Jake Randolph in "Bourbon On The Rocks" Pt. 219
We must’ve driven for more than an hour, sitting in the back of that van staring at the dim shadows of Diamond’s ugly henchmen.
Harrigan leaned over, whispering, “Why didn’t they just kill us and then dump the bodies? Why take the risk of transporting us? It makes this seem like a bad movie.”
“Don’t get all existential on me, Harrigan. Suppose they got stopped by the police? You’re a cop. You know they take a dim view on people driving dead bodies around the city. What if that cop wasn’t on Diamond’s payroll?”
He nodded, “Good point, well taken.”
- Category: Crime, Murder & Mystery
3 comments add one below
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Christopher over 6 years ago
The word "existential" was coined a few years before this story is set but I don't know how widespread the usage was.
But this was one of those moments, as a writer, when you question the usual cliches. Like a James Bond villain explaining, in vivid detail, all his destructive plans to Bond because he thinks Bond will soon be dead. It would've made more sense to just kill Randolph and Harrigan at the club, but that would ruin the climax. So, cliche it is.
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Neville Hunt over 6 years ago
I’m happy with cliches, Christopher; life is one. I’m just impressed that Jake would use such a word as existential, unless he was meaning exitstential, realising they were doomed and that they were heading for their worldly exit.
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Christopher over 6 years ago
Jake knew what he was talking about but since that word was relatively new I wondered if Harrigan knew what he was talking about!
From his inception I wanted to separate Jake from the other classic pulp fiction detectives in the fact that he was rather worldly and philosophical and was well read, without coming across as pompous and stuck-up.