Category: Authors

AT THEIR OWN GAME by Frank Zafiro / Z-View

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At Their Own Game by Frank Zafiro

Trade Paperback: ‎ 282 pages
Publisher: ‎ Code 4 Press

First sentence…

So far, I’ve been to jail three different ways.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Jake Stankovic should have known better.  After all, Jake was a cop.  He knew the trouble sleeping with another man’s wife could cause.  But Helen was worth the risk.  She was sexy, seductive and Jake was in over his head before he found out Helen was married to Kyle Faulkner, a hard-case detective from his precinct.  When Helen stops seeing Jake, divorces her husband and leaves town without a goodbye, Jake plans to move on with his life.  Detective Faulkner has other plans.

When Jake gets into an off-duty fight, Faulkner uses his pull to get the charges trumped up.  Jake’s forced to take a plea that costs him his job and jail time.

But that was a few years ago.  Since then Jake has run a two-man crew dealing in stolen goods.  Matt and Brent look to Jake for jobs and have agreed to his rules.  They work only with Jake.  They don’t deal in drugs. They don’t do anything on or off a job that would draw attention.  They keep a low profile.  Things have worked out well for the three… until recently.  With the country in an economic downturn, folks aren’t buying their goods.  Jake and his crew need money, and when a great opportunity falls into their lap, they agree to break their rules.  Just one time… for a big drug deal.

The drug deal goes sideways and the crew’s money is taken. Getting the cash back will mean going up against a motorcycle gang.  Then Detective Faulkner makes it clear he has Jake in his sights again.  Jake fears one of his crew might have turned rat.  Any one of these things would be trouble enough.  Could it get any worse?

And that’s when Helen returns with a simple favor…

At Their Own Game is one of my all-time favorite books.  It totally resonated with me.  Zafiro has created realistic characters and placed them in a story that moves.  The plot takes unexpected twists while still following the tropes expected in a classic noir.  The dialogue is realistic.  I flew through the story both wanting to see how it would end and not wanting it to end.  At Their Own Game is a novel that I will want to read again.  It’s that good.

At Their Own Game rates 5 of 5 stars.

At Their Own Game Trade Paperback

At Their Own Game Kindle

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DEAD DOGS by Manny Torres / Z-View

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Dead Dogs by Manny Torres

Trade Paperback: ‎ 200 pages
Publisher: Moonshine Cove Publishing, LLC (August 14, 2020)

First sentence…

Phobos sat like a derelict Buddha on top of the broken newspaper machine, dusty, a little greasy, a little crusty around the edges. .

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Phobos and Chuck are buddies living on periphery of civilized society.  They’re the guys we see (or look away from) hanging outside the 7-11 or your local bank if the free coffee is better there.  They’ve chosen this life and move through it partying with friends when times are good and finding a way when times are lean.

Phobos and Chuck are in debt to a local crime boss wannabe.  Boots Tumbler’s empire includes dog fighting, drugs, stolen goods and he’s looking to expand.  Tumbler has Phobos and Chuck cleaning up after dog fights and sometimes the bodies they dispose aren’t canine.  When Tumbler orders Phobos and Chuck to drive a couple of Tumbler’s associates on a cross-country trip, it puts them on a collision course with hired killers looking for their own payback.

Torres takes us into a world few of us would want to live in, yet we know exists not far from where we sit.  Where other writers romanticize life below the poverty line, Torres has us experience it without rose colored glasses.  We see, smell and feel what it means to be Phobos and Chuck.  Neither are heroes in the traditional sense, but we pull for them because they come across as real human beings.  Which, perhaps surprisingly, makes the crazy characters they meet more believable.

I wouldn’t want to live the life of Phobos or Chuck, but I enjoyed riding along with them in the Great White.  Torres has created (or perhaps just expertly described) a world where larger than life personalities look to get ahead no matter the cost to others, while some folks just look to get by.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Phobos and Chuck have future adventures (or we learn about some in their past).  El Alacran is ripe for a tale or two as well!

Dead Dogs rates 4 of 5 stars.

