Book Review: Get Poor Slow by David Free is a thoroughly interesting read

To review a book based on a small nook of the life of a hated book critic, to be in the head of Raymond Saint and to be included in his thoughts and actions throughout makes me want to drink a bottle of red to soak it all in – however, if I did grab a bottle, Saint would appear and drink it himself!

Get Poor Slow author David Free takes us on a battered and bruised journey of a hated book critic and the perils that await his every move. This suspenseful novel starts with Saint dealing with the media and circus at his door. Saint is accused of murdering a girl. A girl he knew, and a girl he was with the night she died. Due to having deep feelings for the dead girl, Jade, Saint takes it upon himself to hide facts from the police and to try work out what happened on the night of the murder and to try piece together the clues he is finding somehow through his inebriated mind.

Saint’s a dirty type of being, his thoughts are anxious and his head is so cluttered initially with what to say and what not to say that it’s a jungle in there. A mess. I can’t help but like the way Saint is though, a bad guy but with a good heart. He’s reminiscent of the characters Bunny Munro in The Death of Bunny Munro or Hank Moody from Californication, all entwined with the old fashioned Romeo.

Get Poor Slow has some interesting characters, with two hot females, a greasy manager and an even greasier famous author. All these people will be under the microscope, but Saint experiences so many blackouts from drinking and pill popping, he’s not even sure he didn’t kill the girl.

Get Poor Slow is a thoroughly interesting read, the pages turn themselves. It was descriptive and captivating, and I read it with a sense of astoundment at how some people can get through life so intoxicated and screwed up. I found myself fascinated by the characters as I tried to work out who was the killer and I wanted an answer quickly. Inebriated and out of it for the entire book, just how does Ray find the answer to who killed the young women?

Get Poor Slow is available now through Pan MacMillan

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