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The Tacoma Pill Junkies A Novel Joshua Swainston Books

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The Tacoma Pill Junkies A Novel Joshua Swainston Books

Knowing the Tacoma area will definitely enhance the experience of this book for the reader. Living in Tacoma, I thought the book was a stunning, if grim, portrayal of the city. The story is more multilayered and complex than you would expect of a crime novel, with credible storylines and characters and some shocking twists and turns. Toward the end I did think some of the events seemed a little rushed, but even so I was very impressed with the book overall.


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The Tacoma Pill Junkies A Novel Joshua Swainston Books Reviews

As clearly suggested by the title, the book is about a bunch of dealers and addicts who go about their business in Tacoma, Washington. It's about a corrupt cop and a couple of semi-competent rent-a-cops, a strange and irritating "Rat Boy," a trio of dealers who are not exactly bad guys but should be doing anything but what they're doing. And it's about Reno, a janitor at the mall, and Courtney, a single mother who manages a boutique. These would-be lovers stumble into one another and find refuge with one another; and they stumble into some very unsavory happenings.
As the lives of these characters play out something large and disturbing is going down in Tacoma. There's a serial killer on the loose and he's targeting, of all people, janitors in local institutions, including the mall where Reno and Courtney work.
Reno and Courtney likeable young people in dead-end jobs whose lives are going nowhere. Reno's most endearing characteristic is his obsession with crossword puzzles; he masters them with ease even when distracted and even when stoned. He is obviously too smart to be trapped in such an unrewarding life. Courtney is dedicated to her young son and fed up with the idiots and bimbos at work.
I don't know anything about people who are addicted to pharmaceuticals or the people who illegally sell them, but the ways Swainston depicts them read as authentic.
Some of the characters in this book need more thorough development, and some of the writing is strained -- as if Swainston is trying too hard to be literary instead of just telling his story, and the book could have used at least one more good edit; but overall it is a fun read about some engaging characters.
, Takes you into the seedy world of prescription drug abuse and introduces you to it's colorful cast of characters. Some loveable and some definately not. Great murder mystery to boot. Anyone who is familiar with the Northwest will enjoy the many local references.
I just finished reading "The Tacoma pill junkies" and I'm thoroughly satisfied. It's a solid story with great visuals, tangible characters, and some great Tacoma references.
Great characterizations. I could "see" the people in the story. It had several story lines that tied up nicely in the end. And make sure you read it all the way to the end. I was really surprised and that doesn't happen often!
I found myself easily turning the pages of Swainston's first novel finding many levels of interest, from the accurate description of Tacoma to my unknown knowledge of the drug rituals, the budding awkward romance & the murder mystery lurking in the background is remiss of the Hitchock's method of suspense. When I had to put the book down to do the mundane, I couldn't wait to pick it back up again only to slowly savor it, not wanting it to end just like in Rear Window. I can't wait to see more from Swainston in hopes of more suspense stories. My favorite line is "as if the office was a make believe piñata, a surly boutique manager and two make believe cops burst out" paints the perfect image and gives the needed comic noir relief.
Last night I watched an old episode of the Chris Carter show, Millennium. The episode started with a church in Tacoma and a priest being burned at the stake. Of course it wasn’t really filmed in Tacoma. And the only reason I could see that they set it in Tacoma was due to its proximity to the main character who lives in Seattle (though the whole show was filmed in Vancouver). My point here is that the episode could have started just about anywhere and nothing would be different. This isn’t true with Joshua Swainston’s debut novel, Tacoma Pill Junkies. Tacoma Pill Junkies has Tacoma in its veins.

I first became aware of Tacoma Pill Junkies when I saw a poster downtown for it months ago. I’m someone who enjoys reading and writing crime novels and this site can attest to the fact that I love Tacoma. So a crime novel set in Tacoma is really something I have no choice but to purchase.

If you’ve spent enough time in Tacoma, you’ve met people like the characters in Tacoma Pill Junkies. There’s the hard working single mother. There’s the working man who gets high from time to time. There are the scheming junkies. And the loser with delusions of grandeur. If nothing else, Tacoma Pill Junkies is populated with authentic characters.

It’s difficult to pin down the plot of Tacoma Pill Junkies as it actually has about three or four inter-connected plot lines with overlapping characters and events. This too, feels so much like Tacoma to me that I can’t help but enjoy it. A woman gets robbed in the Tacoma Mall Parking lot. A guy starts selling his grandmother’s pain pills. A serial killer is strangely stalking and killing janitors. These unrelated things drift through the novel occasionally bumping into each other along with a few other subplots.

Tacoma Pill Junkies is a meandering crime thriller with a lot of humor. It’s less an edge of your seat nail biter and more like hanging out with some strange and occasionally dangerous people. (I don’t want to spoil too much so I’m deliberately being vague.)

Swainston’s writing is conversational and inviting. He doesn’t spend too much time on being overly descriptive. His dialog is witty and full of humor. He also manages to convey the thrill of the high along with the underlying desperation of being a pill addict. It’s never glamorous.

For locals who enjoy a good novel, Tacoma Pill Junkies belongs on the shelf next to Mark Lindquist’s King of Methlehem. For those outside of Tacoma, I recommend it as a glimpse at part of the underbelly of our fair gritty city.

You can find out more about Tacoma Pill Junkies and read a sample chapter at [...]

- Jack Cameron
Knowing the Tacoma area will definitely enhance the experience of this book for the reader. Living in Tacoma, I thought the book was a stunning, if grim, portrayal of the city. The story is more multilayered and complex than you would expect of a crime novel, with credible storylines and characters and some shocking twists and turns. Toward the end I did think some of the events seemed a little rushed, but even so I was very impressed with the book overall.