Tiny Little Troubles

by Marc Lecard

From the critically acclaimed author of Vinnie's Head, comes a fast-paced crime story about an eccentric thug chasing after a piece of nano-technology and the scientist that created it. Aaron Rogell is a brilliant San Francisco scientist with a nanotech start-up, a beautiful wife, and a brand-new baby. But Aaron has an ugly little problem; he just can't keep it in his pants. Ignoring business and family, he spends most of his quality time with an upscale call girl named Aphrodite, a toothless street hooker, and other less presentable companions. But when one of Aphrodite's lowlife acquaintances--the fearsome Pablo Clench--learns that her new boyfriend has invented a miraculous technology that may be worth fabulous sums of money, life for Aaron Rogell will never be the same again. And soon, Aaron, his wife and child, the bad guys, and just about everyone else ends up with lots of tiny little troubles.

352 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2008

About the author

Marc Lecard is the author of the novels Vinnie's Head (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007) and Tiny Little Troubles (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008). His short stories have appeared in numerous magazines, as well as the anthologies Killer Year: Stories to Die For, edited by Lee Child, and Best New Horror 19, edited by Stephen Jones."

Reviews

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Aaron Rogell, scientist
SETTING: San Francisco
RATING: 3.0

Aaron Rogell is a scientist who has made a discovery that should put his fledgling company on target for outperforming even the biggest of the dot.com successes of earlier years. He's been working in the field of nanotechnology and found a way to harness nanobots to manufacture products. At the moment, he has them producing thongs; but it's entirely possible that they could create just about anything, such as gold or cocaine. Unfortunately, Aaron has a fatal flaw, which is that his successes put him in more or less a constant state of arousal. He isn't directing that to his wife and new mother, Amanda. Instead, he maintains a mistress, call girl Aphrodite Anderson, and extra supplements, such as Chickie, a toothless hooker who has her own specialized set of skills.

Aphrodite also has a few other boyfriends, including JIimmy Cacapoulos, a strip club owner. One of Jimmy's club managers, Pablo Clench, is watching Aprhodite. It's his dumb luck that he learns what Aaron is up to. He hatches a scheme that involves infiltrating Aaron's company and taking it over by any means necessary. Finally, Clench confronts Aaron, seeking the formula for the nanobots, which Aaron will not relinquish, threatening to blackmail him by showing Amanda videos of his sexual exploits. Rogell won't give up his secrets; as a result, he ends up imprisoned and in chains in someone's basement. The police have no luck in finding him; ultimately, Amanda hires a private eye who only uncovers the fact that Aaron is a lust lizard. Despite those findings, Amanda is determined to look for her wayward spouse. She even goes undercover as a dancer in one of the strip clubs.

Despite the fact that the book would seem to be centered on a hot new technology, TINY LITTLE TROUBLES is really a standard story. There are a lot of murders, but the plot doesn't really move forward. There was not one character in whom I was really interested.

I really loved Lecard's first book, VINNIE'S HEAD, which was unique, twisted and hilarious. Therefore, it was a real disappointment to find that none of those adjectives applied to TINY LITTLE TROUBLES. I think a large part of the problem was that the book focused on some relatively uninteresting people instead of playing around with the nanotechnology aspect, which could have led to some interesting plot threads. Instead, the technology was dealt with early on and ignored for most of the book. From the descriptions and blurbs of the book, I gather that it was supposed to be a satirical farce. I didn't find it amusing.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Tiny Little Troubles' is the second novel by Marc Lecard and is just as humours as the fantastic noir/black comedy that was 'Vinnies Head'. In TLT, we're introduced to a character that is as flawed as he is brilliant - Aaron Rogell, head of nanotech startup Rogeltek, a husband, father, and scientist by day who indulges in deviant activities by night. Ultimately its these acts of indecency that lead to his downfall at the hands of Clench - a former strip club bouncer and all round hard case. Looking for ways to make a quick buck, Clench learns of Aaron through a mutual acquaintance (a stripper at the club), and soon hatches an elaborate scheme to steal the technology and sell to the highest bidder. What Clench didn't count on was Aaron's resilient and very forgiving wife stepping up the plate in defense/rescue of her husband. TLT is a quick read, at 340 pages it felt much shorter, mostly due to the break neck speed in which its delivered and the fluid effortless writing style of Lecard. Each character is well defined and a joy to read - especially unlikely hero Chickie and bad guy turned good Trick. The contrasting worlds colliding with one another complemented the cast beautifully while the mash-up of nanotechnology and the seedy underworld of the sex trade may not appeal to everyone, I though it worked well and exposed a seemingly squeaky clean scientist-type with a down and dirty persona outside his working life. 4 Stars.