In the Tank (Hardcover)

In 2006 a property caretaker named Charles Marks is found dead in his tiny house in the Santa Cruz Mountains. His unpublished memoir is discovered, and it ends up changing the original presumption of suicide into a murder investigation. After the truth is revealed, Charles' father, James Marks, tries to publish the memoir (entitled, The High Horse of Dark Horse Discourse) as a tribute to his son. However, he wants no mention of the murder. He sees the writing as immature - but also thoughtful enough to be worthy of some recognition on its own. Potential publishers, though, point out that Charles' mocking description of his own future executioners is the only thing that makes the memoir interesting and marketable. James continues to resist until a unique company discovers something in the book that no one else noticed. This allows for a compromise in how it can be sold. High Horse is presented in the text of In The Tank as a book within a book. The story is told by incorporating a foreword by James Marks, a preface and summation by the publisher, and miscellaneous chapter-by-chapter notations. The reader discovers through the murdered author's own words that "Tank House Charlie" was nothing less than a screwed-over middle-aged "Holden Caulfield" - a rather buffoonish semi-intellectual suburban malcontent recounting his misspent life in the 1980s & '90s. He describes his experiences of going to college, working dead-end jobs, recording music, and finally trying to get beyond his weird stint as a mortician by going back to graduate school to be a museum curator. In the end, though, he is brought down indirectly by his best friend's revolting rise in the sex industry along with numerous setbacks caused by hypocrites and traitors of every persuasion. In the Tank is a remarkable backdoor testimonial to the stupidity of American society during the "greed is good" era while also being a poignant reminder of how art and life (and death) are sometimes completely inseparable.