"Los Angeles" A novel by Peter Moore Smith, 2005, review

Sometimes it good to just grab a book off the library shelf and take a punt. This was worth it. A strange little book about a reclusive albino, Angel, son of a powerful movie producer, who meets then loses "Angela", a stripper who lives next door.  Angel relies on mind altering mediation, bourbon and TV dinners. He is obsessed by physics (especially the nature of light and the concept of alternative worlds). He has "Blade Runner" constantly playing in his rathole West Hollywood apartment. It's a love story of sorts, a quest (Angel searches for his lover all the way to Rio). It's a portrait of the movie capital as well as a LA noir in some respects. The characters are well drawn, the back stories of Angel's Hollywood mogul family fascinating, the portrayal of mental instability is vivid and unflinching.
As I was reading this weird but engrossing tale, I wondered whether the author was going to 'drop the ball' in the later chapters. He doesn't. The resolution was slightly hokey but satisfying.
If you like a book that combines LA noir, mental instability and quantum physics - this one is for you.

340 pages, published by Hutchinson, 2005

Trivia: The author is Julianne Moore's brother.