Roadkill Review: Federales by Christopher Irvin

Buy from Amazon

In a country where corruption is a way of life and drug cartels own the police, Federal Agents like Marcos Camarena are the exceptions, not the rule. Marcos had devoted himself to his job and worked hard to bring the men who are murdering his country to justice, but even good men have their limits. His wife has already left him and now with his life under threat Marcos leaves too. He quits law enforcement and moves from Mexico City to a small coastal town.

Marcos is done fighting the good fight. He has lost his crusade against the cartels. But when an old friend asks him to help the outspoken female politician, Eva Santos with hers, Marcos knows he can’t turn away.


Christopher Irvin shows us the real Mexico, the one that exists away from the Spring Breakers and the tourist beaches of Cancun. He does this by skillfully wrapping his fiction around the real life courage of an incredibly brave and determined woman, Maria Santos Gorrostieta (Google her, I’ll wait). This alone makes FEDERALES worthy of your time. However there is more than just political commentary here; there is also a damn good story. The easy paced narrative allows Irvin to give his characters real depth and I soon found myself deep in their world of paranoia, doubt and danger. Add to that a strong plot with a seriously good left turn and you know you’re on to a winner.

If I have one gripe, it’s that FEDERALES is just too short. I was hooked. I wanted to spend longer in the company of Marcos and Eva. There is bags of potential here, more than enough for a full-blown novel and I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that it was all over so quickly. As it stands FEDERALES is a seriously good novella, with Chris Irvin at the wheel it could have been a great novel too.  



Roadkill Review: A Single Shot by Matthew F. Jones

Amazon

When hunter, John Moon accidentally shoots a runaway girl while poaching deer on state land he has to make a choice. His dilemma is made worse by the drugs and cash he finds hidden at her campground. Whatever he decides, the consequences will be something he can neither predict nor control.  

A Single Shot is a taught thriller that drags you along in the emotional wake of John Moon’s guilt and necessity. Early on the plot put me in mind of Cormac McCarthy’s, No Country For Old Men, but as the story progresses it is soon plain to see that John Moon is more than just a cut and paste rehash of McCarthy’s, Llewlyn Moss. Moon is a man with a strong set of beliefs, he has his own code. But his downward spiral started long before he pulled the trigger and in the best traditions of noir no matter how hard he tries, his subsequent actions only seem to hasten that decent.  

Make no mistake this is a gritty and harrowing novel that deals with some pretty dark subject matter. The narrative is largely well paced and genuinely engaging, but it does suffer from occasional unexplained flat spots, which can leave you feeling a little puzzled, like finding a few feet of smooth blacktop in the middle of a rutted farm track. This minor grumble is more than made up for by Jones’ wonderfully authentic dialogue and his strong sense of place.

I fear that many of those lured in by Daniel Woodrell’s curious and at times almost disparaging introduction will have their resolve sorely tested by the disturbing nature of A Single Shot. The violence and the graphic sexual scenes will no doubt alienate a lot of casual readers.  

While A Single Shot may never be a book that is clutched lovingly to the breast of mainstream country noir, if you are an aficionado of the genre it is a book that you won’t want to miss. I found it to be a well written and thought provoking read.

Thanks to my buddy, Brian Panowich for turning me on to this one.

Roadkill Review: American Death Songs by Jordan Harper

Buy it!

“I do not believe in the Devil or the sanctity of Jesus Christ, but I’m telling you that something greater than you or me put that song on the radio at just that moment…”

Jordan Harper takes his readers from desert highways to backwoods bars and beyond. Here crime is king and these ballads of bad-ass sing about lives full of dead ends, blown deals and settled scores. Some of them have been played before, others are as yet unsung, but all are remarkable and deserve to be heard.

There is something deliciously poetic in Jordan Harper's gritty prose. Like being hit with brass knuckles while your sweetheart slips you the tongue, his words draw you in, smack you hard and leave you breathless.

You can pick any one of the stylish tales and I'll be more than happy to heap on some praise on it. ‘Plan C’ is a brilliant and brutal heads up on how things can go real bad, real quick; while ‘Heart Check’ captures the kill or be killed of the prison yard better than anything I have previously read. But I’ll take ‘Red Hair and Black Leather’ as my favorite, because when it comes down to it I’m just an old romantic and any that story starts with the line, “She had an ass like a heart turned upside down and cut in half,” automatically get’s my vote.

This review first appeared in my column at Out Of The Gutter Online. Since then two things have happened, firstly, my opinion hasn’t changed; ‘American Death Songs’ is still the best short story collection I have read this year and secondly, the opening story, ‘Midnight Rider’ has now been made into a short film starring Ryan “Opie” Hurst and if that don’t float you’re boat, you’re in the wrong place, pilgrim.

