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Ray Green (formerly Reuven Agranovsky) spent the years 1938 to 1946 as the radio voice of the Green Ray.  But it has been 40 years since the sponsor canceled the show and now Ray is an old man with delusions of grandeur, living in New Mexico and nursing numerous physical maladies.  Until one night when a power outage sends Ray out into the streets and he stumbles into the midst of the attempted abduction of a young woman.  Suddenly, Ray is given the chance to return to crime fighting as he attempts to help the young woman, Amelia, fend off her evil ex-boyfriend and father of her child, a corrupt FBI agent.  Ray is totally unequal to this task, but like a modern Don Quixote he's unwilling to give in to reality.

Eventually things get extraordinarily ugly, perhaps a little too brutal and depressing for the more comic tone that Fink establishes early on.  But it is a unique and uninhibited performance by a first time novelist.  I enjoyed it and look forward to his future efforts.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (B+)


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Thrillers
Book-related and General Links:
    -REVIEW: Further Adventures The Return of the Green Ray (Madison Smartt Bell, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of If He Lived by Jon Stephen Fink (Michelle Clump, Richmond Review)