Dead Dogs Trade Paperback

Dead Dogs Kindle

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THE BIG BLOWDOWN by George P. Pelecanos / Z-View

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The Big Blowdown by George P. Pelecanos

Trade Paperback: ‎ 314 pages
Publisher: ‎ Minotaur Books; First Edition (first (September 24, 1999)

First sentence…

Pete Karras dreamed.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Peter Karras, Joe Recevo, Jimmy Boyle and Perry Angelos are four kids growing up together in Washington, D.C. in the 1930s.  Their lives will separate and then come back together in ways none of them could imagine.  Boyle will become a cop and Angelos an accountant.  Karras and Recevo will become collectors for a loan shark named Burke.

When Burke becomes upset with Karras’ disrespectful attitude and unwillingness to come down hard on some families struggling to repay their high interest loans, Burke orders Recevo to betray Karras.  Recevo sets up his childhood friend and lures him into an alley where another of Burke’s goons is waiting with a baseball bat.  Karras is badly beaten and left to survive or not.

Karras, Recevo and Burke along with Jimmy Boyle and Perry Angelos will cross paths again in bloody confrontation that will leave many of them dead.  Pelecanos creates a story that has layers and substance.  None of his characters are without flaws.  They come across as real people.  The “good” guys don’t always win or survive.  If you’ve read other of Pelecanos’ novels you may recognize some characters which adds to the realism of the universe he’s created.

The Big Blowdown is another winner from George P. Pelecanos.  It rates 4 of 5 stars.

The Big Blowdown Hardcover
The Big Blowdown Trade Paperback

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ICE STATION by Matthew J. Reilly / Z-View

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Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

Hardcover: ‎ 390 pages
Publisher: St. Martins Press (September 1, 1999)

First sentence…

It had been three hours since they had lost radio contact with the two divers.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a team of American scientists at a remote Antarctic ice station send a radio message that they have discovered a metal ship buried deep in the ice, the race is on.  Military units from several countries are quickly dispatched to claim the discovery.  Lieutenant Shane Schofield and his small team of marines are the US’ closest squad so they are sent to secure the discovery at all costs until reinforcements arrive.

When they arrive at the ice station they discover the three divers who went down to the ship are missing. To make matters worse, a hostile military force is quickly approaching.  Soon Schofield and his team are fighting against military units from two countries, unknown creatures from below and the possibility of a traitor on their team!

If you’re a fan of non-stop action that would tire Indiana Jones, then Ice Station is for you.  Once Reilly gets the ball rolling (and he does quickly), the action never lets up.  Reilly puts in his characters in crazy situations and they survive by skill, wit or luck… that is, if they survive.

I kid you not when I say after reading a Matthew Reilly book, you’ll feel like you’ve been put through the ringer.  But if you’re a fan of non-stop over-the-top action (and from time to time I am), then you cannot go wrong with Ice Station.  It earns 5 of 5 stars.

Ice Station Hardcover

Ice Station Paperback

Ice Station Kindle

Ice Station Mass Market Paperback

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JACK REACHER: NO PLAN B by Lee Child and Andrew Child is Coming!

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Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novel are already best seller and with the popularity of the Reacher television series, they should sell even more.  We’ll find out this October 25th, when No Plan B, the new Jack Reacher novel premieres.

The gripping new Jack Reacher thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child. The plan: It’s coming Fall 2022. No Plan B.

In Gerrardsville, Colorado, two witnesses to the same tragedy give two different accounts. One guy sees a woman throw herself in front of a bus in what authorities will call a suicide. The other witness is Jack Reacher. And he sees what actually happened: A man in a gray hoodie and jeans, moving like a shadow, pushed the victim to her death—before swiftly grabbing the dead woman’s purse and strolling away.

Reacher follows the killer on foot, not knowing that he is part of something much bigger and far-reaching . . . a secret conspiracy with many moving parts, with powerful people on the take, all involved in an undertaking that leaves no room for error. If any step is compromised, the threat will have to be quickly and quietly and permanently removed.

