PARIS TROUT by Pete Dexter

Finished Sa 3/31/18

I ordered this from Amazon after seeing the Nick Nolte movie, MULHOLLAND FALLS. The ultra-violence intrigued me, and surprised to learn that the author, Pete Dexter, also was responsible for DEADWOOD.

And, his back-story as a journalist and how he became a fiction writer is wild.

From his page at wikipedia-

"Pete Dexter began writing fiction after a life-changing 1981 incident in which a mob of locals armed with baseball bats beat him severely. The perpetrators were upset by a recent column about a murder involving drug deal-gone-wrong. The brother of the homicide victim was a bartender at a local bar in the Schuylkill neighborhood. Dexter went to the bar to talk to him after the family had called the newspaper to complain. Dexter was roughed up at that meeting and later returned with a friend heavyweight, prizefighter Randall "Tex" Cobb. In the ensuing fight outside the bar in the street, Cobb's arm was broken and Dexter was hospitalized with several injuries; including a broken back, pelvis, brain damage and dental devastation. Cobb's injuries cost him a shot at WBA heavyweight champion Mike Weaver."

This is where I read the term, 'dental devastation'.


From wikipedia-

"The Plot-
In a small Georgia town in the 1950's, Paris Trout, a bigoted store owner, kills a young black man's younger sister and wounds his mother when a car deal between them goes wrong."

Paris Trout might be one of the most 'villainous villain' I have ever read. He's a toxic blend of violence and racism.

Novel begins when Rosie Sayers is bit by a fox that might be rabid. She's buying bullets for her mother's lover. She was on the way to Trout's store when she is bit. Hanna Trout takes her to the doctor where she refuses treatment- a big needle in the stomach, and is driven back to her home.

Trout arranges a car loan for a young black man. A lumber truck rams the car on the way home and the black man brings the car back and says that because he signed up for insurance he won't pay, and it's Trout's problem.  "I git my money"!!!

Trout goes to the black's house with his enforcer, Buster Devonne,and they shoot and kill Rosie Sayer and wounds Mary McNutt. Trout feels that he's done nothing wrong- this is his business, and if he doesn't take a firm stand, his business will flounder.

The town and the authorities are sympathetic to Trout and he pays off everyone in sight. His case goes all the way to the Georgia supreme court, but he his sent to prison for several months. Ward Townes was the prosecutor. On the way, he kidnaps the car but shows up at the jail with his cop driver. He pays more cash, and gets off.

Hanna Trout, his wife, throws him out of their house and tries to free herself from Paris, but it becomes almost impossible. Evil is hard to delete.

In the end, Paris Trout stages a bloody shootout at the court house. He shoots and kills his mother who is suffering from dementia, he shoots and kills his wife's divorce lawyer, Carl Bonner (the youngest Eagle Scout in Georgia history), and he shoots and kills his criminal lawyer, Harry Seagraves (he was having an affair with Trout's wife).

The town feels that Paris Trout's estate owes the town because he murdered two of the town's most prominent citizens. There are several large and impenetrable safes in his store. They must send for specialists to blow the locks and in the safes are jars of Trout's urine. He leaves a note saying that in the event of his death, this is proof that he was being poisoned by his wife.

This was a great read and the character of Trout is truly one of a kind.

I'm going to watch the film on YouTube this morning, Easter Sunday- 4/1/18. The film is not carried by Netflix and it costs a hundred bucks on Amazon.

The movie was faithful to the novel except at the end. Hanna is in the room when Paris kills his mother and Seagraves, but he doesn't shoot Carl Bonner- he's not even there. And, the whole subplot about the beards for the civil war celebration/ town stockade is deleted. Nothing about the safes with the bottles of urine which I thought was a very nice touch.
The film was directed by Jake and Maggie  Gyllenhaal's father, Stephen.