With “Strippers Always Need Legal Advice,” the American author continues the vein of the caustic dark novel to describe an America that neglects all its dreams.
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Justin Sykes is a friendly and well-meaning lawyer. A public defender from Philadelphia, he never shies away from lost causes. A great professional, he has gotten more than one criminal out of prison. “I’ve been trying to save the world for eleven years, and the world is still going to ruin,” he sighs, continuing his rounds at the depot where a good fifty clients, each poorer than the last, are waiting for him. But the day a certain Marcus – whom he doesn’t even know – offers him a thousand dollars an hour, every Thursday, to give legal advice to strippers at the Kittie Gentleman’s Club, he wonders if he shouldn’t accept. After all, what’s the harm? Helping pretty creatures who wiggle in see-through lingerie is not reprehensible. The Kittie Gentleman’s Club is rather seedy and the offer is bizarre, but here is Justin, the following Thursday, ready to lend a hand to the dancers who want it. Naive, he doesn’t try to find out who this Marcus in the expensive suit is. This jovial guy fell from the sky and the lawyer pockets his weekly envelope without saying a word, all the while continuing to fight for the forgotten of American society.
Of course, things are not that simple. Marcus with his juicy business hides a big deal that serves as a pretext for this delicious and scathing novel. Iain Levison, the author of A small job (Liana Levi, 2003), once again uses the thriller to denounce a society without morals. That of the disgustingly rich, the lying cops, the all-powerful prosecutors who worship Trump. All these thugs in suits use the judicial system to turn it to their advantage. What humor, what enthusiasm, to describe a cruel America that neglects all its dreams!
Iain Levison is never mean, but he has lost his illusions and chooses very caustic humorous fiction to open our eyes. Let’s laugh bitterly, but let’s laugh with him.
Strippers Always Need Legal AdviceIain Levison, translated from English (United States) by Emmanuelle and Philippe Aronson, Liana Levi editions, 240pp, €22.
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