As a former reporter who once left daily journalism to work in public relations, I have considerable empathy for Curt Hinson, the hero of Brad Parks’ well-constructed thriller, The Flack. After being recruited by his best friend from college, Hinson leaves the relatively idealistic but rapidly contracting newspaper business for a far more lucrative position as head of PR (also known as a flack—not a compliment) at Balco, a large logistics corporation in Oakland, California. As I learned myself, such career shifts can leave one thrashing about in ethically murky waters.
In Hinson’s case, the murk is as deep as it gets, not to mention pitch black. He starts his first day on the job dealing with the fallout from the shocking murder of his old friend, and things go downhill from there.
In brief alternating chapters narrated by Hinson and the omniscient (yet strategically withholding) author, Parks makes clear early on that Hinson has unwittingly landed in the midst of a dark plot masterminded by a handful of the company’s top executives in concert with a group of vicious criminals, all of whom will stop at nothing to achieve their nefarious, profit-motivated ends. It’s left to Hinson to figure out, and then escape, their ensnaring web.
Parks’ 13th novel unfolds with swift efficiency, borne along by the author’s lean and competent prose. He’s at his best when taking care to establish Hinson’s key relationships: with Angel, his lost friend; with Page, his plucky, pregnant wife; with his femme fatale of an assistant, Korynne; and with Lorne and Rig, the silver-tongued Balco executives who prove themselves roughly as ethical as Harry Lime, the antihero of Graham Greene’s The Third Man. (Rig’s philosophy of avoiding what he calls “againstness”—go with the flow, he says, no matter where it leads you—is the book’s best and creepiest grace note.) When these relationships reach their most critical stages, they register as more than plot gears grinding; the author has laid the groundwork to make the reader care.
Not every career move, thank goodness, turns out as badly as Hinson’s. Mine didn’t. Still, as The Flack demonstrates, it’s a good idea to stay vigilant. The grass may be greener on the other side, but it might also be full of snakes.
