“King Dork” is a misanthropic punk rock mystery novel set in a high school at the turn of the millennium.
It’s also a period piece set when I was in high school.
At least we don’t have to see the JNCO jeans so many students must be wearing.
The book stars Tom Henderson, an awkward, small for his age high school sophomore who likes vinyl records, lusts after every girl in school and loves hating on the so called “psychotic normal” kids, many of whom seem to live solely to make his life a living hell.
He’s also a bit of a self-centered ass, but he means well. And hey, at least he has a band with his best/only friend Sam Hellerman, even though they’re unable to settle on a name.
Tom’s father was a police officer who died in a hit and run 6 years before the start of the book. But Tom comes to suspect that the death was no accident. After finding a series of clues inside his father’s copy of “The Catcher in the Rye” – a book that Tom holds in pretty high disregard due to its cult like status amongst the baby boomer generation, their adoration for the “misfit kid superhero named Holden Caulfield” baffles him – but the hunt is on to find out what really happened that night.
Along the way, Tom makes out with a girl! He clashes with his hippie/nice guy stepfather, also named Tom! He gets sent to a psychiatrist, gets beat up and performs his music… for an actual crowd! He offers up rant after hilarious rant!
The book is the first novel from Frank Portman, who everyone should know as the frontman for pop punk band The Mr. T Experience. If you don’t know him from the band, they were (edit: so happy to change this to “are”) peers with bands like Green Day, The Queers and Screeching Weasel.
Portman was able to hone his skills in off-kilter humor (see: “Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend”) and narratives (see: “At Gilman Street”) while fronting the band, so it’s no surprise that the writing here is so confident. And hey, the music references found in this book actually come from experience!
Despite the continual potshots Tom makes towards “Catcher,” the character is very much cut from Holden Caulfield cloth. He’s a young cynic, though definitely funnier than Caufield. But if you share Tom’s point of view, you might become irritated with Tom’s rants. I think there’s a word for that…
Still, I think the mystery, both the main mystery involving Tom’s dad and the various smaller mysteries involving a girl Tom makes out with at a party and a social status change for Sam, are more than enough to keep readers hooked.
-Emily Matview
Frank Portman will be appearing at the Windmill Library in Las Vegas on Oct 22 for a concert and book signing. More information for this event can be found on Facebook.
You can purchase King Dork here or check it out from any Las Vegas-Clark County Library here.
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