Roadkill Review: Northline by Willy Vlautin

Willy Vlautin is the front man of an alternative country band called Richmond Fontaine; he has also to date written three novels. Heard of him? Nope, I didn’t think so.  

Northline is Willy’s second novel, but it was the first one that I actually read back in 2008. I must have read it at least a dozen times since. Like his music Willy’s books speak of loners, losers and the disenfranchised.

“I've decided I really am gonna be moving North. Like I always wanted. Just draw a line and go. A Northline.”

Allison Johnson, fleas Las Vegas and her abusive boyfriend intent on making a new life for herself in Reno. But she is haunted by her past mistakes and it’s fair to say she’s damaged goods. Her only comfort comes from the imaginary conversations she has with the actor Paul Newman, and the characters he played in his movies.

This is at times both a grim and desolate book. Alison’s story is one of self harming, bad choices and low self esteem and it breaks my damn heart every time I read it. So you might well ask why do keep coming back? I do it simply because this is the most haunting thing I have ever read.

Willy Vlautin’s style is sparse, simplistic and at times very direct. If you read some other reviews of his work you will find people talking of lack of depth and clunky progression. They have a point, but fuck ‘em, none of that matters.  It’s all about the story and the humanity that bleeds through Vlautin’s writing.  

You will find more accomplished books out there, but I doubt you’ll find a more honest and compelling one.  

Roadkill Review: Post Office by Charles Bukowski

I used to work in a warehouse unloading shipping containers. When you cut off the seal and open them up you are faced with a 7’ x 7’ wall of cartons that stretches back 40 feet. It was freezing cold in winter, hot as a whore’s crotch in summer and back breaking all year round.

Anyone who has made minimum wage in a similar fashion will immediately identify with the dead end grind of Bukowski’s semi-autobiographical protagonist, Henry Chinaski.

Chinaski is a low life loser working a menial day job to support his hobbies of beer, broads and racetracks. He hates his job, his co-workers and at times himself.  

Post Office is a story about life or maybe existence would be a better word.  Chuck Palahniuk summed it up: “We all work jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.”

I really can’t make up my mind about Bukowski; for me he falls somewhere between working class anti-hero and self centered arrogant. I guess that’s part of his charm, or lack of it depending on your point of view. He certainly does the down beat humor and fuck-you narrative better than most; he should, arguably he was the one who invented it.  

Post Office was Bukowski’s first novel and as such it is a little loose and it lacks the depth of his more engaging later works like Ham on Rye. But if you like your characters down and dirty and your prose spare and raw then this is a novel worthy of your time.

Roadkill Review: Brown’s Requiem by James Ellroy.

Everybody knows James Ellroy right? His L.A. Quartet provides the hard-boiled benchmark that defines a genre for many. Even if you haven’t read him, you will at least be aware of the movie L.A. Confidential, based on his novel of the same name.

This work pre-dates that movie by some sixteen years and is in fact Ellroy’s first novel.  Set in contemporary Los Angeles it follows the trials and tribulations of a hard bitten PI, Fritz Brown in his attempt to unravel a complicated case of arson and blackmail.  These old school noir staples are put to good use by an emerging Ellroy and the same wonderful spare prose and clipped dialogue that mark his later works are here in spades.

Brown’s Requiem was written by a man still honing his craft. If you look carefully you will see it in the plot, which at times seems jumbled and is prone to wander. There is a lot of the author’s own life mixed in here too; his love of golf and classical music are to the fore throughout and it can feel a little like you are being force fed with Ellroy’s self indulgence. That said this is still James Ellroy and Brown’s Requiem is a novel worthy of his name.

If you only plan on reading one Ellroy book then it’s hard to look past the big four. Choose The Black Delilah of my personal favorite The Big Nowhere. But if you want an enjoyable and interesting look at how he came to write them, start here.

Roadkill Review: Miles To Little Ridge - Heath Lowrance

I'll make no secret of the fact that Heath Lowrence is one of my favorite authors. His horror - western series featuring the enigmatic righter of wrongs, Hawthorne is right up there for me. Having enjoyed those books so much I was keen to see how Heath would handle a more traditional western so I picked up Miles To Little Ridge on the Kindle to find out.

Miles to Little Ridge continues the story of US Marshall Gideon Miles, who first appeared in the Cash Laramie stories written by Edward Grainger.

The Marshal has arrived in the sleepy Montana town of Little Ridge to arrest a wanted fugitive and bring him back to face trial. But he gets more than he bargained for from the town’s racist Sheriff and a couple of bungling outlaws with some long waited for revenge on their minds. Those who know Gideon Miles judge him by the speed of his hand and the depth of his character, while others who make the mistake of judging the man by the color of his skin rarely have the chance to regret it.

This is a great little tale chocked full of atmosphere. Heath’s writing simply never disappoints and I really enjoyed the wry humor he wove into the grit of this story.  In a time of back shooters and bushwhackers, Gideon Miles rides tall in the saddle and brings an honest to goodness hero back to the written page. If you want to know how a western should be told then read Miles to Little Ridge.

