greezers is Simon Plaster’s latest and perhaps best satirical novel featuring the memorable character, Henrietta, named after a town in Oklahoma, Henryetta, who, prior to Greezers, had a desire to further her journalism career and one day win a Pulitzer Prize. In Greezers, a story of lube chain, fast food and succession, Henrietta seeks a change in her life and gets a job as an assistant to Leroy (“Lero”) O’Rourke, a private detective. She thinks that as a journalist, she’s done a fair amount of deductive reasoning, and that will keep her afloat in her new career. But how far will she go in her search for truth, justice and the American way? let’s say that in greezersPacked with the pop culture and music references fans of the series have come to expect, Simon Plaster has Henrietta putting her “assets” on stage for all to see, even briefly working at a strip club in her efforts to keep tabs on a subject. , Harry DeGrasso, who is a potential heir to the Trinita Coal Oil & Tar Company.
You may wonder why greezers It’s called Greezers. It’s because the book deals with the plots and schemes of the potential successors of the Trinita Coal Oil & Tar Company’s Greezers lubricant store chain to one day take control of it from the Company’s 95-year-old matriarch. , Nanette GeGrasso. While her son, Charles, being the company’s executive vice president, seems like he would be the obvious choice as heir apparent, he has fallen out of favor with his mother and has family rivals who also want to unseat Nanette, such as her nephew, Joe DeGrasso, who he is also executive vice president. Nanette acts with contempt towards all potential successors, with the exception of Harry, who is her grandson and a junior executive at the Company, under Charles’s watchful eye and thumb. Charles, however, does not believe that Harry is skilled enough or as experienced and worthy as he is, and believes that he, rather than Harry, should be the one to take over after his mother’s death.
It’s also called the Greezers because another of the potential successors, Hunter DeGrasso, “an enterprising lawyer” and Joe’s son, has an idea that combining the lube business with a fast-food operation would make great business sense and increase profits. of the company significantly. The particular type of fast food is salo, or strips of pork fat, also known as “Lardo di Colonnata”, and he becomes involved in a joint venture with a group of crooked Ukrainians who want to introduce the product to the United States. Hunter knows that Aunt Nanette loved to eat Lardo di Colonnata when he was younger. However, she is not in favor of thinly sliced pork being served deep-fried, even though her brother-turned-monk, Brother Bernardo, agrees with the proposal.
Henrietta finds herself increasingly involved in unraveling the complex web of plots and schemes of the various potential heirs. Eventually, she realizes that her employer, O’Rourke, has his own dog in the fight, having been hired by Charles DeGrasso, through one of the men who work for him, Evans. O’Rourke also sees his involvement in the case as a way to become more famous and perhaps help propel him politically, possibly even to the White House. Nothing would please Charles more than for O’Rourke to find out information about Harry that he would cause his mother, Nanette, to dismiss Harry as his successor and favor him instead.
Humorous characters, satirical humor and references to popular culture and Simon Plaster’s lyrics are some of the hallmarks of his gripping series starring Henrietta, and his latest novel, Greezers, is no exception. For example, Plaster cites lyrics from songs like AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” (although he attributes it to Steven Tyler), “Somebody Got Murdered,” and “I’m So Bored With the USA,” by The Clash, and “Paradise City” by Guns ‘N’ Roses. He even references Shakespeare’s MacBeth, which also deals, in part, with the issue of who is best suited to be a successor, comparing Charles to his character, Banquo, a man who “shall get kings” but who it’s not meant to be. one.
Can the heroine of greezers, Henrietta, to successfully change careers from being a reporter to being a private investigator? Which of the possible successors to Trinita Coal Oil & Tar Company and the Greezers chain of lube stores and fast food outlets will inherit Nanette DeGrasso’s throne?
Without giving away any other spoilers, I’ll just add that greezers is an entertaining satirical game that I highly recommend. Like all of Simon Plaster’s books, it can be read and enjoyed on its own. However, reading the others in the Henrietta series will provide readers with useful information about her and other characters, and they are all fun reads worth checking out! Stay safe and healthy, now, as always!