Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

“While people still buy and listen to their music, no band is extinct.” – Alex Weston

When Alex Weston lands the job as ghost writer for the biography of Johnny Burns she realizes it’s the gig of a lifetime. A huge fan of rock, especially classic rock, one of Alex’s favorite bands is Heartbreaker, the legendary group Johnny co-founded back in the late sixties.

Being a bit of an odd duck, Johnny wants to do things a little differently than Alex is used to. Instead of sitting down for a couple of in-depth interviews, he would rather talk for an hour or two a day over a longer period of time. To avoid too much back and forth travel, Alex temporarily sets up shop in Johnny’s town, taking a little room in the back of the local pub.

And thus, over the course of what turns out to be several weeks, Alex learns all there is to know about Johnny and Heartbreaker. From the band’s earliest days in the sixties playing gigs wherever they could, to sold out stadium shows in the seventies, to the band’s inevitable downfall as the music climate turned away from straight-up rock in the 80s, Alex gets a first-hand account of what really happens behind the scenes of a legendary rock band.

It sounds simple enough, and in the hands of many authors such a premise would turn out very one-dimensional. Not so with Julie Morrigan. No, Morrigan takes Heartbreaker and turns them into a band as real as any you could walk into a bookstore and pick up an actual biography of. Indeed, Alex’s interview sessions with Johnny provide the perfect way for Morrigan to slowly reveal the band’s history through a series of flashbacks as Johnny recounts the rise and fall of Heartbreaker. (more…)

Like all true believers, he saw his point of view as the morally correct one. He was perfectly justified in returning hurt for hurt, death for death. – Ed Dolan

Ed Dolan is a man on a mission, and that’s bad news for Chris Massi. Friends for a time when they were teenagers, the two boys’ lives were forever altered when Chris’ father killed Ed’s. The fact Chris’ father, Joe Black Massi, was a mafia hitman and Ed’s was acting as hired muscle trying to protect the target of Joe Black’s mission would seem to complicate the matter a bit. Not for fifteen-year-old Ed, who swore revenge against the Massi family, no matter how long it took.

Fast-forward 25 years and both Chris and Ed have become successful attorneys, Chris working at a prestigious defense firm, Ed as a United States Attorney. Despite having married the daughter of a powerful mob kingpin, Chris has managed to steer clear of “the life” otherwise. Even that association was short lived, when Chris and his wife divorced after only 5 years.

Things start seriously falling apart for Chris when he’s falsely indicted for securities fraud. The prosecuting attorney? Ed Dolan, of course. When that trial ends in acquittal Dolan pursues an ethics complaint with the New York State Bar, succeeding in having Chris disbarred for his alleged “mob ties.” His life already on the ropes, the knock-out punch comes in the form of the murder of his father, not so surprisingly as a result of a mob hit. When his former father-in-law tells Chris he knows who killed his father, Chris has a soul-searching choice to make: try to rebuild his normal life, or embrace the one he’s spent his whole life trying to avoid? (more…)

As he grew older and honed his talents, he came to realize that he was the thing people feared – he was the monster in the dark. – Ray McDaniel

Are you ready for a Halloween treat? I hope so, because author Chris F. Holm sure has some goodies ready for your reading pleasure. In 8 Pounds: Eight Tales of Crime, Horror, & Suspense Holm serves up eight wonderfully entertaining short stories that will have you up late into the night reading, and leave you hungry for more. Though every story in the collection is a home run, there were a few standouts for me.

“Seven Days of Rain” starts the collection off, and right away you know you’re in for something special: “There’s men’s plans and then there’s God’s plans, and it looks for damn sure like God don’t think much of mine.” So thinks Eddie Hanscombe, a man whose plan 60 years ago was to bury something, literally and figuratively, and be done with it. During a biblical seven day rain, however, Eddie comes to understand nothing about the past is ever really buried, and that God always has the last laugh.

“The World Behind” also deals with the past. Timothy Hewitt was a shy, fearful kid in the summer of 1986, one who let his fear drive him down a path that forever changed his life. He took to hiding in the woods that summer to avoid a bully that had it in for him and, as the adult Timothy reflects, it was in those woods he discovered who he really was… as well as what had been happening to all the animals that were disappearing from homes around town. “The World Behind” is a wonderful coming of age story, albeit with a slightly ominous undertone.

“The Toll Collectors” is probably my favorite story in the collection, though saying that is a bit like picking a “favorite” child. A marvelously atmospheric horror story, “The Toll Collectors” finds professional thug-for-hire Ray McDaniel traveling a dark, lonely stretch of interstate on his way home after a particularly nasty job. I don’t want to ruin the story, so suffice it to say that before the night is over Ray ends up not so alone and owing a toll that can’t be paid with money.