  CLICK To buy from Amazon.

Lost in the Woods

Okay it's gutter time again; this week I’ve got a bad ass back woods blast from Peter Farris to keep me company.

 

I reviewed Last Call for the Living in a much less coherent way right here, back in August. This time I did it better.Last Call is pretty much nailed on to be my top read of 2012 and yes it really is that good.

So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is go to OOTG and read the review; then hurry to your local book purveyor, purchase a copy of Last Call for the Living. Once you have secured your book you should consider running all the way home, clasping it lovingly to your chest

Out Of The Gutter - Independent Reviews

The Evil Book Empire (Amazon)

Car Jackers and Spies Like Us

This week over at Out Of the gutter, I’m taking a long, hard look at Gary Carson’s San Fransico based car crime / espionage thriller mash up, Hot Wire.

If this is a book you've read, I'd really like to hear what you thought about it, why not drop a comment and let me know. You can check out my review here:

Out Of The Gutter - Independent Reviews

This Gun's Not For Hire

I'm over at Out of the Gutter today reviewing City of Heretics, the latest offering from Heath Lowrance.

But opinions are like assholes, everybody has one right? Right. So why not drop by share yours (opinion that it is; if you want to share your asshole you've got the wrong site buddy, but the internet is a big scary place, keep looking.)

We're planning on making this a regular gig, so if your an author working his or her mojo in the Crime / Noir / Hard-Boiled arena and you'd like your book reviewed, then you can hit me up here or through the OOTG website.
I'm particularly interested in hearing from you Indie types who are putting it out there solo and those of you working through the small specialized presses. If you've got a five book deal at Random House, hey congratulations, but you can write your own damn reviews.

Just so as you know, I'll only ever review books I have actually read and I'm not on anybody's pimping payroll. I'm doing it purely for the love baby.

Out Of The Gutter - Independent Reviews

Review - Last Call for the Living

I've heard nothing but good things about 'Last Call for the Living' and had been itching to check it out for myself. I finally got my hands on a copy and what can I tell you, everyone was right.

Charlie Colquitt is a bit of a nerd, not in a world of warcraft kind of way, but a nerd none the less. When Hicklin, a hard ass career criminal, pokes his double-barreled nose through the doors of the bank where Charlie works, Charlie's existence suddenly becomes a wild and precarious thing.

But hold the phone, this book is so much more than a stand and deliver bank robbery caper. Peter Farris delivers a well paced story that uncoils itself like a Copperhead in the Georgia backwoods. 'Last Call' is an unflinching and heartfelt examination of the honor among thieves (or the lack of it). 
The characters we meet may all be hopelessly flawed as human beings, but they are unerringly real and honestly portrayed. You may not like them, but you have to believe them. For me Hicklin is the pick of the bunch, undoubtedly he's the worst of men, a catalyst for destruction who has few qualms about murder and nothing you would recognize as morals. The fact that there were times when I found myself sympathizing with him should tell you something about the quality of the writing to be found here.  

As a début novel 'Last Call for the Living' is about as good as it gets; eloquent, hugely enjoyable and hard as a truck load of six inch nails. Peter Farris is the real deal and brings an exciting new voice to the world of crime fiction. In my opinion you'd be a fool to miss out on hearing it.

Last Call for the Living - Amazon UK

Review - Dirty Words

I've got some 'Dirty Words' for ya. I know what you're thinking, I should quit running the potty mouth 'cause it's not big and it's not clever. But these words aren't mine, they belong to Todd Robinson and they're damn good.

I read a lot of short stories both on the kindle and in the flesh, it's where I live. Mainly I do it for the hit, but I'd be lying if I told you I didn't like to see how the other guys cook their stew. I can tell you now the 11 tales in 'Dirty Words' are the best I have come across in a very long time. I dug every one of them and that's something I've never been able to say about a collection before.

These are my kind of stories; rammed full of mobbed up bad guys, dive bars and wise cracking low-lifes. Todd Robinson writes what he knows and the mean streets of his New York bleed through the pages like an open wound. 'Dirty Words' is brutal, clever and at times laugh out loud funny, but above all that it's brilliantly crafted. This really is hard boiled bad ass at it's best.

My only complaint? Where the hell is the second volume!

Buy it now, you can thank me later: Dirty Words

Review – Crimes In Southern Indiana

I picked up my copy of Crimes in Southern Indiana when I was last in Henderson. It got buried in the precarious pile of stuff on the end of my desk and only turned up again when gravity won out. So now I'm busy playing catch up.

Praise for Frank Bill's first book has been flooding in since it was published in the US last fall. Having finally got to it, all I can say is, fuck! This is one hell of a book.

