer Park Boys, COPS, Jerry Springer, Maury, and other trashy shows.
Recommend to fans of Trailer Park Boys, COPS, Jerry Springer, Maury, and other trashy shows.
July 9, 2018
Classic Garton. I really enjoyed the book and the setting. Clear recommendation!
June 28, 2020
This is the first Ray Garton book that I've read and this will be a mixed review, but I'll give him another go because the last third of this one, with the build-up to huge cresting climactic scenes and the tasty denouement, was excellent.
The title and the premise - private investigator living in a trailer park - seemed to hold a lot of promise. But it starts off with a weird structure and a lot of character buildup in the first three chapters. Nothing much happening until about page 23 when our (theoretical) protagonist is confronted with temptation. So I wasn't really liking the slow start and ended up taking several months to actually finish this, picking it up and setting it back down over and over until until I finally got locked from the last third to the finish.
Ultimately this book totally delivers as all the plot points are pulled together, but have to say there is a lot of wasted words and long sections of boring description and exposition that doesn't advance plot or character.
Nice mix of crime/noir and splatterpunk, if you need a label. Seedy northern California trailer park. Private Investigator who's scrapping the bottom, stripper with a retarded teenaged daughter who is a knockout, drug-dealing junkies and a meth lab, and purveyors of internet porn. Just your run of the mill trailer park. So what could possibly go wrong? Everything right?
If the prose had been edited lean this would have been kick-ass. A lean screenplay could also do this justice even with we've seen its ilk before.
The title and the premise - private investigator living in a trailer park - seemed to hold a lot of promise. But it starts off with a weird structure and a lot of character buildup in the first three chapters. Nothing much happening until about page 23 when our (theoretical) protagonist is confronted with temptation. So I wasn't really liking the slow start and ended up taking several months to actually finish this, picking it up and setting it back down over and over until until I finally got locked from the last third to the finish.
Ultimately this book totally delivers as all the plot points are pulled together, but have to say there is a lot of wasted words and long sections of boring description and exposition that doesn't advance plot or character.
Nice mix of crime/noir and splatterpunk, if you need a label. Seedy northern California trailer park. Private Investigator who's scrapping the bottom, stripper with a retarded teenaged daughter who is a knockout, drug-dealing junkies and a meth lab, and purveyors of internet porn. Just your run of the mill trailer park. So what could possibly go wrong? Everything right?
If the prose had been edited lean this would have been kick-ass. A lean screenplay could also do this justice even with we've seen its ilk before.
September 22, 2018
This was my first read of author Ray Garton, actually liked the book and would try more of his writing. While the books about a teen underage girl that has sex with adult men, this parts actually flawed due to his own words, he missed an exciting way better story and Trailer Park Noir could have been Book 1 in a serial killer series.
It's actually written more as two adults verse one being a teen, she just seems way too experienced to be a innocent minor that's being taken advantage of and as I read I didn't think of Kendra as a minor.
Now had the author written as Kendra being a 20 year old women, with a gorgeous body, who has a mind of a child, she lives with her over protective sister Anna, have Rose her other older sister and then keep the rest of author's storyline in Trailer Park Noir.
Kendra's naughty, she likes having sex but over protective Anna doesn't want her being taking advantage of, due to her having the mind of a child and when she catches her having sex. She turns deadly ends up killing the males, consoles her sister never blames her and due to all the killing she does, they live in a run-down little trailer park.
Easily Trailer Park Noir could have been the first in a series about a female serial killer. Sure this one won't appeal to every read, but still feel Ray Garton's a decent author and definitely will try more of his writing.
It's actually written more as two adults verse one being a teen, she just seems way too experienced to be a innocent minor that's being taken advantage of and as I read I didn't think of Kendra as a minor.
Now had the author written as Kendra being a 20 year old women, with a gorgeous body, who has a mind of a child, she lives with her over protective sister Anna, have Rose her other older sister and then keep the rest of author's storyline in Trailer Park Noir.
Kendra's naughty, she likes having sex but over protective Anna doesn't want her being taking advantage of, due to her having the mind of a child and when she catches her having sex. She turns deadly ends up killing the males, consoles her sister never blames her and due to all the killing she does, they live in a run-down little trailer park.
Easily Trailer Park Noir could have been the first in a series about a female serial killer. Sure this one won't appeal to every read, but still feel Ray Garton's a decent author and definitely will try more of his writing.
