Category: Books

Holy Death (A Billy Lafitte novel) by Anthony Neil Smith

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Holy Death (A Billy Lafitte novel) by Anthony Neil Smith

Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Down & Out Books

First sentence…

One-thirty in the morning in a truck stop outside of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Holy Death is the fourth yarn in Anthony Neil Smith’s Billy Lafitte series.  If you’re not familiar with it and you like crime stories, then you’re in for a treat.

Billy Lafitte is an ex-cop, an ex-con and is on the run from a prison escape.  Lafitte’s in bad shape from steroid abuse and the wear and tear of escaping from the joint during a prison riot.  Lafitte wants to make it back to his one true love to give her the merciful death she wants and then he hopes to disappear.

As luck [at least Lafitte’s luck] would have it, he crosses paths with DeVaughn Lagrenade, a professional gambler, ex-gang banger and brother of a kid that Lafitte killed.  Now in addition to all the cops looking for him, Lafitte has Lagrenade, his psycho girlfriend and members of Lagrenade’s gang hunting him down.  As they close in on him, Lafitte knows it’s his last chance to make it right [or as right as he can] for the love of his life and his dead child’s mother.

Holy Death is not for the faint of heart of the sqeemish, but if you like a gritty, modern crime story, then this may be for you.  Holy Death is the fourth in the Billy Lafitte series and I’m hoping there’s more.

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The Devil Doesn’t Want Me by Eric Beetner

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The Devil Doesn’t Want Me (A Lars and Shaine Novel Book 1) by Eric Beetner

Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: 280 Steps

First sentence…

Seventeen years is a long damn time.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Devil Doesn’t Want Me is the first in Eric Beetner’s Lars and Shaine series.  Lars is a semi-retired hitman living on the west coast.  His boss, Nikki Senior, is one of the old guard mobsters who finds himself being pushed out by his son, Nikki Junior.

In an effort to clear the books and show his pop he can run things, Nikki sends a young hitman out to find Mitch the Snitch — a job given to Lars seventeen years prior.  Although Mitch was in government protection and killing him could cause more problems than it would solve, Nikki wants it done.

Enter Trent.  A cocky young hitman who immediately rubs Lars the wrong way.  Although Lars and Trent are at odds, they know they have to work together to find Mitch the Snitch.  And they do.  Without planning, Trent guns down Mitch and when the Snitch’s sixteen year old daughter stumbles in, Mitch turns to kill her as well.  Lars steps up and saves her and finds himself on the run with a sixteen year old orphan in tow.

It takes all of Lars’ skills and then some to keep himself and Shaine alive now that Nickki Junior has called out a team to kill them both.  And of course Trent killing a government protected witness has the feds on their trail as well.

Eric Beetner has never disappointed me.  I really liked  The Devil Doesn’t Want Me and have the sequel, When the Devil Comes to Call waiting in my to be read pile.

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Congo (1995) / Z-View

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Congo (1995)

Director: Frank Marshall

Screenplay: John Patrick Shanley based on the novel by Michael Crichton

Stars: Laura Linney, Tim Curry, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, Joe Don Baker and Stuart Pankin.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn Michael Crichton’s Congo into a movie!”

Tagline: Where you are the endangered species.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A ragtag group joins forces in an effort to get into the Congo.  Two members are young guys who want to take a gorilla from the US back to her birthplace.  The other members are on a search and rescue mission to find what happened to an earlier team that discovered a rare diamond and was wiped out.  Neither group was expecting to find killer gorillas.

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The Girl on the Train (2016) / Z-View

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The Girl on the Train (2016)

Director: Tate Taylor

Screenplay:  Erin Cressida Wilson based on the novel by Paula Hawkins

Stars: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney and Lisa Kudrowan.

The Pitch: “Let’s make a movie based on The Girl on the Train!”

Tagline: What you can see can hurt you.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

It’s rare for a movie to have as many unlikable characters as The Girl on the Train.  Get this, we have…

  • An alcoholic, out of work, ex-wife who rides a train daydreaming when she’s not showing up at her ex-husband’s house and scaring his wife.
  • An ex-husband who is cheating with every woman he can get his, uh, hands on.
  • A wife who gained her husband by cheating with him while he was still married.
  • A woman who is living with a man but is cheating on him with a married man.
  • An abusive man with a hair-trigger temper who is living with a woman.
  • A psychologist who is crossing the line with the sexual behavior of one of his clients.
  • Two detectives investigating a murder who seem to have no interest in solving it.

 There’s a murder.  Some red herrings are given.  What you see is not what you think you’re seeing.  The murder is solved.  One of those unlikable characters did it and gets his/her just reward.  The end.

Based on the best-selling book.

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Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me Gets New Life with IDW

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The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson is a classic.  Written 62 years ago, The Killer Inside Me has been the subject of two film adaptations, has been a major influence on countless novelists, screenwriters, lyricists and yet has never had a comic adaptation until now.

IDW is publishing the comic adaptation of The Killer Inside Me as a comic mini-series written by Devin Faraci and illustrated by Vic Malhotra.  Faraci recently spoke with Zack Smith at Newsarama about how Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me Gets New Life with IDW.

If you’re at all interested in The Killer Inside Me‘s importance to the genre, influence on generations or what goes into creating a worthy adaptation, then this interview is for you!

Rough Trade by Todd Robinson / Z-View

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Rough Trade by Todd Robinson

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Polis Books

First sentence…

We were bored as ****.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Rough Trade is the sequel to Robinson’s The Hard Bounce (which I loved) featuring Boo and Junior.  Boo and Junior have been best buds since their childhood days in a group home.  Although grown, neither has really matured.  By night they are bouncers at The Cellar (a local tavern / music venue ) and by day (and nights they’re not bouncing), they hire out as security for other bars, finding runaways, or whatever will pay some bills.

When Boo is asked by a waitress at the Cellar to scare off ex-boyfriend, Byron, you know that Junior is going to tag along.  One thing leads to another and Byron is left beaten, bloody but in no danger of taking the big sleep.  So when Byron is found dead all evidence points to our boys.

The police bring Junior in for questioning and Boo knows it won’t be long before the cops will pick him up.  The clock is ticking and it is up to Boo to figure out not only why Byron was killed but who did it.  Along the way there will be beatings, shootings, mysteries and secrets revealed and a lot of fun.

Fun for the reader that is. Robinson has a unique voice and turns the tough guy cliches into humorous situations without writing down to the genre.  I loved The Hard Bounce and think Rough Trade is an even better book.

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