Ticket To Hollywood

Ticket To Hollywood (Literary Fiction)

By Gary Reilly

Running Meter Press publisher@runningmeterpress.com

SBN #978-0984786015

Price $13.01

216 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“A Wonderful Read”

Brendan Murphy, a taxi driver in Denver has a set of rules he lives by while driving a cab, one of which is never get involved with his passengers. Unfortunately, that’s usually the first rule he breaks. And it always leads to trouble. Picking up a fare, the young girl is attending the Mile Hi Film Festival, and dressed like a flapper from the 1920s. She looks 18, and tipsy on vodka. It’s none of his business until she leaves her purse in the back seat containing a roll of hundred dollar bills. It’s time for Murph’s shift to end, but he wants to find the girl and return the purse. Circumstances intervene, and before the case is over, the girl comes up missing, is found, and then disappears again – to Hollywood.

The character of Murph is a fascinating individual who can’t seem to help himself in getting involved when someone is in trouble. After struggling through seven years of college, he feels his true calling is driving a taxi, though he has a dream of becoming a novelist some day – and has the rejected and uncompleted manuscripts to prove it. Each story is told in a literary style, with a simple plot and interesting character. Murph eats hamburgers three times a day, his breakfast entails Twinkies and a Coke, and he lives on the top floor of an apartment building he called his crow’s nest, because he can see across the rooftops of Denver. Instead of gun battles and fistfights, Murph throws philosophical advice to all of his passengers. A wonderful read.

The cover art for the Asphalt Warrior series is also quite interested. Done in a retro style, they feature the taxi as the commanding figure within the central scene. “Ticket To Hollywood” has my favorite cover so far, but they are all good. The art is by John Sherffius, and the cover design is by Rebecca Finkel.

Tom Johnson

Echoes Magazine