February 17, 2017
I loved all the different story lines, and this one was looking like a 5 star read right up to the point after the first murder (which was the best part). The PI seemed like a good person, his lust toward Kendra was normal enough but he didn't act on it because she was a mentally handycapped 16 year old. When he said to himself in the book "no I can't look at her that way" it was for that reason, not that he feared he would get in trouble. Then the mom murders someone for taking advantage of her, and tells him she will murder him if he takes advantage of her, and he thinks "I have some dirt on the mom, so now I can take advantage of Kendra and she won't do anything" what the fuck? The worst part of this is that it could have been written in a more believable way. If he started drinking again after the murder and what he did to help conceal it, then went and looked at the pictures of Kendra and made a stupid drunk decision it would still be disappointing but a little more believable. My other problem with the book was the ending. When I read the description of the book, the most intriguing part was the overdose of a high profile senator and the possible cover up, I expected the private investigators storyline and that one to be highly conected to each other but this is the only story line that don't connect to any others in any way and only comes in at the end to wrap things up. It feels like it was written after the fact when the author was looking for an ending. And one more thing, why would the mom leave her daughter alone again. After the first time? Even if not for the porn thing, she came home and cut herself deep enough to need to go to the emergency room and just sat there bleeding and was lucky someone found her. It's clearly not a good idea to leave her alone.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2025
Ray Garton turned the twisted dial to 11 on this excellent novel. With a roster of strippers, hookers, junkies, pornographers, private detectives, and deviants, Trailer Park Noir is my kind of gritty tale. I can only hope the characters are a figment of the author's imagination and not based on Ray’s Nor-Cal neighbors.
April 9, 2012
If you put enough people in a confined space, feed them drugs, booze and greasy food then keep turning the heat up degree by boiling degree, pretty soon something will happen. This is the rule in which this story seems to run by, a Coenesque/ Tennessee Williams pot-boiler which sticks a group of hungry and desperate, though well-meaning characters in a down and dirty trailer park in Nowheresville, USA. If you like Tarantino or have seen the play/soon to be movie Killer Joe then you’d be quite happy between the pages of this book.
First off we have Marc, a much down on his luck private eye who seems to be the modern day version of a James Hadley Chase protagonist; horny and hindered by a tragic past. He’s moved into the Riverside Trailer Park because of a matter of debt and self despair.
His neighbours are the struggling though beautiful mother and daughter combo of Anna and Kendra Dunfy, a pair whose lives are both besieged by sexual advances from every male in a ten-mile radius. While Anna acts out the struggling single mom who strips (with extras) to pay the bills, it’s Kendra who is the real compelling character in the story; a brain damaged at birth, Lolita in waiting with a sexual itch so feverous it acts as a vortex, dragging characters into the path of a destructive storm. Whilst she starts as an innocent, the heat and abundance of male attention soon melts her into an innocent who longs to be corrupted, her actions and boldness would easily ensnare any male member of the human race, simply because she doesn’t know any better.
The ending came a bit abrupt for me, but then again the set piece had been building up since the first chapter, so I kinda expected the maelstrom that engulfs the last few pages, which smacked of Stephen King when he wants to finish off a few characters in one go.
My only other gripe with the entire piece is that fact aside from Kendra, whose personality seems to at poles with one another; a sexually confused though confident child who rides the special bus to school, I felt that I could have done with more, maybe a few throwaway characters who'd bring a little weirdness to the piece just to distract you from the various sexual shenanigans. Aside from this, Trailer Park Noir is an excellent read which is at times both sexy and shocking. Garton even conjures sympathy for the devious pornographers who move into the trailer park as they seem to be the only characters in the story that are at least honest about their intentions, whilst everybody else is hiding a secret from the world.
But then again, who isn’t. . .
First off we have Marc, a much down on his luck private eye who seems to be the modern day version of a James Hadley Chase protagonist; horny and hindered by a tragic past. He’s moved into the Riverside Trailer Park because of a matter of debt and self despair.
His neighbours are the struggling though beautiful mother and daughter combo of Anna and Kendra Dunfy, a pair whose lives are both besieged by sexual advances from every male in a ten-mile radius. While Anna acts out the struggling single mom who strips (with extras) to pay the bills, it’s Kendra who is the real compelling character in the story; a brain damaged at birth, Lolita in waiting with a sexual itch so feverous it acts as a vortex, dragging characters into the path of a destructive storm. Whilst she starts as an innocent, the heat and abundance of male attention soon melts her into an innocent who longs to be corrupted, her actions and boldness would easily ensnare any male member of the human race, simply because she doesn’t know any better.
The ending came a bit abrupt for me, but then again the set piece had been building up since the first chapter, so I kinda expected the maelstrom that engulfs the last few pages, which smacked of Stephen King when he wants to finish off a few characters in one go.
