The Smell of the Dead is an insane trek down the rabbit hole. Max Resto utilizes all the trappings and tropes of the detective genre, the black novel, to tell in a Rashomon-like tale the nature of these peculiar characters and the sordid societal and cultural jail that keeps them from fulfillment, self-awareness and redemption. An astute and engaging telling of an absurd story, this novel uses a cunning shifting of narrative voices and points of view to weave an intricate portrait of the futility of existence when weighed against the yearning for significance and pertinence.