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The Fixer
But Tobe's life is falling apart. He is tired of his clients' desperate ambitions, and lonely after his break-up with Scarlet - the one person who understands his bizarre sexual and psychological needs. After a disastrous appearance on a television show, things come to a Tobe dissolves his business partnership and goes out on his own with just one client to his name. But this new client is different from the rest. He is the ultimate show business personality. Tobe's new client is a serial killer.
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First published November 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 1, 2014
Creating a story that centres on an unlikable character is not an easy task. One genre in which it has worked well is humorous crime fiction, there is nothing quite like murder to bring out the black comedy. However, to achieve this requires a balance that comes with being a skilled writer. Colin Bateman is a master of the genre, as is Carl Hiaasen; after reading Max Kinnings’ ‘The Fixer’, this is not an author to add to this list quite yet.
‘The Fixer’ centres on one Tobe Darling, a messed up media fixer who helps D list celebrities scrape a living whilst he indulges in his fantasies – a lot. After a particularly distasteful interview on television Tobe calls out the latest serial killer de jour, The Piper, and ends up representing him. Kinnings seems to be trying to create an incredible dark satire on the vacuous nature of celebrity. Written in 2001, the book still holds true on this front as things have become worse in this regard and not better.
True to form the book is best when ripping into the plastic glitz of fame, but that is only a small part of the whole. The rest is a strange manual of how to be unpleasant. Tobe is a loathsome character, which is the point, but he lacks the sardonic chops of a Dan Starkey. This is just an unpleasant man with no redeeming features. To make things worse he is also a masochist and we get far too many scenes of this occurring. We understand that he enjoys being ridiculed and feeling pain; the problem is that the reader does want to know all about it.
The main issue with ‘The Fixer’ is that the tone is wrong. You can only succeed in a book as bad natured as this if it is funny; which it is not. Added to this is a problem with structure. Tobe is prone to flights of fancy and will daydream; it is not always clear what is reality and what is not. Therefore, an unfunny book also becomes unwieldy at times. The brief moments of genuine humour that reflect on the stupidity of modern fame are too few and far between to make this more than strange and slightly unlikable book.
‘The Fixer’ centres on one Tobe Darling, a messed up media fixer who helps D list celebrities scrape a living whilst he indulges in his fantasies – a lot. After a particularly distasteful interview on television Tobe calls out the latest serial killer de jour, The Piper, and ends up representing him. Kinnings seems to be trying to create an incredible dark satire on the vacuous nature of celebrity. Written in 2001, the book still holds true on this front as things have become worse in this regard and not better.
True to form the book is best when ripping into the plastic glitz of fame, but that is only a small part of the whole. The rest is a strange manual of how to be unpleasant. Tobe is a loathsome character, which is the point, but he lacks the sardonic chops of a Dan Starkey. This is just an unpleasant man with no redeeming features. To make things worse he is also a masochist and we get far too many scenes of this occurring. We understand that he enjoys being ridiculed and feeling pain; the problem is that the reader does want to know all about it.
The main issue with ‘The Fixer’ is that the tone is wrong. You can only succeed in a book as bad natured as this if it is funny; which it is not. Added to this is a problem with structure. Tobe is prone to flights of fancy and will daydream; it is not always clear what is reality and what is not. Therefore, an unfunny book also becomes unwieldy at times. The brief moments of genuine humour that reflect on the stupidity of modern fame are too few and far between to make this more than strange and slightly unlikable book.
July 18, 2012
Hit Man was better.
August 20, 2013
A look at the celebrity obsessed culture but through a dark/witty lens. The book had me laughing out loud in places. A decent entertaining read. Would recommend.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews