February 1, 2005

Angel Veronchek lives a rather sheltered life.  He is an albino with sensitivity to light and therefore he spends most of his time holed up in his dark apartment watching a Blade Runner DVD.  He spends his days working on a screenplay titled Los Angeles while taking medication washed down by cups of bourbon.  He’s a self-proclaimed loser by most accounts and he lives a rather uneventful life or does he?

Angela comes into his life and she becomes the light that he has avoided for many years.  They spend time together engaged in conversation and he opens up his lonely existence and makes space for Angela.  He receives a call from her one-day; she simply says his name and hangs up the phone.  From that moment forward he dedicates his life to rescuing Angela from and unknown foe that may have kidnapped or killed her.

Angel ventures out into the sunlight and starts his noble quest.  He can feel that Angela is in a dark place and waiting to be rescued.  As moments go by he is desperate and he fears that time is running out.  Through Angel’s eyes and actions you can feel the loss of control and the uncertainty that he lives with.  He can be labeled as a schizophrenic, depressed alcoholic existing in a made up world.  Or, he can be labeled a heroic savior who overcomes his fears and anxieties to save the woman that he loves.  At times, while reading this book, both labels may apply.  But, even when the truth is revealed, you are still uncertain.

Peter Moore Smith has reincarnated Don Quixote as a delusional Angel Veronchek in search of his damsel in distress.  We must think that once the windmill is defeated it is still honorable that this Knight in Pale Skin challenged the Dragon just as Smith has challenged our imagination with a surreal tale about the line between sanity and insanity as it is breached.

LOS ANGELES: A NOVEL is enjoyable and well written.  I guarantee that you will form a conclusion about the mystery that Angel is trying to solve only to find that all that may appear to be living and breathing may not be.

Reviewed by Tyrone Vincent Banks