My only other gripe with the entire piece is that fact aside from Kendra, whose personality seems to at poles with one another; a sexually confused though confident child who rides the special bus to school, I felt that I could have done with more, maybe a few throwaway characters who'd bring a little weirdness to the piece just to distract you from the various sexual shenanigans. Aside from this, Trailer Park Noir is an excellent read which is at times both sexy and shocking. Garton even conjures sympathy for the devious pornographers who move into the trailer park as they seem to be the only characters in the story that are at least honest about their intentions, whilst everybody else is hiding a secret from the world.
But then again, who isn’t. . .
March 6, 2020
I hated pretty much every character in this book. Marcus becomes obsessed with Kendra despite her age and her mental handicap and starts plotting how to seduce her, after becoming friends with her mother. Sherry is a junkie with a boyfriend who is a dealer and they are trying to deal with a dead body in their trailer after a party, someone with important connections. I'm really not a fan of having drug addict characters as MCs in the books I read and this was no exception. Steve takes advantage of desperate women who need extra money and takes video and photos which go onto his new porn website. He is pretty much a worm but for me Marcus is worse as it isn't clear if Steve is aware of Kendra's mental age. Marcus knows and doesn't care so I hated him the most.
Some readers will have difficulty with a mentally handicapped teenager being a sexual object for two men so read with caution. The content didn't greatly offend me-it takes a lot to do that. I just didn't like the characters or care what happened to any of them. Anna was the only decent character who was trying to do her best for her child but even her decision making is questionable. I just thought it wasn't a great story and I never got engaged with it in any way. It's hard to like a book when pretty much every MC bugs you. This isn't the first Ray Garton book I've read but it is the third that I've abandoned. Maybe it's time to admit that this author isn't for me.
Some readers will have difficulty with a mentally handicapped teenager being a sexual object for two men so read with caution. The content didn't greatly offend me-it takes a lot to do that. I just didn't like the characters or care what happened to any of them. Anna was the only decent character who was trying to do her best for her child but even her decision making is questionable. I just thought it wasn't a great story and I never got engaged with it in any way. It's hard to like a book when pretty much every MC bugs you. This isn't the first Ray Garton book I've read but it is the third that I've abandoned. Maybe it's time to admit that this author isn't for me.
March 25, 2021
3 STARS
August 11, 2014
I've read Ray Garton as a Horror novelist, but he had me at the title with this one. TRAILER PARK NOIR is exactly what the title claims it to be. This novel is so chock full of depraved people committing deplorable acts, it is an attestation to our first amendment right that there are no laws against me writing a favorable review about this one. Innocent and naive Kendra is the most attractive girl in the trailer park. She is coming of age and her mother is overly protective, and rightly so--their neighbors are alcoholics, pornographers, and meth cooks. Kendra's mother does the best she can to make ends meet dancing at night and working temp jobs while protecting her daughter in a desperate setting. Garton does a masterful job of placing all the dry kindling in place in the first quarter of this novel. Once that is done, all characters involved are given matches and gasoline to play with--these come in the form of addictions, poor choices, passions, desperation and most sadly, innocent mistakes. You know things are going to ignite and that bad things are going to happen to bad people. I loved it, but I do not recommend it for everyone. Some scenes are hard to take. There were moments that I expected Garton to cut away, but the lower left hand corner of my Kindle let me know that I still had 8 minutes left in the chapter. 8 minutes! Being a horror writer, Garton will not shield the reader from the horrific.
August 8, 2018
A gloriously twisted, white trash romp in the trailer park!
This is the second Ray Garton book I've consumed, and unlike Live Girls (a 5-star masterpiece), Trailer Park Noir is not a horror story. This is a slow-burn thriller, with some very twisted individuals. There's almost no one to like her, moral ambiguity being the norm, depravity at every turn. Even the man we believe to be our protagonist throughout most of the story turns positively vile in the latter quarter of the story.
I don't want to say much more about the story, but this a very well-written, VERY noir story. It relies heavily on coincidence to play out this warped tale, but it works too. If you're into seedy noir or thrillers, this is one for you to check out. Just be warned of the graphic aspects of this book. There is some genuine depravity in this book, and the squeamish need not apply as it assaults you with very detailed descriptions of abominable acts of lust. Just keep that in mind. But if that doesn't bother you, I think you'll have a lovely time in this little trailer park packed with bizarre happenings and even more bizarre people.
Be wary of your neighbors.
This is the second Ray Garton book I've consumed, and unlike Live Girls (a 5-star masterpiece), Trailer Park Noir is not a horror story. This is a slow-burn thriller, with some very twisted individuals. There's almost no one to like her, moral ambiguity being the norm, depravity at every turn. Even the man we believe to be our protagonist throughout most of the story turns positively vile in the latter quarter of the story.
