Vinnie's Head

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Overview

Small-time Long Island criminal, Johnnie LoDuco, after giving up a promising career as a smut peddler, gets involved with some friends who rob a convenience store, get caught because they are too stoned to make a getaway, and then pin all the blame on him. And when his childhood buddy Vinnie bails him out of jail, he agrees to partake in a scam Vinnie has put together that will make them all rich. The only problem is: while out fishing one day Johnnie reels in the biggest catch of his life... Vinnie's head on the end of the fishing line. Now mafia types, bounty hunters, and Vinnie's girlfriend are after him, and Johnnie LoDuco doesn't have a clue as to why. Plus, they all seem to want ...

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Overview

Small-time Long Island criminal, Johnnie LoDuco, after giving up a promising career as a smut peddler, gets involved with some friends who rob a convenience store, get caught because they are too stoned to make a getaway, and then pin all the blame on him. And when his childhood buddy Vinnie bails him out of jail, he agrees to partake in a scam Vinnie has put together that will make them all rich. The only problem is: while out fishing one day Johnnie reels in the biggest catch of his life... Vinnie's head on the end of the fishing line. Now mafia types, bounty hunters, and Vinnie's girlfriend are after him, and Johnnie LoDuco doesn't have a clue as to why. Plus, they all seem to want Vinnie's head, but Johnnie seems to have misplaced it in an ice cooler—and if he wants to live he needs to get it back.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Lecard, in his endlessly entertaining debut, shows great skill in pacing and characterization. Smalltime Long Island crook Johnnie LoDuco is on the lam after being unjustly fingered as the mastermind of a convenience store heist. While passing the time fishing, he pulls from the water the severed head of his best friend, Vinnie McCloskey-Schmidt, a computer-savvy con artist who had recently promised to bring LoDuco into his business. This grisly discovery leads to an engaging comedy of errors, as LoDuco struggles to stay one step ahead of crooked cops, an amiable serial killer, mobsters and mysterious figures who may be pulling the strings of an international financial conspiracy. The violence, though plentiful, is cartoonish, and Lecard's appealing antihero has a distinctive voice reminiscent of Kinky Friedman's detective alter ego. Sure to appeal to Elmore Leonard fans, this first novel augurs a long and successful career for its author. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Small-time Long Island hood Johnnie LoDuco has scarcely cleared the prison gates when he hauls out of the bay the head of his high school buddy at the end of his fishing pole. Johnnie and the late Vinnie McCloskey-Schmidt had been hatching a credit-card scam when Johnnie was sent to county jail on another legal matter. Now Vinnie's dead, and Johnnie is left holding the bag, with Vinnie's head inside. To make matters worse, ugly Mafia types like Worm Lips are now dogging him, along with a pack of bounty hunters and Vinnie's girlfriend. They all seem to want Vinnie's head and are perfectly willing to kill Johnnie to get it. What's a guy to do? Johnnie hooks up with Patrice, a mini-mart clerk with a heart of gold, and together they set out to ditch their pursuers, find Vinnie's money, and head for Paraguay. This wacky debut novel is reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen's work but is much darker and grislier. Hiaasen's fans may be put off by the profusion of body parts and absence of journalistic finesse, but Lecard has great comic timing, truly twisted characters, and a plot just bizarre enough to keep the pages turning. Recommended. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 11/1/06.]-Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp. Lib., El Segundo, CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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Kirkus Reviews
Despite constant attempts by other gun-toting worthies to upstage it, Vinnie McCloskey-Schmidt's head is indeed the centerpiece of this grisly criminal farce. Chronic Long Island loser Johnnie LoDuco, two weeks out of stir, looks like he's set to go back in when his car's battery dies and he's caught boosting a replacement vehicle. Before his court date rolls around, Johnnie runs into Bug Rankin, the public defender who once tried unsuccessfully to get him acquitted on obscenity charges, and two business associates who've just robbed a deli. When the cops pounce, they grab Johnnie along with the perps, who naturally finger him as the ringleader. Facing serious time, Johnnie's delighted but suspicious when he's bailed out, apparently by his old school buddy Vinnie, whose current partnership with disgraced Dr. Jennifer Smeals involves fleecing customers of a few measly cents on every transaction and setting up a corporation in Paraguay where Johnnie can "administrate" the proceeds. In a rare moment of insight, Johnnie reflects that "we made a great team, except for me." Vinnie's plan runs into a snag, literally, when Johnnie, idly fishing off the end of a pier, hooks his buddy's severed head. And that's all in the first 60 pages. Johnnie will soon be pursued by mobsters demanding their money (what money?), king-sized trigger-men, cops on the take and the Headhunter, a recovering serial killer who lives with his mom. Rookie novelist Lecard keeps the twists and turns coming, but since every lowlife who swims into view seems equally greedy, deceptive and demented, you may not care when Johnnie caroms from one to the next. The Rube Goldberg plot is rickety but relentless, and although most ofthe cast is excruciatingly familiar, it's hard to resist dim, sweet Johnnie, especially when he seems about to find true love.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781615572403
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Publication date: 3/4/2008
  • Pages: 352
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

MARC LECARD was born and raised on Long Island, New York. He now lives in Oakland, California with his wife, 3,000 books, and a growing collection of obsolete computers. Vinnie's Head is his first novel.

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