"Losers Live Longer" is one of two full-length novels Atwood has written about NYC private eye Payton Sherwood. This is not a Mike Hammer type private eye or even a Phillip Marlowe type. With his wisecracking humor and his all too mortal fighting ability, Sherwood is more like a modernized version of Ed Noon if he could be compared to anyone. In this book, Sherwood manages to stumble out of his apartment/office building without shoes or socks, only to see his buddy/client Owl has been hit by a car. Not one to be too suspicious, Sherwood searches the body as the sirens approach.

Thinking someone (like a retro skateboarder) might have observed him, Sherwood takes off over trash and decay and things sticky and disgusting on the New York sidewalks in his bare feet. It is quite amusing as he searches in vain for a pair of shoes to don, finally finding a pair in the trash. From there, Sherwood literally stumbles onto one clue after another to wrap up a mystery. On the way, he is accosted by Russian mobsters, struck on the head with a briefcase, dodging bullets about the East River, and variously beat up and made a complete fool of.

The plot meanders quite a bit and, by the end, the plot is a little too disjointed to be compelling. It may just be that the book is way too long for what it tries to do.

There are a lot of positive things about Atwood's writing, including his inane, humorous descriptions of people and places. This is a detective who makes fun of himself and doesn't take himself too seriously. Indeed, Sherwood is about as down on his luck as one could possibly be, having only four paying clients in the past year and having already sold most of his possessions on Ebay. Sherwood thinks that someone out there was a billable client and he is going to stumble on that person. But, Sherwood is so sure no one will drop by that he is lounging around barefoot, drinking coffee, and when the buzzer rings, he figures it was just some drunk leaning against the doorframe and getting his bearings. When his buddy the older detective stops by (Owl), Sherwood describes him as "ancient and not too steady on his pins." He was a "geezer" who "could've used a registered nurse." And when he sees a body in the street, Sherwood thinks of the "white- haired scalp ruptured" and "a skull shard sticking out." Not to mention the emission of brain matter. As he walks down a corridor, he thinks of it as an "anonymous corridor" "about as lively as a sun-shrunken condom." When Sherwood gets battered, he says he was a "perfect pinball" especially as his head connects with the dresser's edge. When Sherwood sees a gorgeous woman, he thinks there is something irrestible about her, "something that made you think of Pavlov and dogs and bells, of maybe moths and flames." But not everyone in Sherwood's world is amazing. Some are dumpy with "copper-orange hair and harlequin glasses."

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Russell Atwood's "Losers Live Longer" is volume 59 from the excellent Hard Case Crime and is the second novel to feature loser private eye, Payton Sherwood; the first being "East of A" (1999). The story opens with the down on his luck Payton getting an out-of-the-blue telephone call from legendary, veteran detective George "Owl" Rowell asking for Payton's help on a case. On the way to Payton's office to brief him, Owl is killed in an apparent car accident. Payton's suspicions are aroused and he begins to look into what Owl had been up to and soon finds himself sucked into a complex web of intrigue that includes a shamed Wall Street financier and the millions he's taken-off with; a beautiful heroin addict; a stressed-out film director; a Ukrainian child porn ring and a devious blackmailing scheme. Add in Payton's tough but embittered ex-boss; a smart ass street skater; a host of beautiful femme fatales and a mounting cast of dead bodies and you have a sure fire recipe for a compelling and complicated mystery. "Losers Live Longer" is a great and highly intriguing read but the cast of characters and the multi-layered plot lines can be challenging at times – but not so difficult or dense as to slow down the page-turning momentum of the story. The book has a number of clever twists and just when you feel you have a handle on it a new revelation moves it in a different direction. Payton Sherwood is an excellent character, his down on his luck demeanour and rough-and-ready language camouflaging a quick mind and a well-developed, though sometimes well-hidden, morality. His sense of humour and quick turn of phrase is hard-boiled, funny and witty, but not without a touch of the grimly scatological. Atwood writes in a fast and contemporary style, being particularly good at conjuring up the New York City locations where the story is set – you can almost taste the city as the action moves rapidly from locale to locale. Overall "Losers Live Longer" is a great detective mystery, complex and intriguing, full of great twists and turns and featuring a great cast of characters, not least being the "hero" of the piece, Payton Sherwood. The horizontal cover for the book is also an interesting touch. ( )

Losers Live Longer is the high point of the original novels published in the Hard Case Crime series to date. Payton Sherwood is a thoroughly modern man in contemporary Manhattan but who also echoes the spirit of low-glamor private eyes from the 1950's hard-boiled era. ( )