Because when the threat is Reacher, there is No Plan B….

THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME by Gabino Iglesias!

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The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias is on my to-be-read list.  I’m a fan of Iglesias’ Zero Saints and love the plot of The Devil Takes You Home.  Check it out and see what you think,

From Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Locus award-nominated author, Gabino Iglesias, comes a genre-defying thriller about a father desperate to salvage what’s left of his family, even if it means a descent into violence –both supernatural and of our own terrifying world.

Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

The Devil Takes You Home is a panoramic odyssey for fans of S.A. Cosby’s southern noir, Blacktop Wasteland, by way of the boundary-defying storytelling of Stephen Graham Jones and Sylvia Moreno-Garcia.

Evidence Points to NEW Suspect as the ZODIAC KILLER!

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Speculation as to who the Zodiac Killer was, is always a popular topic.  There are so many folks who have done extensive research and most often they come up with the usual suspects.  Not so with Jarett Kobek.  Kobek did the research, but facts led him down a different path to a new, viable suspect named Paul Doerr. 

Tim Molloy at MovieMaker provides an excellent overview of Kobek’s findings in his piece Zodiac Killer Revealed by His Love of Comic Books, Author Says.  Molloy’s article is definitely worth a read.  It details how a card sent to police/newspapers listed four ways the Zodiac planned to kill: “By Fire, By Gun, By Knife, By Rope”.  Many Zodiac researchers linked the quote to the 1952 Western comic book, Tim Holt #30.  Kobek took this finding and ran with it.

Kobek realized that the number of comic book collectors at that time was relatively small.  His next step was to start researching comic book fanzines of the era.  Paul Doerr’s name came up in letters to the fan magazines.  His writing style and the content of his letters struck Kobek as being similar to the Zodiac’s.  Then Kobek discovered that Doerr was on the mailing list for renaissance fairs.  Of course in one of the Zodiac attacks he was wearing a Medieval executioner’s hood.  In other letters Doerr talks of killing and making a bomb.  Click over to Molloy’s piece for full details.

Jarett Kobek’s book, How to Find Zodiac lays out the evidence leading to his belief that Doerr was the Zodiac Killer.  Here’s the synopsis…

“A scruffy masterpiece of criminology. It seems to me that either Kobek’s painstaking deductions are correct, or we must urgently revise the laws of probability.” – Alan Moore, author of From Hell

Dear Reader,

This is not the Zodiac speaking. The one thing that I ask of you is this, please read this book. It is called How to Find Zodiac. Being that this book is about the Zodiac, it offers a new suspect. The theory is probably correct. At the moment the theory is unproven. But the idea is a bomb waiting to go massive. Can you see the flaws in the hunting method or will you just agree and say case closed. Either way one thing is true. Zodiac can never look and seem the same after you read this book. It was written by Jarett Kobek.

It will be interesting to see how Zodiac researchers react to Kobek’s research and suspect.

MURDER IN GREASE PAINT by Whiskey Leavins

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Usually I like my crime fiction to be hardboiled and serious.  But there are times when a bigger helping of humor is a nice change of pace.  Murder in Grease Paint by Whiskey Leavins looks to be a prime example.  I loved Leavins’ The Devil’s Own Piss and Other Stories. So picking up his latest offering is a no-brainer.  Check out the synopsis and see what you think.

Washed up pitching prospect, Rock Cobbler, now a hotshot detective with the Santa Lacrimosa PD likes working alone as much as he likes bourbon. That is to say, a lot. One rainy night at Santa Lacrimosa Clown College he finds himself looking out a dorm room window. Down below lay the hilariously twisted body of Mr. Rubadubdub, apparently tossed from that very same window.

The investigation into the defenestration of the promising young clown will lead Rock through dive bars, contemporary Christian clowning performances, and down into the seedy underbelly of clown lore. He will discover what no non-clown should know; like the existence of dangerous, rival clown factions that will stop at nothing in search of clown dominance and the possession of one particular venerated clown relic. To crack the case, he will have to match wits, and game, with the alluring Professor Wiggles. Will Rock take a pie to the face? Or will he solve the case before more clowns die?

