Tiny Little Troubles-Marc Lecard

Tiny Little Troubles
Marc Lecard
St. Martin's, Jul 2008, $24.95
ISBN: 0312360223

In the North Beach section of San Francisco, Pablo Clench manages the Honeybuzzard bar, but in spite of naked female butts every night, he is bored with this excellent paying gig. His fantasy is to use an electric cattle prod on one of the erotic dancers Aphrodite Anderson, but being a realist he knows if he made any play, his boss Jimmy Cacapoulos would turn him into a eunuch. So he does his nightshift and waits while hiding his lust.

His sexual surveillance provides Pablo with a shocking opportunity. Cacapulous’ mistress Aphrodite has another lover, Aaron Rogell, a husband and new father whose company Rogeltech has done some major work in nanotechnology based on a trade secret that he refuses to divulge to anyone. Pablo follows Aaron and realizes the man’s sex addiction is a ticket to the big score. Clench bullies his way into the company and tries blackmail with the threat of divulging his addiction to his wife Amanda and to beat the crap out of Rogell if he fails to give him the trade secret. Aaron refuses, but Amanda learns of his womanizing with prostitutes; she hires private investigator Tony Baloot to obtain proof. The three testosterones will soon collide.

As with the dark humorous VINNIE'S HEAD, Marc Lecard writes an even darker amusing satirical thriller starring for the most part two men who think with their wrong heads that in some ways will remind the readers of John Ritter’s film Skin Deep. The story line is fast-paced while humorous with purposeful hyperbole over the top of Nob Hill, make that Twin Peaks. TINY LITTLE TROUBLES is laugh out loud fun as each male has a big head so much so the audience will keep expecting the “glowing in the dark” dueling penis scene from Skin Deep to appear except as a ménage a trois.

Harriet Klausner