Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey

Published by Scribner on August 16, 2016

Clyde Barr is a tough guy. After his release from a Mexican prison, he’s trying to lose himself in the Colorado woods when his sister, Jen, calls to tell him that she needs help. Since she’s the only family member with whom Clyde is still on good terms, Clyde feels obliged to respond, but the call is cut off before Clyde can learn where she is. Fortunately, Clyde is resourceful.

Clyde hooks up with a bartender named Allie who knows something about a drug dealing thug named Lance who was Jen’s last known contact. After that, Clyde runs around doing tough guy stuff or reminiscing about all the tough guy stuff he’s done in the past. Clyde also reminisces about his abusive family life as a child, which is too over-the-top to generate the kind of sympathy that must have been intended. Occasionally, he says something like “Damn. Another pointless death that was entirely my fault.” I guess that makes him a tough guy with a conscience.

To prove his manliness, Clyde orders big rare steaks while making fun of Allie’s tofu noodle bowls. Is it even possible to order both of those at the same restaurant? Then, following the tradition of tough guy novels, he gets into bar fights to prove to the reader that he’s the toughest guy in the bar, and maybe the world. When he meets his old prison buddy, they beat each other up for fun because, yes, they are both tough guys. He rides a motorcycle 100 mph in the rain because he’s a fearless tough guy. All of that is such standard fare that it’s just tiresome, not to mention pointless.

Near the end of the novel, Clyde had managed to endanger all of his relatives, but he tells them not to call the police because the police don’t know anything about catching criminals. Only a heavily armed tough guy like Clyde can solve the problem. The most realistic part of the novel is that most of Clyde’s family, for good reason, want nothing to do with him. Of course, he feels bad about that because he’s a tough guy with a heart. The heart also accounts for a surprisingly sappy ending.

Having gotten out of my system all the things about Nothing Short of Dying that annoy me, I need to make clear that the book isn’t all bad. Erik Storey is a capable writer who keeps the plot moving. He tells the story in observant prose. He gives Clyde at least a modest degree of depth, although it’s overshadowed by his tough guy persona. Apart from Clyde’s unerring aim, action scenes are credible and the story doesn’t overreach, which is more than I can say about most modern thrillers. The book is smarter than many tough guy novels and it avoids politics, which I count as plus, since so many fictional tough guys love to pontificate about their tough guy political philosophies.

I've enjoyed many tough guy novels, beginning with Don Pendleton's Executioner books that I devoured when I was a kid. Those novels had elements that this one lacked. On the scale by which I judge books, I fall somewhere between being indifferent to and liking Nothing Short of Dying. I can only recommend it to readers who are willing to tolerate its problems -- in other words, readers who crave tough guy personas and are willing to let other aspects of the novel slide.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS