You Were Never Really Here is a powerhouse of a novella, starting with a blackjack to the back of the head and ending in the middle of vengeance.
This was made into a 2017 film which won Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix at the Cannes Film Festival.
A traumatized veteran trying to save a young girl from underworld prostitution in New York City is reminiscent of Scorsese's Taxi Driver, with the advantage of the naked word on the page, without distraction, the pure action of a single man's driven obsession. The film alters the storyline, including a new ending. Always great to read the original.
Joe is a mercenary who will do nothing but blindly execute his job, getting results by brutal means. Abused by his father, and disturbed by his military career, he suffers flashbacks and suicidal thoughts. Life is transient, including his own, not precious. For years, he worked undercover in a sex-trafficking task force rescuing children who were baited and kidnapped. Now carrying nothing identifiable and with no fixed address except visiting his elderly mother, he has a contactless system with his handler for new jobs through a local bodega, for anonymity on all sides. His next client is a NY state senator whose daughter has been kidnapped into the circuit of underage prostitution, subdued by a diet of drugs until she is no longer of use.
His first step is to buy supplies; Duct tape. A cutter. A new hammer.
He finds the townhouse location, and with no plan but action, bursts into the brothel. This is a man on attack, skilled in taking a man down by any weapon. The girl is damaged but free. Returning her to the politicians hotel, he is met with an open door, an empty room, a double cross. The girl disappears again, but this time stolen by on-duty cops. The rot goes deeper than he could imagine when he starts to find everyone he knows is being killed.
But this is a man with nothing left to lose, a proficient man who knows how to wield a hammer. He will track the politician down, he will find the girl, and he will not stop until the arrogant and self-righteous have all paid.
"He'll wage a slow war, working his way up the food chain until he gets to the man who pulled the trigger on all of this. Joe wants to bleed him. First, he'll kill everyone beneath him and let him feel Joe coming for a while. He'll go after his sons, if he has any, pick them off one by one. After that he'll kidnap the bastard, take him somewhere, and cut him to pieces over a few weeks, always stitching him back up, keeping him alive. But each day methodically..." I can't even write any more, it gets darker.
This begins with a blackjack raised to strike the back of his head, showing Joe's talent for fighting, and ends with the strike of a hammer, his weapon of choice. He remains one step ahead of the goons sent to kill him, attacking when they least expect. This is filled with brutal violence, but it does not seem gratuitous. This is a means to an end. As tortured as Joe is, you know he is driven to complete the job.
This dark novel is not for everyone, dealing with human trafficking, blackmail, corruption, political power and features a disturbed main character. The writing is incisive and the plot tight. It is a real achievement to create a whole world, a dynamic set of characters, within just 97 pages.
For fans of action thrillers such as Lee Child's Reacher series, you will not be disappointed.
Jonathan Ames wrote I Pass Like Night (1989), one of those novels I liked so much I still have my copy 34 years later, and The Extra Man, filmed in 2010 starring Kevin Kline and Paul Dano. As well as a graphic novel, essays and a foray into boxing, Ames created and wrote the HBO comedy Bored To Death.
2018 / Tradeback / 97 pages
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