Once I came to grips with the fact that this really has no plot, I enjoyed it. I stopped waiting for things to happen and just enjoyed the characters as they traveled along their particular arcs. Because I couldn’t get all the way through A Man In Full, I did not recognize Croaker in Tumin.
Tumin was a complete and utter asshole though and I really wanted something heinous to happen to him. But it doesn’t. Not really. He has a few scrapes; a lawsuit brought by a man who he assaulted and called a nigger. Problems with Erin not going along with his idea to make her his kept whore. Even the final coup de gras seems to be without teeth; the SEC finally finds a way to get Tumin and they do. But because we never see it through, we don’t know the extent of his punishment.

Kyle gets the sappy ending. Complete with small child in tow. I really didn’t like Kyle much. He seemed to just be coasting along on his old reputation and the piece about how all Muslims are mad seemed more of a stunt than a piece from true conviction.

I did really enjoy the portrayal of “modern” Muslims. I put it in quotations because I think there can be no such thing when their entire mindset and morality code is steeped in the seventh century. The message in this novel echoes what I’ve always felt to be true; that Muslims have no ability to grasp the concept of live and let live. Everything and everyone has to do things their way. If they don’t they are free to be slaughtered at will. Very seventh century.

Erin’s fate is much more obscure. After her elderly aunt dies with a rather large fortune intact, Erin expects to inherit the bulk of the estate. And she does; only with some strings. First is that she be 55 when she finally inherits. The only sum available to her at present is the somewhat arbitrary sum of $50,000 – a number she casually mentioned to her aunt as being the approximate amount of money one would need to move to Los Angeles, set up house and keep oneself through a grueling year of auditions. Because the aunt was a failed actress herself, she thinks that this method of bequeathing will motivate Erin to follow her dreams.

It was a shame that she and Kyle’s plot to bring Lonny down a few pegs backfired. The profile article and interview would have been scathing. As it was, Tumin found out about it beforehand, had it killed and the editor fired. As a result, he got one of his employees at City, a devout Muslim, to kill Kyle at a party. It was quite a scene, but all he succeed in doing was to kill a fellow Muslim and father of many and subsequently to be killed by one of Tumin’s own bodyguards. Kyle only suffered minor injuries.

But they were enough to elicit sympathy from his estranged wife and they patched things up. No telling how her family of backward tribesmen felt about it. No doubt they would try to humiliate him or even continue with their own hit. Stupid beyond belief. ( )