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By Richard G. OpperReviewed by Pennell Paugh
July 7, 2024 (San Diego) – San Diego author Richard Opper’s most recent book, In Deep and Far Out, is the second in a trilogy that takes place in the early 1970s. In the trilogy’s first book, Gary, a Harbor cop, has fallen in-love with Mona, a woman who makes adult films and owns a bar in San Diego. Book two is in the same time, and Gary has just moved in with Mona. Immediately after he moves in, Mona is called away on business trips, one on top of the other. Her trip to Guam is focused on in In Deep and Far Out.
Mona’s favorite porn star, Tina, is being blackmailed by a judge in Guam with whom she had relations when she was 15 years old. The judge threatens to release Tina’s latest porn movie in Guam where her family lives, thus tainting her family’s reputation if she doesn’t divert her mother’s investigation away from the judge’s sexual liaisons with minors.
Below is an excerpt:
Saturday, November 17, 1973
Tina, Los Angeles
The phone rang enough times that I couldn’t ignore it. Not too many people had my phone number, and fewer ever used it. It was probably Suze Rancherd, the director of the film, telling me I had to come in to shoot something over. It’s only money, baby. I got off the couch in my little downtown apartment and walked over barefooted to pick up the handset. The temperature in my place was cool for LA, so I wore a light woolen shawl over my vanilla-colored chemise. The chemise was silk, and it looked good on my caramel skin. It was almost Thanksgiving, even though that never meant as much to us Chamorros as it did to the state-siders. I picked up the phone and listened without saying anything. A girl can’t be too careful.
A woman’s voice asked me if I was Miss Christina Diaz, and when I said yes, she said, “Please hold for an incoming international person-to-person call from Guam.” There was a noticeable change of sound as the operator connected us. What’s this about? Mom?
“Tina,” the voice said, through the staticky sound of a long-distance call. “Tina, Tina, Tina.”
Oh shit. What’s the old joke? It came to me like a hot kiss at the end of a wet fist. That voice. That voice I hoped I’d never hear again. “What do you want, Foghorn?” I asked. He was always so cocksure and self-important; I privately called him Foghorn Leghorn after the cartoon character. By the end I called him that to his face, but I hadn’t used that name for a long time, and I wasn’t happy to use it now. That was all supposed to be in the past. Bygones be bygones. I’m out of there. I’m in LA, at school. On scholarship. My hair still smelled of coconut oil from the shower.
Tina leaves for Guan in the middle of shooting a movie. This costs everyone involved. Mona decides to go to Guam to see if she can be of any help to Tina. Meanwhile, can the young porn star save her reputation on Guam so she can avoid bringing shame to her family? Can Mona rescue her movie and happily return to live with Gary in San Diego?
Meanwhile in San Diego, Gary finds two children who have been swept to shore. One has died and the other is hospitalized. Both are immigrants from a country in a state of war — Vietnam. Who brought the children to the U.S. and why? Most important, what will become of the orphans? Gary and his father get involved in helping find the best place for the children. However, immigration isn’t taking the situation well.
Most crime novels have clear lines between good and evil. Opper makes illegal immigrants, a porn movie maker and her starlet sympathetic. His approach is to tell this story through each character’s thoughts and experiences in separate sections. We end by seeing events from a broad perspective. I find the author’s approach refreshing and interesting. His message is humane.
HIs storytelling style is unique and highly engaging. The book is a fun read all the way through.
Opper, a lawyer specializing in environmental law in San Diego, is a former professional photographer and TV-show host. He has published articles in the San Diego Union Tribune and professional journals. The Body in the Barrel is his first novel and the first book in his trilogy. He resides in San Diego and is a member of the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild.
Opper’s release event is scheduled for September 26 at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore at 3555 Rosecrans St #107 San Diego, CA 92110. Visitors can buy a signed copy of the author’s new book.
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