I don't want to say much more about the story, but this a very well-written, VERY noir story. It relies heavily on coincidence to play out this warped tale, but it works too. If you're into seedy noir or thrillers, this is one for you to check out. Just be warned of the graphic aspects of this book. There is some genuine depravity in this book, and the squeamish need not apply as it assaults you with very detailed descriptions of abominable acts of lust. Just keep that in mind. But if that doesn't bother you, I think you'll have a lovely time in this little trailer park packed with bizarre happenings and even more bizarre people.
Be wary of your neighbors.
December 12, 2014
Sometimes a book can be well written except that it partakes of what in law is referred to as inherent vice. When a book starts with a sympathetic character who looks as if he is intended to be its moral center, and he turns out to be a simple schmuck, the end result is disappointment. In the end, Trailer Park Noir is a kind of 1920s morality play that shows what happens when people commit sins. It is a pity, since I think that Ray Garton has it in him to do something a whole lot better.
We know that horrible things happen in trailer parks, and it seems that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are stalking the Riverside Mobile Home Park. Much of the action centers around Anna Dunfy, a cute thirtyish single mother who has to do nude dancing to bring up her gorgeous, but slightly retarded teenage daughter Kendra. You can see from here what drives the action of Trailer Park Noir.
We know that horrible things happen in trailer parks, and it seems that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are stalking the Riverside Mobile Home Park. Much of the action centers around Anna Dunfy, a cute thirtyish single mother who has to do nude dancing to bring up her gorgeous, but slightly retarded teenage daughter Kendra. You can see from here what drives the action of Trailer Park Noir.
April 27, 2021
I think I heard about this book on NPR. It delivered everything I wanted and a little bit more. The characters ALL have some kind of glitch to their existence. They are varied and some simply characteristics of human nature gone a little lazy to others who have a righteous feeling about their boundaries and when those boundaries are crossed, they become very dangerous. There are lots of characters so if you are one who needs reminding about who is who as people show up in different parts of the book you may want to take notes. The individual stories of the characters blindly involve each other and come closer together as the book progresses. There is a part of the plot which involves some very questionable behavior involving an incredibly beautiful young girl who is mentally challenged and some men in the story, which I had a bit of a hard time dealing with. But, the title is Trailer Park Noir, so what did I expect? Anyway, I wished I had been warned. I would have read the book either way, but at least I would have been prepared.
August 18, 2011
Trailer Park Noir really pulled me in. The characters were well-drawn. I felt a great deal of sympathy for our heroes and a great deal of disgust for our villains, but by the end, I found myself wondering which characters were the true villains.
Reznick disappointed me the most. I felt he could have taken a different path. I hoped that perhaps he would turn out to be a genuine "good guy" and get the redemption he needed. But perhaps the whole moral of Mr. Garton's story is that there are no good guys.
I did feel that Anna's actions were justified. Despite the fact that she committed two heinous acts, she's the only true "good guy" in the novel. She's the only selfless character at any rate.
It was an exciting ride, and I would recommend it, but it pulled me into a dark place where no one is redeemed.
Reznick disappointed me the most. I felt he could have taken a different path. I hoped that perhaps he would turn out to be a genuine "good guy" and get the redemption he needed. But perhaps the whole moral of Mr. Garton's story is that there are no good guys.
I did feel that Anna's actions were justified. Despite the fact that she committed two heinous acts, she's the only true "good guy" in the novel. She's the only selfless character at any rate.
It was an exciting ride, and I would recommend it, but it pulled me into a dark place where no one is redeemed.
July 29, 2014
Nobody knows how to make the shit hit the fan like Garton, and as the sins of the trailer-trash denizens are revealed one by one, the fury builds to a cataclysmic conclusion. Jailbait and murder, drugs and pornography, all share a sinister stage of errors.
April 6, 2020
This book certainly lives up to its name. I was hoping for my favorite Ray Garton-styled monsters, but the only monsters are the trailer park residents themselves. Although this is a rather gritty, depraved, depressing slice of life that is engaging, I don't know that it's for everybody. After finishing it I felt I needed a long hot shower because I felt soiled somehow. If you enjoy reading about murder, drugs, sleaze, porn, and desperate living, this one should be right up your alley. "Tiger King" type people are the subjects.
April 21, 2023
Review coming soon!!!
December 31, 2017
In literature, there is sometimes a fine line between an author describing unsavory behavior and that same author reveling and wallowing in it. A case in point is Ray Garton's Trailer Park Noir, purports to be a look at the sordid goings on of various residents of a rundown trailer park. But while there's plenty happening at this trailer park, author Garton seems to have little interest in describing anything other than rather graphic scenes involving one particular underage resident of the park. The result is a book that, instead of being juicy over-the-top trash, instead leaves readers feeling as if they need to wash away the muck they've dived into while finishing the story.
