Upgunned by David J. Schow / Z-View
Upgunned by David J. Schow
Jacket design and illustration Tim Bradstreet
Elias McCabe is having one hell of a night: He gets kidnapped at gunpoint by a professional hit man and is forced to shoot blackmail photos of a prominent politician. Things go wrong with the shoot… very wrong. When the night is over, Elias is scared to death … and ten thousand dollars richer.
If he keeps his mouth shut.
But he doesn’t — and now the hit man has targeted him for payback.
As a desperate amateur in the games of death, Elias is up against a seasoned pro. As his entire life slides into the abyss, he has to stay alive by inventing new ways, moment-by-moment, to avoid, misdirect, and finally confront his ever-more-determined murderer as corpses and collateral damage stack up coast-to-coast in their wake.
The Good
- Upgunned sucks you in from the first sentence and never let’s up.
- The lead characters: Initially I was having a tough time deciding whether I was pulling for Elias [the photographer forced to become an accessory to blackmail and murder] or Chambers [the hitman “forced” to kill everyone involved in the blackmail gone bad including his partners].
- The supporting characters, especially “Cap” Weatherwax and the freaks at Salon [midgets, a spidergirl, a crocman, and others.]
- Schow does his research — you’ll learn a lot about guns, Hollywood movie-making and more, but never at the expense of the action.
- Tim Bradstreet’s jacket design and illustration and yes, that is Thomas Jane on the cover!
- Ken Mitchrooney [a comic book buddy from way back] is thanked in the Acknowledgements.
The Bad:
- Chambers – I was pulling for the hitman despite him killing so many people until he did something even worse.
- What happens to Chambers that prevents him from killing Elias straight away.
The Ugly:
- What happens to Chambers’ partners.
- Walking in a dark room with your eyes wide open.
Upgunned is for mature audiences due to excessive violence and sexual situations.
Rating: 3 out of 5
