Nobody Move Paperback – 2 April 2010

Loved his collection of stories entitled Jesus' Son, but I found this full-length effort lacking a certain spark. Why does every book I read in this genre remind me of Elmore Leonard. Sorry.

Such a good book. Dark, trash, entertaining.

Not a spare word is used in this thrilling book. Denis Johnson's visit to noir is hugely exciting; a sort of ultra noir.

Elmore Leonard springs to mind, as does Micky Spillane in some of what it evokes, however they both tip their hats and leave pretty early on in the party. This is pastiche, it even has a forties-noire soundtrack saxophone in it, though it doesn't get played because it isn't there. That is exactly what you find if you go making comparisons, something that is mentioned but really isn't there - which is, in the words of Yeates and Butler "A good thing", for this is a great little story told mainly through dialogue. Brisk, clean and dry in its wit this story moves on apace. It is enjoyable for its own sake and if its not exactly Elmore Leonard that is ok. For Leonard, read Leonard. For a short, light well written gangster tale you could read in one sitting (I did) read this.

This short book moves at one heck of a pace so keep your wits about you or you will literally loose the plot.The dialogue is slick with seldom a word wasted. The characters all have faults, but are more loveable rogues than evil villains. The use of humour to relieve the build up to the climax is masterful and the sexy bits are pretty good too.All in all this is a great fast moving yarn of robbery , intrigue and infidelity set in approx. present time USA. Cormac McCarthy it is not, but pretty damn good it is. Why not 5 stars? Well the ending kind of took me by surprise, but not in a good way!

This had the economy of prose of James Ellroy but neither the story nor the characterisation to match.

You almost know that Denis Johnson is playing with the genre here, but something very good happens as you read and find yourself involved in the action, hoping that Jimmy Luntz and the beautiful, manipulative, putative fraudster Anita can escape the clutches of Juarez, the local drugs king, and his acolyte the terrifying Tall Man. The plot is tight, the action is taut, the language is understated Chandleresque without being derivative. Here's Anita questioning him in the motel they go to:"You're sweet," she said, and she sort of meant it. But not as a compliment, "You're homeless right?""I have a home. I'm just not going back there, is all.""So right in that shopping bag is everything you own?""Everything I need.""And your white canvas bag - what's in that one?""Everything else I need.""I know what's in it. A sawed off shotgun."He seemed completely unsurprised, "It's not a sawed off. It's a pistol grip. And it isn't mine.""I peeked in the bag while you were in the shower.""You zipped it up real nice," he said, "Good for you." Young Jimmy Luntz owes Juarez money so he sends Gambol to collect, but something, wouldn't you know it, goes wrong and Jimmy leaves Gambol with a tourniquet on one leg courtesy of a gun shot wound. Anita first sees Jimmy as he tosses his gun into the river, and then they meet up again at the Ramada, just outside the County airport. But things don't go smoothly for Jimmy and Anita because Gambol takes his leg wound seriously and Juarez still wants his money. What the Tall Man wants is probably incalculable. By page 170, Jimmy's in his shorts tied to a chair and Juarez is in control. A scant 20 pages later, it's all over, for some.I'm impressed by Johnson's flair for genre-hopping; he's a US National Book Award winner for his Vietnam War novel, Tree of Smoke, as well as author of seven other novels, four volumes of poetry and two plays.

I read this book because of Denis Johnson's short stories. They have a fantastic quality of the bar room to them, amoral and quick and shocking.This novel doesn't quite have the same feel as them. The short stories have such a chaotic, verbal story telling sense to them that can only come from meticulous planning, but here you can see the plotting.Although Nobody Move is fairly episodic in nature it feels much more structured and within genre than the stories that I'd previously read. In many ways it reads like an Elmore Leonard book, the same sharp mouth, the same gruffness and distance from the characters, but it lacks the intricate twists and turns that Leonard gives us.The plot is very simple. Very fast paced, very violent, often funny, but very simple.Jimmy Luntz owes a bad gambling debt Juarez. Juarez sends Gambol to extract the money from Luntz, with violence if necessary. Luntz sees it coming and shoots Gambol in the leg and goes on the run. On the way he meets Anita, the ex-wife of a Judge, who is due in court to be charged with embezzling some money. She too is on the run. She doesn't have the money, but knows where it is. Gambol and Juarez chase, Luntz and Anita run. That's it.What has remained from the short stories is a moral ambiguity, you are never sure who to empathise with, if anyone. Luntz is supposedly the main character, yet you can't help liking Gambol. But Gambol once cut off a mans testicles and ate them, so you shouldn't empathise with him, and so on.I enjoyed this unpredictability of characterisation, it reminded me of Point Blank and Parker. And what this book lacks in plot it makes up for in punchy dialogue and interesting characters.