The object of author Garton's attention and, indeed, the attention of virtually every male in the trailer park, is a 16-year-old, extremely voluptuous girl named Kendra who lives with her single mother Anna in the park. Anna, who works nights as a stripper and does temp jobs during the day to try to make ends meet, is rightly concerned about her daughter because Kendra is somewhat backward mentally due to some complications Anna encountered in childbirth. As a result, Kendra behaves like a considerably younger, more trusting child and is quite unaware about sex in general and the effect she has on men in particular. To make matters worse, she generally parades around in rather inadequate outfits that author Garton takes great care in describing in detail.
Among the men who show an interest in her are neighbor Marcus, who's a bottom-of-the-barrel alcoholic private investigator and neighbor Steven, who is an all-around bottom-of-the-barrel sleazeball, who uses the trailer as a studio where he films pornographic videos of "girls next door" getting to know him rather intimately. As soon as Steven sees Kendra, he realizes the possibilities she represents in his line of work. And it doesn’t take much effort on his part to get the rather naïve Kendra to become a willing participant in his videos.
While Kendra is learning about Steven’s sort of modeling, author Garton invites readers to get right in on the action. And here’s where Trailer Park Noir starts going completely off the tracks. I’ll be blunt, just as Garton is. The book contains several reasonably lengthy descriptions of sexual scenes involving Kendra, written in fairly graphic language. I’m no prude, and I certainly don’t mind some spicy language or action in a book, but the author goes out of his way to make these scenes as lengthy and enticing as possible. Ironically, there are several other scenes involving women over the age of consent in sexual situations (Steven’s online porn business is booming in Trailer Park Noir) and those scenes are handled in a brief, perfunctory manner.
Garton’s pre-occupation with Kendra’s story completely disrupts the flow of the storyline in Trailer Park Noir. In the first few chapters, the author introduces another promising storyline, that of some other entrepreneurial sorts running their own meth lab in the trailer park. Things go wrong for them as well when someone dies in their trailer, and that someone turns out to be not just an ordinary junkie but the son of a very prominent politician, whose father does not want the son’s rather sordid demise becoming tabloid fodder.
That’s the sort of storyline that, along with Marcus’s investigations and Steven’s business dealings, could have made Trailer Park Noir, exactly what the title implies, an over-the-top lower class noir set among societal riff raff that has the potential for a trashy fun read. However, as the book goes along, Garton pretty much abandons that storyline, so much so that, when he returns for a brief chapter here and there in the book, readers will be somewhat puzzled trying to figure out what’s happened since the last time those characters appeared. Eventually, that entire storyline becomes nothing more than the setup to a major plot development that winds up effecting the other characters far more than the various drug dealers.
Trailer Park Noir proved to be an especially disappointing read because the author has a good bit of talent and is able to craft some very descriptive scenes. Indeed, when viewed solely in regard to its mechanics and without consideration of the subject matter, the book is rather well written. But instead of turning Trailer Park Noir into an all-around fictional expose of lower class sleaze, Garton instead focuses on having the audience join some of the characters in leering at Daisy Duke’s teenaged brain-damaged sister. The resolution of that story turns out to be as lurid and violent as you might expect but not in a way that readers are likely to find enjoyable. Trailer Park Noir is indeed trashy, but not in a good way. This is one trailer park to avoid at all costs.
The object of author Garton's attention and, indeed, the attention of virtually every male in the trailer park, is a 16-year-old, extremely voluptuous girl named Kendra who lives with her single mother Anna in the park. Anna, who works nights as a stripper and does temp jobs during the day to try to make ends meet, is rightly concerned about her daughter because Kendra is somewhat backward mentally due to some complications Anna encountered in childbirth. As a result, Kendra behaves like a considerably younger, more trusting child and is quite unaware about sex in general and the effect she has on men in particular. To make matters worse, she generally parades around in rather inadequate outfits that author Garton takes great care in describing in detail.
Among the men who show an interest in her are neighbor Marcus, who's a bottom-of-the-barrel alcoholic private investigator and neighbor Steven, who is an all-around bottom-of-the-barrel sleazeball, who uses the trailer as a studio where he films pornographic videos of "girls next door" getting to know him rather intimately. As soon as Steven sees Kendra, he realizes the possibilities she represents in his line of work. And it doesn’t take much effort on his part to get the rather naïve Kendra to become a willing participant in his videos.
While Kendra is learning about Steven’s sort of modeling, author Garton invites readers to get right in on the action. And here’s where Trailer Park Noir starts going completely off the tracks. I’ll be blunt, just as Garton is. The book contains several reasonably lengthy descriptions of sexual scenes involving Kendra, written in fairly graphic language. I’m no prude, and I certainly don’t mind some spicy language or action in a book, but the author goes out of his way to make these scenes as lengthy and enticing as possible. Ironically, there are several other scenes involving women over the age of consent in sexual situations (Steven’s online porn business is booming in Trailer Park Noir) and those scenes are handled in a brief, perfunctory manner.
