Review by Frank Plowright
Syd Homes was a cop and now he’s a stand-up comedian, which as crime writer Lawrence Block’s introduction notes, isn’t actually an outrageous idea. Dying is Easy, then, is clever wordplay referring to both careers. There’s lots more of that, but a warning going in of the humour being extremely dark.
Syd may be a comedian, but not one good enough to escape the half empty bar circuit where everyone hates the one guy who rips off their material. Who hates him enough to kill him, though? The finger’s pointing at Syd.
Joe Hill’s script calls for a lot of conversation, and while Martin Simmonds is drawing variations of people slouching at a bar that’s fine, but moved out of the bar there are limitations to the art. His people are posed and the way his action scenes are laid out doesn’t maximise the potential. The art looks stylish while failing to deliver. It’s puzzling because the character illustrations Simmons produces as extras have a personality absent from the people in the story.
Failing to deliver is also Syd’s problem. One of several, actually, as he’s never come to terms with the events ending his police career despite airing them as jokes in his act. They add depth to his character, and while Syd’s taken on his responsibilities there are plenty of people with grudges about his past. It’s all so well rolled out, almost waved in the reader’s face, yet until Syd begins investigating you may well have under-estimated his skills.
Hill’s usual territory is horror, but Dying is Easy is plotted as a first rate police procedural investigation. It’s one that doesn’t make it all the way to the end, as Hill’s too clever and he overcomplicates the plots. His first ending would have worked fine.
The 2025 paperback edition includes a new story concerning a German who’s lived peacefully in the neighbourhood for twenty years hanging himself. It’s a clever piece of writing by Hill leading readers to make assumptions, while the accompanying minimal black and white art from Simmons is delicately neat and looks better than the main story.