Crimes in Southern Indiana is a collection of short stories, set in the rural, blue collar backwoods and boy is it brutal. I've read (and liked) a lot of stuff that most people would class as the literary equivalent of a video nasty, but Frank Bill takes it to a whole other level. Think of Winter's Bone meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but with a higher body count.

Crimes is about tough lives, lived by what ever means are necessary. There is little thought of consequence or regard for town laws in this part of Indiana. These are harsh stories; cooked up along with the meth in the busted -ass kitchen of a back country shack. And then delivered with a wonderful blast of Frank's unique shotgun equivalence. Most of the characters we meet are doomed never to make it to the last page, but they get some killer dialogue along the way. The whole thing drips with beer-sweat and reeks of revenge. Frank Bill shoots you just to watch you bleed, then sticks his finger in the bullet hole and wiggles it.

You have to read this book, but a word of warning, you're going to get bloody on this one!

Frank Bill blogs at: http://frankbillshouseofgrit.blogspot.co.uk/

Also, check out his interview with Ron Earl Phillips over at Shotgun Honey: http://www.shotgunhoney.net/interviews/frank-bill

Review – The Devil All the Time

Okay, I'll admit it. I loved Donald Ray Pollock's superb collection of short Stories Knockemstiff.

If you've read them you'll know what to expect from The Devil All the Time. If you haven't then shame on you!

Donald Ray touches on some familiar ground; occasionally flirting with one or two of the characters we met in the tar paper shacks of Knockemstiff, Ohio. But the brutal, deranged and down right dangerous people he introduces us to in 'Devil' are something else entirely.

The story weaves twisted strands of hard lives into a powerful tapestry of desperation, violence and sadness. Perhaps you might also find a little hope hidden in there too.

This is defiantly not a book for the faint hearted. It's a gut-punch in the underbelly of rural, post war American society. Hard, immoral and unsettlingly. What makes it not only tolerable but instantly enjoyable is the quite brilliant voice of the author.

Donald Ray Pollock writes wonderful, tight prose and humming dialogue. He carries you effortlessly through some of the most disturbing facets of the human condition and leaves you hunched over and breathless; tasting blood and craving more. This is a book that will stay with you after long after you're done reading it and for some, that may not be a good thing!

It seems to me that every new American author with a distinctive voice is instantly hailed as a new 'someone', be it Steinbeck or Bukowski. Donald Ray Pollock is not a new anyone. He is his own man and thank god for it.

If you read only one book this year, then make it The Devil All the Time.

For more information about Don, check out his website: Donald Ray Pollock

Review - Please Don't Shoot Anyone Tonight

I came across Dave Newman's first novel more by accident than design and what a happy accident it turned out to be. Please Don't Shoot Anyone Tonight is a gritty story of teenage troubles, where innocence is dipped in a sea of alcohol and hung out to dry in a haze of half-baked adolescent dreams and pot smoke.

Dave Newman shows us the darker side of growing up in small town USA as his characters teeter on the edge of an abyss, some by choice and others by necessity.

The writing is tight and well paced. The dialogue, real and believable. Dave Newman hits hard, sometimes the blows land a little below the belt but that's okay, there are no rules in this kind of fight. It's not all about girls, cars and beer; well, okay mostly it is but it's certainly well worth picking up a six pack and going along for the ride!

You can read an interview with Dave here: http://wewhoareabouttodie.com/2011/04/28/please-dont-shoot-anyone-tonight-an-interview-with-dave-newman/

Review - Modern Ranch Living

Writers write; that’s what the screen saver on my computer says, it keeps me honest. But to write you have to read. I chew through a fair number of books mainly because I just love to read but also to take a peek in the kitchen and see how other guys cook the stew. So now and again I’ll let you know about the ones that floated my boat (or torpedoed it).

Mark Poirier writes about the loners, losers and drifters that hover on the fringes of American society; detached but not quite removed from the lives most of us lead.
He does it with a wonderful laid back and languid style that’s rarely pulsating but rolls along at the easy pace dictated by the heat of an Arizona Summer.

Modern Ranch living lifts the lid on the disparate and bizarre inhabitants of a small community on the outskirts of Tucson Arizona.
The story follows them through one long hot desert summer and centres on the disappearance of a local teenage stoner. Though the narrative rarely gets much past second gear the characters are well drawn and immediately engaging. Kendra the sixteen year old body builder and her dazed brother Thomas; Merv the thirty something pool attendant still living at home with his slightly unhinged mother. Their stories run in parallel, slowly draw together and take you along on a gentle ride through the weirdness of the mundane.

This is no raging page turner, if you want to see the hard ragged edges of America's underbelly at a pace to make your eyes water, then look elsewhere.
Instead Poirier takes a peek behind the drapes of American suburbia and examines the damaged goods he finds there with a wry humor and no mean talent.

 You could do a lot worse than spending a week or so in his company.