Garton’s pre-occupation with Kendra’s story completely disrupts the flow of the storyline in Trailer Park Noir. In the first few chapters, the author introduces another promising storyline, that of some other entrepreneurial sorts running their own meth lab in the trailer park. Things go wrong for them as well when someone dies in their trailer, and that someone turns out to be not just an ordinary junkie but the son of a very prominent politician, whose father does not want the son’s rather sordid demise becoming tabloid fodder.
That’s the sort of storyline that, along with Marcus’s investigations and Steven’s business dealings, could have made Trailer Park Noir, exactly what the title implies, an over-the-top lower class noir set among societal riff raff that has the potential for a trashy fun read. However, as the book goes along, Garton pretty much abandons that storyline, so much so that, when he returns for a brief chapter here and there in the book, readers will be somewhat puzzled trying to figure out what’s happened since the last time those characters appeared. Eventually, that entire storyline becomes nothing more than the setup to a major plot development that winds up effecting the other characters far more than the various drug dealers.
Trailer Park Noir proved to be an especially disappointing read because the author has a good bit of talent and is able to craft some very descriptive scenes. Indeed, when viewed solely in regard to its mechanics and without consideration of the subject matter, the book is rather well written. But instead of turning Trailer Park Noir into an all-around fictional expose of lower class sleaze, Garton instead focuses on having the audience join some of the characters in leering at Daisy Duke’s teenaged brain-damaged sister. The resolution of that story turns out to be as lurid and violent as you might expect but not in a way that readers are likely to find enjoyable. Trailer Park Noir is indeed trashy, but not in a good way. This is one trailer park to avoid at all costs.
September 25, 2025
The book is well written and narrated although there are a few times you need to suspend your disbelief. It is dark- very dark and disturbing. I rounded my rating from four and a half to five stars.
An important note is Kendra does not have the mental/ emotional age of 11 or 12 years. That bothers me and seems too high for what she knows and can do. Five or six seems more accurate although Kendra can read and communicate well. Perhaps it’s because Kendra is naive, inexperienced, and (kinda!) over protected. Don’t we know basic right from wrong or how to do simple chores by 12?! Well, yeah. Kendra wants to be naughty.
No wonder trailer parks have a bad reputation. The Riverside Mobile Home Park is a small mom and pop business that has seen better days. Many of the park’s residents have also fallen on hard times. Trigger warning: There’s porn, drugs, assault, and even more criminality going on. The book is for sure a noir and is not for the squeamish.
I’m not sure which character is the ickiest. In addition to being disgusting and icky, most of them are extremely stupid. One of the characters, an assassin, mutters that people are stupid as he enters someone’s home to finish a job. It made me laugh (irony!) that even the novel’s criminal characters tell us they use others stupidity to their advantage. Even the pornographers brag about it on their websites. Excellent addition to the story, Mr. Garton. Well done!
The two dogs play important parts in the story. Chihuahuas might be smarter than other dogs, but I don’t think they become housebroken without proper training. Kendra is given responsibility without being given any directions. It’s probably silly, but that bothered me too. Whining, nagging, lying Kendra is too young for a dog and to be left alone for even a minute.
The mother, Anna, is doing the best she can and she’s overwhelmed, of course; but she asks for help from people who are unreliable. Anna is weak (not necessarily evil) and makes extremely foolish decisions over and over. She is the only character who constantly causes eye rolls from me. Maybe she’s learned by the end to be smarter. I’m not hopeful.
I love how there’s faint inclusion of religion throughout the story. It’s actually just as an important part of its being a noir story as the temptation and moral decline.
I also love how we learn about the characters and see their points of view. They might not be 100% evil, but their moral weakness is in high double digits. If there are less than six degrees of separation, is anything a coincidence?!
The descriptions are vivid and the story is told without a lot of meaningless filler. I’m pleased that the editors also did a good job. I think I’ll check out some of the author’s other work.
An important note is Kendra does not have the mental/ emotional age of 11 or 12 years. That bothers me and seems too high for what she knows and can do. Five or six seems more accurate although Kendra can read and communicate well. Perhaps it’s because Kendra is naive, inexperienced, and (kinda!) over protected. Don’t we know basic right from wrong or how to do simple chores by 12?! Well, yeah. Kendra wants to be naughty.
No wonder trailer parks have a bad reputation. The Riverside Mobile Home Park is a small mom and pop business that has seen better days. Many of the park’s residents have also fallen on hard times. Trigger warning: There’s porn, drugs, assault, and even more criminality going on. The book is for sure a noir and is not for the squeamish.