Murder in Greasepaint is equal parts Chandler, Christopher Moore, Bozo, and Bourbon.

HELL CHOSE ME by Angel Luis Colón

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I’ve been on a roll finding new (at least to me) excellent crime fiction authors/books.  Today we have Hell Chose Me by Angel Luis Colón. My order is in.  Check out the synopsis and see what you think.

Bryan Walsh is a killer for hire. He is haunted by those who have fallen by his hand. He will stop at nothing to avenge his brother’s death.

When a lifetime of bad karma finally lands on Bryan’s doorstep and leaves his brother dead, he must survive long enough to find the killers and get his revenge, but as the path only grows bloodier, Bryan may not be able to handle the steps he’ll need to take against his enemies.

As he becomes more unstable and his past crashes into his present, Bryan must decide if vengeance is worth becoming the monster he always denied or if he could find a another path; one that could lead to something like redemption.

AT THEIR OWN GAME by Frank Zafiro

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At Their Own Game by Frank Zafiro arrived at my house yesterday.  If it sounds like something you’d like, you know what to do.

Book #1 in the SpoCompton Series

Jake Stankovic has been flying below the radar for years, dealing safely in stolen property crime with his two-man crew. But times are tough, so he decides to step up to the big money with a drug deal. Everything that can go wrong, does. The deal goes bad, a vengeful detective sets his sights on Jake, one of his crew might be a turncoat, and a woman from a long past affair suddenly reappears. All of this would be complicated enough on its own, but for Jake, it’s even worse.

The woman is the detective’s ex-wife.

And Jake Stankovic used to be a cop.

Now Jake must face new problems and old vendettas in an all-in proposition with lives on the line. He has to find a way to get his money back, keep the girl, and beat everyone involved… At Their Own Game.

CARBON by Andrew Vachss!

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Andrew Vachss with his Burke crime novel series instantly became one of my must-read authors.  That was over 35 years ago.  As time went on Vachss continued to write about Burke and his crime family, but he also branched out into other genres and formats.

When I recently saw that Mr. Vachss had a new novel, Carbon, coming out, I was excited to see what it would be about.

I was surprised to read that it would be a futuristic tale.  Then I read the synopsis…

RELENTLESS POWER. HARDCORE ACTION. A CLASSIC, HARD-BOILED VIEW THROUGH A FUTURISTIC LENS.

In The City, government is God—in The Sector, anarchy rules.

The Membrane stands between those worlds. Some cross it to The Sector, seeking the forbidden. Some cross it to The City, seeking a chance to see the sky. Some try to stay. Most die trying.

In a world without paper, names are earned. Sector-born Carbon once risked everything for a chance to live in The City, a world with fresh paper and retinal enhancements that required a price beyond the ability of any Sector-born to earn alone. Captured, he entered prison.

Now, released to find a killer whose pattern threatens the government itself, Carbon’s real search is for the money stashed by his former gang.

But only one woman knows that location, and she isn’t willing to trade information unless she gets something in return—her abducted child. The child is somewhere in the Pure Zone, a wild place where sorcery works but firearms do not.

Trapped between hostile worlds, Carbon will enter the Pure Zone—hyper-focused and fatal to anyone blocking his path.

Carbon, sounded a bit too fantastic for my taste… yet it was Andrew Vachss.  So I read the free sample at Amazon and Carbon is now on my “get list”.  Check it out and perhaps Carbon will be on yours as well.

PAYBACK IS FOREVER by Nick Kolakowski!

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I just learned that Nick Kolakowski has a new novella coming out tomorrow.  Yep, the author of Love & Bullets Megabomb Edition, Boise Longpig Hunting Club and Rattlesnake Rodeo has a new crime story called Payback is Forever.  Here’s the lowdown…

Miller thought it was the perfect heist: Five minutes to hit the cash room of an amusement park, then another two minutes to the getaway car, then gone. As a professional thief, he’d done jobs like that dozens of times. But Miller’s partners had other ideas. When things go bad and bloody, Miller is forced to flee back to familiar territory: New York City’s West Village, where even the target of a nationwide manhunt can hide out amidst the freaks.

