Deep noir, was a little difficult to follow at first but the characters fell into place nicely. However the story was short and would have liked a little more once it got going. Writing style won't be for everyone but if you can follow along, some noir fans will enjoy. 3 stars.

Thank you to LibraryThing and Tyler Dempsey for the personalized ARC!

This is the kind of crazy, unhinged story I like to read. I was a bit disappointed with the length I wanted it to be longer and a little more fleshed out but I do understand how you can compromise some writing styles by just adding fluff. That being said I hope more stories like this can be told.

Consumption And Other Vices (2023) by Tyler Dempsey. Imagine you’re in a coffee bar, NYC, basement place with wall to wall smoke, berets all around, some cat tapping on the bongos while a pencil thin waitress ignores you in favor of the be-bopper reciting his latest lament on the plight of society. Or he might be talking a song of praise to the favors which the gods have bestowed upon him, us or everybody. He comes to the end of his prattle and there is a burst of unenthusiastic finger snapping and maybe an”outta sight” pronounced over his rendition.
Straight out of the 1950’s daddy-o, not out of Compton at all. This book is a mystery in more ways than one. The allusion of death and homicide detectives talking to hyped out youngers, a few with a little more than a faint remembrance of what reality is supposed to be, plays out like a hep-cats poetry for the masses. Like that of so many beat poets before, Mr. Dempsey can lose his audience in the haze of mists and the illusions he presents, but if you can find your way through to the true path, you will be rewarded, man.
But don’t set out on the path to enlightenment if you are not willing to suffer whatever fortunes you encounter on the way.
Can you dig it sister and brother? ( )

Tagged it “what did I just read?" Dempsey’s trip through psychedelics and murder is, well, trippy. And nonlinear. And bizarre. I enjoyed the diversion, but it never quite reached its promise. ( )

Short book - only 63 pages. Didn't take long to read. The writing style was hard to follow. The story line involves two detectives trying to solve the murder to two young girls. ( )