I’m not sure which character is the ickiest. In addition to being disgusting and icky, most of them are extremely stupid. One of the characters, an assassin, mutters that people are stupid as he enters someone’s home to finish a job. It made me laugh (irony!) that even the novel’s criminal characters tell us they use others stupidity to their advantage. Even the pornographers brag about it on their websites. Excellent addition to the story, Mr. Garton. Well done!
The two dogs play important parts in the story. Chihuahuas might be smarter than other dogs, but I don’t think they become housebroken without proper training. Kendra is given responsibility without being given any directions. It’s probably silly, but that bothered me too. Whining, nagging, lying Kendra is too young for a dog and to be left alone for even a minute.
The mother, Anna, is doing the best she can and she’s overwhelmed, of course; but she asks for help from people who are unreliable. Anna is weak (not necessarily evil) and makes extremely foolish decisions over and over. She is the only character who constantly causes eye rolls from me. Maybe she’s learned by the end to be smarter. I’m not hopeful.
I love how there’s faint inclusion of religion throughout the story. It’s actually just as an important part of its being a noir story as the temptation and moral decline.
I also love how we learn about the characters and see their points of view. They might not be 100% evil, but their moral weakness is in high double digits. If there are less than six degrees of separation, is anything a coincidence?!
The descriptions are vivid and the story is told without a lot of meaningless filler. I’m pleased that the editors also did a good job. I think I’ll check out some of the author’s other work.
September 9, 2012
It seems that the heyday of "Crucifax Autumn" is long gone.
The novel starts off well, but ends in a rush of destruction. While I understand that this is noir, I didn't understand the point of the time spent developing some of the details.
(Warning: No specific details, but spoiler-ish)
If you're looking for Garton the Splatter Punk, this isn't it. If you're looking for some REALLY DARK noir, I recommend Charlie Huston's Hank Thompson trilogy: Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things, and A Dangerous Man
The novel starts off well, but ends in a rush of destruction. While I understand that this is noir, I didn't understand the point of the time spent developing some of the details.
(Warning: No specific details, but spoiler-ish)
If you're looking for Garton the Splatter Punk, this isn't it. If you're looking for some REALLY DARK noir, I recommend Charlie Huston's Hank Thompson trilogy: Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things, and A Dangerous Man
December 20, 2024
This is such a fun trashy read!!! Cannot not give it 5 stars. Ray Garton is a great writer and I felt completely immersed into the trailer park world the characters live in. Loved it!
March 2, 2018
I gotta be honest. This was a tough read for me. I HATE these kinds of plots (which I will try not to spoil as much as I can). I love the premise the title and cover image of this book suggests. I HAD to read it. I expected something a lot different than what I got. What intrigued me was that I had no idea really what to expect. I’m a writer to-be, and this title and image made me wish it was my book, haha. My idea ran rampant. So there was really no way not to disappoint me for the reality of it. I wanted something like Trainspotting crossed with a bit of Tarantino with the gut of Winter Bone or something along those lines.
What Ray Garton did instead was reinvent LOLITA, only here Lolita is a semi retarded 17r old with a mother desperately running from the fact that her little girl has grown into a woman’s body with a budding sexual identity.
I only JUST finished reading, so I’m still working through my feelings about what happens. But I agree with what others have said about this being a bit of a morality tale. I’m sure many will see the men involved as an indictment on my whole gender. The truth is none of them come out looking too good, haha. YET neither do the women. Kendra’s mother does whatever she can to provide for and protect her little girl. That’s admirable. But she fails Kendra as much as anybody. Kendra is being denied the prospect of a self reliant life. Yes, Kendra has the mind of a 12yr old. So do most people (12yrs old is roughly seventh or eighth grade, yes? That’s the reading level most of us have. If properly raised and educated, many suffering mental disabilities go on to marry and have their own lives. Kendra is reflective and calculating for somebody with such a disability. Her mother thinks she’s doing Kendra a favor by treating her as a helpless innocent without asking herself if keeping Kendra dependent is more about her own emotional needs than Kendra’s. (I’m going into this because, as a physically disabled person, I dealt with this matter, too... disabled kids give parents a deeply involved reason for living that some kind difficult to let go of.)
That’s not to say Kendra should have been allowed to be sexually exploited.
I really dreading reading the outcome of this story for a long time while reading. In the end, Garton provided a much more nuanced conversation than I expected. That’s not to say the story isn’t at times gut wrenching and FUGLY.
