Keys to Tulsa

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 416 pages
• Published by: Washington Square Press February 1, 1991
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0671707272
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0671707279
• Book Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 14.4 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Berkey's manic and wildly raunchy debut novel is not likely to be warmly received by the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. He takes us on a seven-day out-of-control grand tour of this Western city's extensive seamy side. Berkey leaves skid marks on Oral Roberts University and racist country clubs, and rampages through the red-light district with quick pit stops in striptease parlors and drug dens. The company is less than wholesome: hookers, heroin addicts, a murderer or two, extortionists, millionaire prairie preachers and yahoos galore. It's as if the cast of Taxi Driver were to invade the set of True Grit ; a sort of redneck film noire. And it succeeds smashingly. Richter Boudreau, the novel's central character, is the ultimate scamp. He's a wisecracking Berkeley graduate in deep trouble with gangsters and the police. Not the least of his concerns is that he owes a lot of money to a temperamental drug dealer involved in blackmailing some of Tulsa's leading citizens. Richter's love life--by turns absurdly romantic and unbelievably sleazy--only complicates the mess. One of the most fiendish characters is Richter's very own mother, a glorious manipulator bent on straightening out her errant son. Mixed up in the story is Richter's partner in vice, journalist George Brinkman, who is investigating the death of a topless dancer, the novel's main mystery. Berkey's only terrible habit is his continual mockery of the characters' cornball accents. It's the one note of condescension in a novel of great sympathy and enjoyment. The keys to Berkey's Tulsa unlock a raucous and exciting world.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
I think this book was comprimised by it's lackluster, irrelevant ending. The first 386 pages were wonderfully rich. The main character, Richter Boudreau, was brilliantly inept. Following him around the underside of Tulsa was a great blend slapstick and mystery. The cast of characters were also very colorful, most notably Ronnie, with his commando-like persona. However, there are too many details and ideas that go undeveloped. Some are just unnecessary. Why does Boudreau have two jobs? Why mention his ambition to write a sceenplay? The latter I suspect was meant to pesent a commentary on racial prejudice in the south, but it's sadly never developed. After all this effort is spent developing the characters, the last 9 pages of the book bring the story to an unsatisfying, abrubt halt. I read the last chapter at least 5 times trying to figure out how it fit with what came before. I thought it was a very unbalanced ending (The movie version has a more satisfying, albeit trite, rewritten ending). This book should have been better. Comment | | (Report this)