Review: The Actor by Mharlyn Merritt

Bizarre worlds collide with even wilder consequences in The Actor by Mharlyn Merritt, a non-stop ride through the realms of fame, sex, regret, and redemption. A burst of spontaneous brilliance from the first page to the last, this novel is a love note to the weird edges of celebrity, and a homage to a golden era of Hollywood that may have never existed outside the tabloids.

Known only as The Actor, the enigmatic protagonist finds himself in hot water after his lover mysteriously disappears, but that doesn’t stop him from shacking up with the next lit fuse of a person who walks through his door. Old friends and bad habits make for a messy and scandalous mystery that keep swelling in scale, from a scintillating bit of pulp to a high-stakes international thriller.

As The Actor and Babe’s unpredictable sexual energy builds to a fever pitch, so too does the hunt for the guilty party, and the suspicious missing man who may have always been offering The Actor more services than advertised. Emotional complexity, free sexual expression, moral ambiguity, and questions of authority swirl in this rhythmic tale of flashbulbs, racy liaisons, and hidden identities.

The outlandish connection between The Actor, Pickles, and Babe could fuel half a dozen adventures, yet even in the midst of their hijinks and debauchery, they manage to be a good investigative team. It would be easy for the author to take deep tangents into character development, but Merritt keeps the plot in focus and rarely lets the pace slip.

These pages are populated with brilliant writing, playful acts of linguistic artistry, esoteric tangents, and intellectual wanderings, reminiscent of Thomas Pynchon. The mad cast of characters follows that same wild style, with each being a touch too strange for reality, yet they somehow create a deeply odd mosaic that is impossible not to admire. Just when things veer towards the ridiculous, the prose is reined in by the neatly constructed plot, reminding readers that there is, in fact, a through-line to follows among the easy flow of words. The dialogue is sharp and smart, packed with witty retorts and backhand innuendoes, smarter and savvier than the way the average person speaks, but enjoyable nonetheless, while the narration is visceral and lush.

In many novels, there are eccentric characters that change the tone of a given scene, or inject a temporary burst of whimsy to the prose; in great novels, the narration can consistently reflect this chaotic mood, and that is the case in The Actor. Aside from the occasional stumble in the form of an uncreative description, the writing never slackens in terms of clever turns of phrase and attention to detail. The entire novel has a bold, addictive personality, which makes it a joy to read nearly every line, betraying the witty soul and wise tongue of the author.

Boasting a lavish way with words, a perpetually entertaining plot, and unforgettable characters gleaming with just the right amount of madness, Mharlyn Merritt delivers a genre-bending masterstroke.