The ending is abrupt. I’m still not sure if Garton meant for us to believe one character was good and the other bad. Neither seemed right to me. The one character is out of control and a murderer. The other character takes a HARD shift in morality that doesn’t seem earned to me, given his principals up to that point. Seems to say just being attracted to Kendra makes you a bad person, which is silly. There is a third element to the story that just feels out of place and cheap, only there to provide a dramatic background to an otherwise wanting end.
Whatever my problems, I can’t deny that I kept coming back despite my uneasiness (that I rarely feel from a book).
It’s a ballsy book, for sure.
What Ray Garton did instead was reinvent LOLITA, only here Lolita is a semi retarded 17r old with a mother desperately running from the fact that her little girl has grown into a woman’s body with a budding sexual identity.
I only JUST finished reading, so I’m still working through my feelings about what happens. But I agree with what others have said about this being a bit of a morality tale. I’m sure many will see the men involved as an indictment on my whole gender. The truth is none of them come out looking too good, haha. YET neither do the women. Kendra’s mother does whatever she can to provide for and protect her little girl. That’s admirable. But she fails Kendra as much as anybody. Kendra is being denied the prospect of a self reliant life. Yes, Kendra has the mind of a 12yr old. So do most people (12yrs old is roughly seventh or eighth grade, yes? That’s the reading level most of us have. If properly raised and educated, many suffering mental disabilities go on to marry and have their own lives. Kendra is reflective and calculating for somebody with such a disability. Her mother thinks she’s doing Kendra a favor by treating her as a helpless innocent without asking herself if keeping Kendra dependent is more about her own emotional needs than Kendra’s. (I’m going into this because, as a physically disabled person, I dealt with this matter, too... disabled kids give parents a deeply involved reason for living that some kind difficult to let go of.)
That’s not to say Kendra should have been allowed to be sexually exploited.
I really dreading reading the outcome of this story for a long time while reading. In the end, Garton provided a much more nuanced conversation than I expected. That’s not to say the story isn’t at times gut wrenching and FUGLY.
The ending is abrupt. I’m still not sure if Garton meant for us to believe one character was good and the other bad. Neither seemed right to me. The one character is out of control and a murderer. The other character takes a HARD shift in morality that doesn’t seem earned to me, given his principals up to that point. Seems to say just being attracted to Kendra makes you a bad person, which is silly. There is a third element to the story that just feels out of place and cheap, only there to provide a dramatic background to an otherwise wanting end.
Whatever my problems, I can’t deny that I kept coming back despite my uneasiness (that I rarely feel from a book).
It’s a ballsy book, for sure.
December 12, 2019
I enjoy reading Ray Garton's books. He does a good job of blending tense, violent situations with well-built characters, then adding a healthy dash of sex to spice things up. Some might say a dollop of sex. In TRAILER PARK NOIR, Garton nicely combines trailer park trash with pulp noir. Oxford Dictionary defines noir as "a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity." Apply that definition to a trailer park environment and it perfectly sums up the mood of the book.
Marc Reznick is a private investigator getting over his girlfriend's suicide; he lives in unit nine. Right next door is Anna Dunfy and her teenage daughter Kendra; Anna is a single mom, working temp jobs and stripping at night to take care of her beautiful and mentally handicapped daughter. Mix in a pornographer in unit five and a drug dealer in unit seventeen and you know some significant drama is going to happen. Each of these characters and more exhibit the cynicism, fatalism, and/or moral ambiguity mentioned in the definition above.
The biggest problem that I had with the book was the character change that Reznick went through in the last third of the book. The pieces were there for the shift but at the same time, it was pretty sudden. For most of the book, he was a decent guy; he had problems and demons to deal with but he mostly had them under control. Then he takes care of a problem for Anna and suddenly flips as if a switch in him went off; his personality significantly changes from before. At that point, he was an arse and deserved the fate he received. As the title suggests, the book is not deep literature. What the book is though is fun and enjoyable and very satisfying.
Marc Reznick is a private investigator getting over his girlfriend's suicide; he lives in unit nine. Right next door is Anna Dunfy and her teenage daughter Kendra; Anna is a single mom, working temp jobs and stripping at night to take care of her beautiful and mentally handicapped daughter. Mix in a pornographer in unit five and a drug dealer in unit seventeen and you know some significant drama is going to happen. Each of these characters and more exhibit the cynicism, fatalism, and/or moral ambiguity mentioned in the definition above.
The biggest problem that I had with the book was the character change that Reznick went through in the last third of the book. The pieces were there for the shift but at the same time, it was pretty sudden. For most of the book, he was a decent guy; he had problems and demons to deal with but he mostly had them under control. Then he takes care of a problem for Anna and suddenly flips as if a switch in him went off; his personality significantly changes from before. At that point, he was an arse and deserved the fate he received. As the title suggests, the book is not deep literature. What the book is though is fun and enjoyable and very satisfying.
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