Prime, By Poppy Z. Brite
Prime is the second in a planned trilogy of novels about a gay couple that opens a restaurant in New Orleans. The restaurant, Liquor, is a fine dining establishment which uses liquor as a central ingredient in every menu item. In a city like New Orleans, with its historical association with alcohol, Liquor is a big hit.
The story centers around the owners of Liquor, G-man and Rickey, and their relationship with their main financial backer, a big time celebrity chef named Lenny Duveteaux. Rickey and Duveteaux, both strong-willed, clash from the very beginning, though they remain on civil terms for the most part. Unfortunately, Duveteaux has become a target of a vengeful and crooked district attorney named Placide Treat, who tries to involve Rickey in a scheme to bring down Duveteaux.
Much of the action takes place in Dallas, where a rich Texas businessman attracts Rickey to a consultant’s job to boost business at his failing restaurant. It is in Dallas that Rickey meets an old acquaintance, Cooper Stark, and through Stark, the trouble begins.
Though I am not a fan of the mystery-thriller genre, I found this novel an easy and enjoyable read. Brite obviously has great inside knowledge of the restaurant business (her husband is a chef), and it is this understanding that lends Prime much of its weight. The gay marriage between G-Man and Rickey is presented as mere fact rather than explored, and this improves the novel greatly. I think I would have been put off if the relationship were the source of the turmoil in Prime. A novel in this genre does not need a social axe to grind.
Two things about this book really stand out. First, although there is a danger-climax moment in this book, Brite makes no attempt to manipulate the plot to extend the suspense. When the moment comes, the scene simply plays out naturally. This is one of the reasons I was able to enjoy this book – I am no fan of labyrinthine schemes to carry suspense on and on. Such mechanizations usually allow the suspension of disbelief to slip away. I was relieved, and pleased, at Brite’s discipline to let the chips fall where they may.
Secondly, I found a scene late in the book when G-man returns to the Catholic Church for the first time in decades genuinely moving. Rarely in popular literature does a writer take such care to paint the spiritual life of a character, but here Brite does a marvelous job. I only hope she explores this dimension even more deeply in the last book in this trilogy. I look forward to it.