Allen Choice

Created by Leonard Chang

“That I am a nobody doesn’t bother me as it might some people. I prefer anonymity, unobstructed movement through a crowd with neither a first nor a second glance in my direction.”
(Angst. It’s not just for breakfast anymore…)

Originally billed as a “Novel of Intrigue,” Leonard Chang’s noirish Over the Shoulder introduced ALLEN CHOICE (née Choi), an intriguing Korean-American Silicon Valley executive security specialist (Please don’t call him a bodyguard!) with some real problems. He’s emotionally detached from life, a blank slate drifting through life, prizing his anonyminity, which allows him to do his job so effectively, and yet at the same time, vaguely aware that he’s missing something:

“I used to think I was in inertial rest, a body at rest remaining so. Once an outside force applied itself to me, I would be in motion. I liked this idea. It freed me, relieving me of the responsibility. I just had to wait for an outside force. But I soon realized this was an illusion… I decided to call it the inertial deception. I can’t succumb to it.”

And then Allen’s partner Paul Baumgartner is killed right in front of him, shot in the head by a drive-by motorcyclist.

Let’s all read it together, shall we? From Professor Hammett’s  Work Lessons & Professional Advice (aka “The Maltese Falcon, Chapter 20″):

“When a man’s partner is killerd he’s supposed to do something about it.
It doesn’t matter what you thought of him.
He was your partner and you’re supposed to do something about it.”

But Leonard’s switch from security to reluctant investigator soon turns up some troubling things—not just in Paul’s past,  but his own past, and that of his father.

Since Over the Shoulder, Allen has appeared in two more well-received novels, Underkill (2003) and Fade to Clear (2004), following his evolution from bodyguard (Oh, I mean security specialist!) to private eye.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A former professor at Antioch University in the San Francisco Bay area, Leonard Chang’s first two novels, The Fruit ‘N Food and Dispatches from the Cold, garnered much praise for their deft handling of racial tension, thwarted dreams and existentialist angst. The author of the acclaimed Allen Choice trilogy, he’s also worked as a writer/producer for television’s Snowfall and Justified.

UNDER OATH

• “… an exceptionally talented writer.”
  — Kirkus Reviews
• “Leonard Chang rockets us along through the engrossing adventures of Allen choice… Over The Shoulder is… obsessively readable and intellectually satisfying, and Chang’s highest achievement to this point.”
  — Thomas Keneally
• “Choice—intuitive, two-fisted, sometimes melancholic, often confused and funny despite himself—drives a breakout novel not to be missed.”
  — Kirkuson Fade to Clear
• “The key is character. Chang works like a painter, carefully brushing strokes of truth and depth on all of his characters. This portrait is a winner.”
  — Michael Connelly on Underkill
• “With a spare, literary style that suits his reticent protagonist, Chang paints a quietly affectionate picture of Choice, his relationships and the Bay Area, while also delivering the thrilling twists and tragedies of classic noir fiction.”
  — Publishers Weekly on Fade to Clear

NOVELS

• Over the Shoulder (2001) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Underkill (2003) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Fade to Clear (2004) | Buy this book  | Kindle it!

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

• www.leonardchang.com
  The author’s offical web site..
• Why I Love Crime Fiction by Leonard Chang
  Allen Choice’s creator attempts to crack his own case.
• I Could Be Your Bodyguard (Hey!)
  Personal Security Specialists

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.