Other stories include “A Better Life” (a seemingly innocuous tale of man vs. mouse that will level you with a gut-punch of an ending), “A Simple Kindness” (proving that no good deed goes unpunished), “The Well” (shortest of the bunch, and the one most likely to make your jaw drop and skin crawl), “Eight Pounds” (the title story, which finds two bar buddies discussing the weight, and worth, of a human head… but to what end?), and “The Big Score” (in which a New England lobsterman catches more than he bargained for).

Holm has put together in 8 Pounds a tight, gripping collection of stories that flow seamlessly from one to the next even though each definitely has its own distinct feel and flavor. You get a little bit of horror, a little bit of crime fiction, a little bit of suspense, and a whole lot of top-notch storytelling.

But you know the best thing about 8 Pounds? It can be yours for only $0.99! You’ve got more than that in your sofa cushions or tossed in your car’s ashtray. So what are you waiting for? Put some of that change that’s just lying around to work and treat yourself to eight kickass stories. Not only will you be thoroughly entertained, but in the (near) future when he’s insanely famous you’ll be able to gloat by saying you knew about Chris F. Holm back in the day.

8 Pounds is available on Kindle for only $0.99

As a lifelong reader, and fan of crime fiction in particular, I’m always on the lookout for new avenues to help feed my obsession. Imagine my joy when publisher Little, Brown and Company announced recently that they were going to give me not just a new avenue but an entire drive.

Mulholland Books, named after the infamous Mulholland Drive, has a very simple goal: “to publish books you can’t stop reading. Whatever their form – crime novels, thrillers, police procedurals, spy stories, even supernatural suspense – the promise of a Mulholland Book is that you’ll read it leaning forward, hungry for the next word.”

They’re not playing around, folks. The list of talent already signed include heavy hitters such as Mark Billingham, Lawrence Block, Lee Child, Charlie Huston, Michael Robotham, Duane Swierczynski, and Daniel Woodrell among others. And they’re not waiting for the first round of books to be published before delivering the goods!

Mulholland Books has been presenting some of the best guest blogs I’ve read in quite some time, all written by authors who more than know their way around suspense fiction: “Sex and Violence, Please” by Max Allan Collins, “Guns to Shape the Future” by Charlie Huston, “Thank You for Smoking” by Mark Billingham, “See You in the Darkness” by Megan Abbott, “From Suspense to Dread” by Paul Hoffman, “The Dark Heart of Noir” by Charles Ardai… are you kidding me? This is damn good stuff!

I have seen the future of suspense fiction; its name is Mulholland Books. Do yourself a favor and go for a drive.

“The first track. It’s my baseline. I build a picture of the subject in my mind – how he moves, what he feels, what he might do next – it all flows from the first track.” – Mike Brody

Mike Brody has led an adventurous life. Formerly a special forces operative, upon leaving the military he worked as a smoke jumper – a firefighter who parachutes into remote areas to fight wildfires – until a catastrophic knee injury forced him to give up the job.

Now working as a guide for extreme adventure tours, Brody is trying to take a break from his hectic life by traveling with his son and ex-wife for a relaxing vacation at a dude ranch in Montana. Fortunately for the reader, it’s not in the cards for Brody to lead a life of relaxation.

Shortly after their arrival Brody is contacted by the local sheriff and enlisted in the search for a boy who’s gone missing in the forest surrounding the ranch. It turns out Brody has a special talent for tracking people, and a few high profile cases have made him the “go to” guy for law enforcement when all else fails. Complicating matters in the current situation is that the boy didn’t just wander off, but is actively on the run because he witnessed a murder.

Before Brody knows it he’s deep in the wilderness searching for the boy, saddled with a deputy he’s not sure he trusts, and receiving threatening phone calls from a mysterious figure called “The Partner” who says they’ll harm Brody’s family unless he tips The Partner to the boy’s location once he finds him… before he tells the police. It all makes for a thrilling, multilayered plot that will have you turning pages late into the night.

Debut author Sam Hilliard has created an immensely likable reluctant hero in Mike Brody, and he’s only scratched the surface of the character’s potential. Though we know Brody’s ability to track people borders on the supernatural, how he first discovered his talent and the inner demons that compel him to answer every request for help are only hinted at. Given the undoubtedly rich backstory available for Hilliard to mine, it’s exciting to know that a second book featuring Brody is already in the works. It’s clear that both Sam Hilliard and Mike Brody have very bright futures ahead of them.

The Last Track is available from Buddhapuss Ink (ISBN: 978-0984203512)

The only oath I took, as I recall, was to first do no harm. I’m thinking we’re past that point. – Dr. Peter Brown

As should be abundantly obvious from that quote, Dr. Peter Brown is not your typical doctor. In fact, he spent the majority of his adult life before we meet him in Beat The Reaper taking lives, not saving them.

He didn’t even begin life as Peter Brown but as Pietro Brwna, a young man whose life was set on the path to violence when his grandparents, who were raising him, were murdered when he was fourteen. Fortunately, he is taken in by the family of his best friend, “Skinflick” (don’t ask) Locanos. Unfortunately, it just so happens that the Locanos family is a major player in the mob.

