Jonathan Ames has a soft spot for the man out of time, as his novels Wake Up, Sir! and The Extra Man attest. For A Man Named Doll, which is set in the present day, Ames has planted his lost man-boy narrator, ex-cop and private investigator Hank Doll, in a situation straight out of classic noir fiction--an inspired pairing given that Doll doesn't have a hard-boiled bone in his body.
The story opens at Doll's Los Angeles office with a visit from his getting-on-in-years friend Lou Shelton, who has a proposition: "I need a new kidney. I'm looking for volunteers." Shelton is offering big money, but that's not what convinces Doll to volunteer, free of charge: back when they were on the force, Shelton saved Doll's life. But before Doll can cough up the kidney, the old man shows up at Doll's house with a bullet in his chest and only minutes to live. So far, so noir.
A mysterious item that Shelton hands Doll just before he dies launches a one-man investigation in which classic crime motifs mingle amusingly with modern mores. Unlike vintage noir dicks, Doll doesn't suppress his emotions: he's been in Freudian analysis for years. And Doll reserves his pillow talk not for the dame who's crazy about him but for his dog, George, who will strike readers as something not unlike an emotional-support animal. With A Man Named Doll, Ames delivers a time-tripping white-knuckler with horror shadings, a noir soul and a tender heart. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer