No Second Chances by Rio Youers
This is a very hard review to write for a couple of reasons. I really don’t want to spoil this book as it is not even set to be released for a few months. I went into this book cold, not knowing a thing besides my love for past works of Rio Youers. He seems to slowly transitioning himself from weird supernatural books to crime thrillers. I enjoyed his powerful indie debut Westlake Soul, that book was like a coming-of-age take on Johnny Got His Gun and The Forgotten Girl which felt like John Farris The Fury and Firestarter by King getting an update is still probably my favorite.
This book No Second Chances and the last one Lola on Fire are straight action and crime stories built entirely on the power and strength of the Rio Youers secret ingredient. Characters. This freaking Youers guy knows how to write characters with complications that we can still root for. That is a tough trick for any author but it is this one's strength. He writes bad guys you hate on a level that is very near to Luc Besson and Stephen King who are to me the best writers of bullies in any media.
Speaking of King, It should be noted that the guy who created all those mean assholes himself called this book hot and pointed to the villain as Bond bad guy worthy. He also called it a Hollywood Noir and while it is LA noir or Southern California noir I would be a little nervous calling that as some might think that means it is about the film biz. It is not. The book also strays out into the desert and crosses the border into Nevada and that region plays a big role in the setting and feel of the final act. The LA of the novel feels pretty recognizable coming from a British Canadian. Who did Well done choosing neighborhoods and settings. It feels experienced. It is also the first major novel I read that acknowledges the COVID world.
Look in a way I would compare this to True Romance in tone but I don’t know if that is fair or not either. For whatever reason, that vibe kept coming to mind. No Second Chances is a page-turner not because of some huge high concept, it is because Luke and Kitty most of all are characters, I am interested in. So If you trust on going in cold read no further and pre-order it. You see it is a character-based Noir thriller that twists and suspense galore. and the less you know the better.
OK, you have been warned. Light spoilers ahead…
Kitty is from Louisville, a young black woman who has dreams of striking it big in Hollywood. She is pretty and talented no she just needs the luck. This novel is about the city of broken dreams. It is a known thing that every waiter or Uber driver in LA has a script, or headshots ready to try and make their dreams of stardom come true. Kitty like many of those hopefuls got into the wrong line of work in the meantime. She is a courier for a Youtube/insta star Johan Fly.
Pitfalls of Hollywood are a daily reminder for Kitty. Across the street in her Silver Lake neighborhood is Luke Kingsley. He was a one-time rising star who was married to an equally famous soul singer Lisa Haynes. So what happened to his career? After their turbulent relationship played out in the press and social media, Lisa disappeared. Luke woke up during a camping trip with her blood on his shirt and three years later Lisa was never seen again.
The cops are sure he did it but have no proof. Social media convicted and canceled him. He can’t get work and his life is over. Kitty finds him fascinating as she knows who her neighbor is. Their stories come together when Kitty sees Luke try to take his own life. She breaks in and saves him and that is the start of a strange friendship. Kitty keeps an eye on him, she doesn’t know him but he knows it will be in the tabloids if she takes to get help.
One of the first moments when I really felt for Luke shortly after he starts to return to himself. He is speaking to Kitty.
“I didn’t do it you know.” He lowered the cloth and looked at her with tired bloodshot eyes. “I didn’t.”
We have seen all kinds of cases like this in the media. Most often the guys accused are guilty. It is easy to see why Luke would be assumed to be guilty. None the less Youers plays with our feelings for Luke the right amount. Is he guilty or not? Well, not for me to say at this point.
I really liked that there is nothing sexual about Kitty and Luke’s friendship and that is a key and important thing. Both characters are broken by LA, one over the years after having the break and one realizing it wasn’t all she imagined it to be. They are not in this story for romance. Luke is destroyed by the lost wife whose death everyone blames him for. He misses being rich and famous sure but it is the lost wife and broken dreams that haunt him.
Kitty just wanted an edge and selling Canary a new drug that enhances mental sharpness is all the rage in the city. What will it hurt if she just has a little herself? That is the mistake that ignites the book. When Jonah responds it is with a present. The scene with the box is great because it is a super-effective tonal shift. That moment is like a hammer breaking apart Kitty's dreams, the inciting nightmare.
“Kitty lifted the lid and her first reaction was to scream, but there was nothing to scream with. Her airway collapsed, drawing everything inside her chest into a hard, frosty ball. She gagged and fell backward onto her ass, pushing herself away from the table, from the box.
“You said I could trust you Kitty,” Johan said. “You lied.”
Johan is a dick. Why he is ….
I am super serious about the spoiler warning now.
This novel is a crime book but Youers skill for writing horror and revulsion are on display in the final act.
“Luke felt a wave of revulsion and sadness, but they were obscured by a more aggressive rush of feelings. The idea that he was within moments of seeing Lisa was too huge to grasp. He stood in its shadow, waiting for it to topple and crush him or provide elevation to the top. "
The reveal that Luke was wrong is satisfying, and these reveals are horror-inducing. The author's roots show like a three-month-old bleached hair. That is a feature, not a bug. but for all suspense action and more, the biggest gut-punch is the bad guy. There is a reason King pointed this out. Jonah makes such a great bad guy because he is the kind of attention whore rich kid who is used to get away with things. Every time he invokes my Dad's Lawyers it hurts knowing those well-paid assholes have bailed him out before, and they will keep doing it.
The structure of the final act is really perfect cutting between the investigator who hated Luke and believed him guilty and the action with Luke and Kitty. The back and forth is well done. Rio Youers is in the club of authors I will follow regardless of genre. It doesn't feel a 400-page book, the pages simply rip back quickly.
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