It takes him a year, but Pietro tracks down his grandparents’ killers and exacts his revenge. Impressed with the young man’s natural talent for killing, the Locanos “family” recruits Pietro as a hit man. He enjoys and excels at the job until one day circumstances arise which force him to choose between going to jail and turning state’s evidence.

Not thinking that’s really too difficult of a choice he enters the Witness Protection Program, Pietro Brwna becomes Peter Brown, the Feds send him to medical school, and he ultimately finds himself working as a medical intern at a low-rent hospital in Manhattan.

Everything seems to be going fine until one day Brown goes to break the news to a patient that he has cancer, only to discover that he recognizes the man as a wiseguy from his days working with the mob. Worse, the patient also recognizes Brown. The mobster, who’s terrified of dying during his scheduled operation, offers Brown a deal he can’t refuse: make sure he gets through his surgery ok and he won’t rat Brown out to the family. Except… he rats him out anyway. And this is the point, boys and girls, where you’d better buckle-up because the ride gets decidedly bumpy.

The flashbacks to Brown’s time with the mob aside, the entire book takes place in an approximately eight-hour window of frenetic activity wherein Brown tries to stay one step ahead of his attending physician, his patients, his medical students, the hospital’s HAZMAT team (did I mention he gets stuck with a syringe filled with an unknown substance?), and his Witness Protection handlers. Oh, there’s also the little matter of the team of mafia hit men who descend upon the hospital to whack him.

To say that Beat The Reaper serves up a healthy dose of dark humor along with its non-stop action would be an understatement of Herculean proportions; you need a flashlight to read Beat The Reaper the humor is so dark. As is the violence, which is described in graphic detail. A scene that involves Brown MacGyvering a highly creative – and deeply disturbing – weapon stands out in particular. Ostensibly there to explain medical terminology, author Josh Bazell also makes creative use of footnotes to impart some amusing asides throughout. If you like books such as Scott Phillips’ The Ice Harvest, or films like the Coen brothers’ Fargo, you’ll love Beat The Reaper.

Beat the Reaper: Book Trailer #2 – Gun Finale

Beat the Reaper: Book Trailer #3 – Scalpel Finale

Beat the Reaper: Book Trailer #4 – Flatline Voice Over

It was like suddenly getting a glimpse of a giant invisible hand turning the world. You were not supposed to see those kind of things. You were not supposed to notice the machinery at work. – Gomez Porter

Cleverly presented as a series of blog entries, author Graham Parke’s debut novel, No Hope For Gomez!, chronicles the experiences of Gomez Porter. Being rather unsuccessful at running the antiques store he inherited from his parents, primarily because he knows absolutely nothing about antiques, Gomez decides to earn some extra cash by participating in an experimental drug trial.

As part of the trial, Gomez is instructed to keep a detailed blog of his daily activities and experiences, especially anything strange he notices. One thing in particular that Gomez notices, though he doesn’t find it at all strange, is how attracted he is to Dr. Hargrove, the scientist running the drug trial. In fact, he develops a mad crush on her and decides to devote all his time to winning her affection.

Dr. Hargrove, however, is already being stalked by someone so Gomez becomes her stalker’s stalker in order to determine the stalker’s identity and prove himself to Hargrove. Which he does, and an incredibly awkward romance ensues.

Things take a turn for the strange, if not downright disturbing, when one of Gomez’s fellow drug trial participants turns up dead, and shortly thereafter the detective investigating the case goes missing. Dr. Hargrove assures Gomez that the drugs being used in the trial had nothing to do with the death, but when yet another participant dies Gomez believes he has no choice but to go off the grid and investigate for himself in order to get to the bottom of things.

Interspersed throughout Gomez’s romance and investigation are the laugh-out-loud funny interactions he has with his decidedly left-of-center downstairs neighbor, Warren, an aspiring novelist, Hicks, the antiques store’s sole employee, who has a “pathological fear of all things unpunctual” (At one point Gomez becomes so frustrated with Hicks’ bizarre behavior that he puts him up for auction on eBay.), and the parade of oddball customers who frequent the antiques store.

Since it is known that Gomez is participating in an experimental drug trial, the reader is often left to wonder whether what is being relayed in his blog entries is real or the product of some drug-induced hallucination. After all, he can’t possibly have actually heard Warren stir-frying hamsters in an enameled wok… can he? And surely no one really came into his antiques store wearing a three-piece suit accessorized with sandals and a sombrero covered in “I love pasteurized milk!” stickers, right?

No Hope For Gomez! is one of the most delightfully odd books I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. It’s part humor, part mystery, part romance and entirely original. It was, in fact, like getting sucked down the rabbit hole into Gomezland, and what a wonderful world to visit it was! I won’t spoil the book’s ending by telling you whether or not there’s ultimately hope for Gomez, but I can tell you that I most definitely hope for more books from Parke in the future.

No Hope For Gomez! is available from Outskirts Press (ISBN: 978-1432752484).