The 25th Hour

When the Nines Roll Over and other stories by David Benioff

Viking

I remember getting an advance copy of The 25th Hour a month or so before it came out and ignored it completely after reading the description in the beginning about Monty finding the nearly dead dog. Later I went back and made sure I had a clean hardcover, first edition and that the advance reading copy was in pristine shape. Unsigned they're worth about $300 each. Kakutani's New York Times Review catapulted the 25th Hour into the literary solar system. As soon as The 25th Hour came out in paperback I absorbed it like a man lost in the desert devours a pond of water. Benioff is a man who writes like a superstar. His sentences bleed perfection, complete in their structure and fulfilled by their poignancy. Monty Brogan is nothing if not a fantastically riveted tragic hero. Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends.

I've quoted it before, to hell with it, I'll quote it again I'm sure. Great line. What's even more amazing about that book and the movie, which followed, was that Benioff adapted his own work so well. I'll admit that I hated that make believe ending, but after repeated viewings you notice the weight of emotion that it carries, especially Brian Cox picking up Ed Norton that fateful morning. It's brutal, but it's the price you pay in this country for getting your hand caught in the substance jar.

Then I read an article that Benioff wrote in Details magazine, which mentioned he had a collection of short stories coming, entitled 'When the Nines Roll Over and other stories'. What the fuck? Who comes up with a title that good? David Benioff does. It sat on my shelf for a month, it teased me, begged me to be read, I waited, knowing it was going to be something special. It was, it is, and it always will be.

Some people, (literary agents) tell you that short story collections are usually published as a favor to an author whom they have under contract. On there own collections don't sell, (literary agents, again say this) and it's not generally true, sometimes they can stand-alone. 'Kissing in Manhattan' is a perfect example. This book may have been a favor, but then Carroll and Graf who published The 25th Hour would have gotten behind this. They didn't because the commercial juggernaut known as Viking threw Benioff all the money in the world and outbid his original publisher (just a guess, if it's not true, then why let Benioff go?), they publish Nora Roberts for God's sake, the list of terrible's at Viking/Penguin is too long for this column. Granted The 25th Hour in hardcover created middling heat, but nothing sensational. Having just finished WTNRO, I'm here to tell you that you can pre-order this off Amazon right now. Don't waste your time hoping it will be good and browsing it online or in your bookstore. From the get go we meet characters who startle us with their independent brilliance.

The focal points of these episodes are men and women on the verge of something. What? It waits for you. I'd almost rather not review this book in any formal detail. Not spoiling it is very difficult. A decision, a past confrontation, a choice that will define them or help to sharpen the edges around their lives. All these paths, taken or not, leave a permanent mark on the reader, for a long time. In 'Neversink', you toil with Frankie as he decides to use his spare set of keys to let himself into his ex-girlfriends apartment to steal the ashes of her father. You think he's doing the right thing. You ultimately find out that he did, but the true history of those remains finds it's way into your dreams. In 'Merde For Luck', you blister and recoil at the painter's pain when he discovers his lover died for no reason. Sure, it was AIDS but there's a reason that none of you, anyone, or me could imagine. It's Benioff's power of persuasion. His passion for cinching the nine ball off the far rail, one handed, as he takes your money like a man with a plan only he's privy too. Why the pants shitting scene in the beginning of 'Merde for Luck' why? You don't understand, but the shame of it won't hurt you until your finished. The title story, 'When the Nines Roll Over', confronts you with a record executive that is out for success. A bold and daring thief in the night, moving with expert precision to find that jewel in the rough. You'll have trouble with his name. But anyone whose been woken up in the night by a loud continuous noise will identify directly with the ending. Finally, it's the 'Garden of No' that I loved. Rejection in all forms is hard to take. Actress, actors and writers can all feel that pain. Benioff translates his own pain, from years of rejections into this charming little set piece revolving around an aspiring actress on the verge of very big things. David Benioff is a writer at the start of his career and a man with vast talents at his beck and call on an almost constant basis. There isn't a clunker in this collection. His powers are matched by Dan Chaon and Elwood Reid's early work. He stays on the planet and in your minds; he's just so good it will make you jealous. I can't remember it exactly, but it's like Richard Price's character telling Nick Nolte's character in 'Life Lessons': I see your paintings and I just wanna divorce my wife and become a painter. This book is that good. You just want to throw everything you know about good writing out the window and start fresh with this amazing collection.