Hoodtown: A Review

    'Hoodtown' is a hardboiled crime novel by Christa Faust, with cover art and spot illustrations by Rafael Navarro. It is published by 'From Parts Unknown' Press. It was published in 2004, with a second printing in 2017 (I read the second printing). 

    It feels unfair to lead with the book's central gimmick because, while the gimmick is the #1 "get 'em in the door" hook for the novel, it could also be the reason why people choose not to read it, and that's unfair, because at its heart, beyond the gimmicks, this is a rock-solid pulp crime story which isn't trying to be anything else. So if that's your bag, don't let the gimmick fool you or put you off. If, like me, the gimmick is your bag, then my lovelies, you are in for a treat.

    'Hoodtown' is set almost entirely within a largely impoverished but vibrant neighbourhood which is a mishmash of various elements of Mexican, Japanese and US Pop Culture. The most immediately noticeable of these is the fact that all Hoodtown residents wear masks, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It exists as a kind of cultural enclave within Angel City, a fictional West Coast metropolis. Residents of Hoodtown rarely venture beyond its borders, and tend to attract negative attention when they do, while outsiders to Hoodtown, known to residents as 'Skins', tend to attract the same kind of wary suspicion and veiled resentment as most tourists visiting impoverished or underprivileged areas.

    Our story begins when X, a middle-aged former luchadora (female masked wrestler) is drawn in to investigate when a Hoodtown sex worker is found murdered and unmasked and the 'Skin' cops seem disinclined to do much about it. 

    There are three main things to recommend here. The first is the setting. Hoodtown is a gloriously detailed environment. It's unexpectedly colourful, vital, sleazy, beautiful, wretched and ugly all at once. Having read it once, I am sorely tempted to read it again (and hope against hope for the possibility of a sequel?) just because I want to walk those streets and meet those characters again. It is a richly spiced soup, packed full of vivid flavours, and a single serving is just not enough.

    The second is X, herself. A forty-nine year old wrestler-turned-dominatrix with a (self-proclaimed) fat ass and a bum knee is an unlikely candidate for hard-boiled hero status, but she is so perfect in the role. She's exactly the right blend of doomed romanticism, hard-boiled cynicism, and flawed fallibility for a reader to wrap themselves up in and want only the best for (Good luck with that!). 

    The third is the story. Christa Faust is an accomplished crime writer whose experience beyond the genre in a wide-range of media tie-ins makes her ideal to pull all the disparate elements - lucha libre, corruption, sex, drama and community - into a seamless and cohesive whole. Like I said, he gimmick is there to get you in the door, but once you're in, the story is everything a crime aficionado could ask for. 

    The final result is an incredibly satisfying read. Turning the last page, I felt as if I had just enjoyed a delicious meal and wanted nothing more than to sit back and luxuriate in it. 

    If you were looking for comparisons, I'd mention the 'Tarnished Angel' story-arc in 'Kurt Busiek's Astro City', or Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' 'Last of the Innocent' arc from their comic series 'Criminal', both of which use the trappings of comic book archetypes (supervillains and Archie-style teenage hijinks, respectively) as a spice to season some compelling and well-crafted crime stories.

    And if you're keen to check out more from the writer and illustrator, I can heartily recommend seeking out Rafael Navarro's Lucha-Noir comic series 'Sonambulo', and Christa Faust's fiction from Hard-Case Crime.