At the Lazy K by Gene O’Neill
Written Backwards (May 2015)
162 pages; $10.00 paperback
Reviewed by W.D. Gagliani
All the best storytellers get it done without verbal fireworks. In fact, too much style can easily get in the way of the story – in part sparseness is what makes hardboiled fiction still work so well decades after it was written. While it’s not in the hardboiled vein, Gene O’Neill’s novella At the Lazy K is a good example of the simple art of storytelling. It’s not as easy to do as it looks, but when it works it should look easy. O’Neill always does well with common man narrators and/or characters, presenting events from their perspective with an old-fashioned street-smart approach that’s winningly convincing.
The novella is set on a California ranch that in its past has been used as a brothel by Judge Tarkenton and the colorful madam, Mama Pajama. It begins with a historical vignette in which a theft, an accusation, and an impromptu and, arguably, not legal “trial” lead to a botched verdict and an outright execution: a racially-motivated murder by hanging in the big tree in front of the bunkhouse. But the Indian barman hanged that day wasn’t guilty, nor was he an Indian, and a curse was placed upon the Tarkenton family.
A “scrapbook” section tells some of the family’s fate, and it’s clear that fire plays a large role. In the present, however, the ranch has become a boutique addiction rehab facility, and to launch the business an offbeat collection of addicts and alcoholics has convened. One of them is a well-known writer, of course, and the clear protagonist of the novella’s third act, in which the present and the past of the Tarkenton family collide with horrific yet cathartic effect.
Gene O’Neill brings a well-controlled soft touch to what is essentially an old-fashioned revenge tale, managing to draw positive portrayals of the current-day flawed patients, and drawing parallels to the past about addiction, redemption, guilt, and perhaps even to ambition itself. The cleansing qualities of fire provide a sort of healing, both to the property and to the people who have come there ostensibly to heal and atone. At the Lazy K may be a short novella, but like a sacrificial pool it’s deeper than it appears. The package by Written Backwards is attractive, with very nice illustrations by L.A. Spooner. Fans of Gene O’Neill will love this, and so will anyone who stumbles onto it and allows it to work its quiet magic.
