King of Methlehem - A Novel ( 6. May 2007, 21:05 by Derek Young) ~ Check Us Out
Why is there a fictional book about the underbelly of Pierce County’s meth world on Exit133? To put it simply, it’s a hyperlocal book for anybody that lives in Tacoma. Mark Lindquist’s fourth book, The King of Methlehem, is set entirely in Pierce County with significant references to the ever-changing downtown Tacoma.
Detective Wyatt James is a veteran police officer with the Meth Lab team in Pierce County, Washington — an epicenter of methamphetamine production. At the core of the local meth problem is the elusive, self-proclaimed “King of Meth-lehem.” The king moves from one shelter to another, relying on the kindness and desperation of a variety of women. He’s the top meth cook in the region, a dangerously successful identity thief, and he travels under a number of famous aliases, among them Lars Ulrich, Peter Farrelly, Ted Nugent, and most recently Howard Schultz.
Wyatt has been chasing Howard relentlessly, but the pursuit has become a fixation that threatens to destroy Wyatt’s personal life and disrupt the lives of his bookish girlfriend, Suki, who just moved into his loft, and his best friend, Mike, a prosecutor — and perhaps involve them all in a dangerously volatile situation. Neither Suki nor Mike nor Wyatt’s supervisor seems able to deter him from his obsessive hunt.
The main protagonist, Detective James Wyatt, lives in a loft apartment on Pacific Avenue. He describes walking from his office at the County-City Building to his apartment. He describes Syrens, the 11th Street Bridge, and UWT. His girlfriend works at Cutters Point. And, most interestingly, on page 33 we discover that they read Exit133 to “track what’s happening in Tacoma and prove, she likes to tell Wyatt, that there are noncriminal activities.” Wild.
Is it a good read? Sure. It’s a fast paced romp that provides a glimpse into a world that I simply do not know – meth dealers, their girlfriends, customers, and the police that search for them. The language is quite raw and doesn’t embellish the subject at the heart of the story. To me, however, it wasn’t so much the story as it was the setting.
It’s strange to read a book with so much local information. The little details leap off the page. Wyatt has been watching more movies, so he’s a regular a Stadium Video. They considered going to the Parkway, but wanted some hard liquor options.
Wyatt asked her to meet him at Kickstand Cafe not just because it is close to the Alliance buildings, but because it is next door to his favorite movie house, the Grand Cinema. The Grand, A Tacoma icon, shows independent films in cozy and intimate spaces that put Wyatt in mind of a private screen room, though he has never been in one.
The details are so current and now, I wonder about the story’s longevity. Then, I consider, that as these details fade from the real landscape, they become closer to what it would be like if we didn’t live here at all. Syrens, Cutters Point, the Grand Cinema, or Exit133 move from local pop culture references to literary furniture. I believe that this story is very different for those of us that live here. This may not be our story, but the characters could very well be our neighbors or the people we pass in the street. It’s quite the ride.
The official release date is May 15th. Published by Simon & Schuster (May 2007)
Be cool. Shop local. Support King’s Bookstore. Seriously.
Or, if you aren’t in the area…
Buy The King of Methlehem: A Novel via Amazon.com
The author – writer, prosecutor, and Tacoma resident – can be found at MarkLindquist.net
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Congrats Mark for another book.
Mark’s more famous book Never Mind Nirvana was a story set in the Seattle music scene.
For a Pierce County setting, the book is on Meth. I guess one has to use the material available to them.
Syrens, Cutters Point, the Grand Cinema, or Exit133 move from local pop culture references to literary furniture.
Yes, and Mark used to live in the Harmon Lofts so these are places he knows well. Plus, he went to UPS Law School (95) and is a Pierce County Prosecutor. (Full disclosure: I was a classmate of his).
Here’s a chance to support a local artist and a local bookstore by buying his book at Kings Books if for no other reason to see our local haunts in print.
Bravo to Mark for making literature out of our town. Some of may know that the author of the Maltese Falcon, the book that became the movie of the same name with Humphrey Bogart, spent a considerable amount of time in the northwest. What you might not know is that Dashiell Hammett based the Sidney Greenstreet character on a real person and that person was an insurance agent that lived at our very own Ansonia Apartments on Tacoma Ave. Some years ago the Seattle Weekly did a cover story on Dashiell Hammett in the northwest. On the cover is a picture of the Ansonia. If you look closely at the picture there is a much younger Crenshaw Sepulveda at the door of the Ansonia. If Tacoma can inspire Dashiell Hammett she must be able to become the dream we all hope for.
2 | Posted by Crenshaw Sepulveda | May 6, 11:03 PM
My wife’s mentioned in the book. She’s not one of the meth heads (that I know of…), she’s the News Tribune reporter named Karen (and so she is – she used to cover courts, now she covers higher education).
In one of Lindquist’s previous books he came up with my favorite line about Tacoma. It’s set in Seattle, but in one scene a woman in the throes of passion says “F*** me like we’re in Tacoma!”
Awesome.
3 | Posted by John Moltz | May 7, 12:47 PM
It’s a great read. I highly recommend.
Tacoma is the cradle of normalcy while the county is where all the icky stuff goes on.
4 | Posted by NEAL | May 7, 02:00 PM
Very cool to see my book chatted up on exit133, one of my favorite sites.
I appreciate the kind words. Two minor corrections: my most recent novel prior to “King of Methlehem” was “Never Mind Nirvana,” and I lived in the Artists Lofts, which are right next door to the Harmon Lofts.
The book isn’t actually in stores for another week, but it appears that Amazon is already shipping.
Thanks again for all the kind comments. I hope to see some of you at the local readings.
Tacoma’s time has come and I’m glad to be here for the renaissance.
Thanks, ML
www.marklindquist.net
5 | Posted by Mark Lindquist | May 7, 06:58 PM
As a former user of meth I am looking forward to reading your new book. I am currently a student at Edmonds CC and currently working on a play dealing wiith the subject of meth addiction.
6 | Posted by Martell Conley | May 17, 03:42 PM
Mark Linquist’s book King of Methlehem was favorably reviewed in the Seattle Times on Friday:
To read this swift, sure-footed novel is to become convinced that Pierce County is a focal point for methamphetamine labs — the modern, more dangerous version of moonshine stills.
The top dog among the region’s meth “cookers” is the king of the book’s title — a skanky but canny fellow with delusions of grandeur and a number of fake IDs. (His current favorite is Howard Schultz Jr., in honor of the Starbucks honcho.) Bringing down Howard is the job of two Tacoma good guys: police detective Wyatt James and prosecutor Mike Lawson.
Keep up the momentum Mark. (It has a current Amazon Sales Rank of King of 15,966. I wonder how high of sales rank Exit 133 readers could give Mark’s book if we made a concerted effort?).
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