But Miller’s refuge might prove even more dangerous. Approached by an old friend about a shady protection job, Miller finds himself thrown into a bizarre world of pint-sized gangsters, aging war criminals, and shady government agents… all of whom are pursuing a prize beyond imagination.

Sounds like my jam.  Maybe yours too.  You can get it on Kindle or as a paperback if you’re so inclined.

DEAD DOGS by Manny Torres!

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I want to pass along a crime novel I just learned about (and ordered).  Dead Dogs by Manny Torres sounds like a wild ride, I’d like to take.

Two Atlanta misfits in debt to notorious dog fighter and drug dealer Boots Tumbler are coerced into handling his dirty work. Phobos and Chuck, desperate to pay him back, go elbow deep in blood, dirt, and gristle, cleaning up dog fights, delivering drugs, and disposing of dead bodies. Regardless of the haul, they shovel it, bag it up, stuff it in the trunk of their 1982 Cadillac Deville and drive it off for disposal. The misfit pair fumble their way through dangerous circumstances and criminal adventures. Desperation eventually drives them out of the city, across lost highways, encountering a circus of outlaws and revolutionaries living on the margins of morality.

Dead Dogs currently has a near-perfect 4.9 star rating on Amazon from 22 reviewers!  As I said, I’ve ordered my copy.

If you’re interested you can get an autographed copy from Mr. Torres!

Or if you prefer Amazon, here’s a link!

61 HOURS by Lee Child / Z-View

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61 Hours by Lee Child

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1st edition (May 18, 2010)

First sentences…

Five minutes to three in the afternoon.  Exactly sixty-one hours before it happened.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Reacher finds himself stranded in the small town of Bolton, South Dakota.  The roads are snowed in and the temperature is well below freezing.  The weather is scheduled to turn even worse with a savage snowstorm bearing down.   The small Bolton police force is on edge and the Chief is in over his head.  They’ve received word a deadly assassin is coming to Bolton to kill a witness (70 year old Janet Salter) they’re protecting.

The clock is ticking and with no help coming, Reacher offers his assistance.  Unknown to Reacher or the police, a vicious drug cartel kingpin and his handpicked hit squad is on the way to Bolton as well.

61 Hours is Jack Reacher’s 14th outing and perhaps his best yet.  Reacher is alone, out of his element dealing with an unknown assassin, a drug cartel hit squad and a handful of police officers unsure of who he can trust.  The tension ratchets up as the clock clicks down.  I loved 61 Hours and rate it 5 of 5 stars.

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“Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking” (2021) / Z-View

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Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking (2021)

Director:  Francesco Zippel

Screenplay: Francesco Zippel

Starring:  Oscar Micheaux, Chuck D, Jacqueline Stewart, Morgan Freeman  and Mario Van Pebbles..

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Oscar Micheaux was a writer, director and producer of both silent and sound movies.  Micheaux has been called “the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century.”

Oscar Micheaux has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was honored by the Director’s Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America has an annual award named after him, he is in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, his image has appeared on a US postage stamp, and there are multiple Film Festivals named after him! Sadly all of these accolades came posthumously.  Outside of serious fans of film history, few know about Oscar Micheaux.

I first learned of Oscar Micheaux because he was the writer/director of Body and Soul starring Paul Robeson.  Thanks to Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking, I now know the life story of Micheaux.  What an amazing story it is.

Micheaux didn’t let any obstacle hinder him.  At a time when there weren’t as many opportunities for people of color, Micheaux was able to raise funds to create films that he would write, direct, produce and even personally distribute from town to town!  He would then use the funds from his current film to finance his next movie.  More importantly Micheaux created films of substance that still resonate today.  Micheaux’s films dealt with race relations and featured complex characters in modern day settings.   I wish more people knew about Oscar Micheaux.  Thanks to Francesco Zippel we can.

Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking rates 4 of 5 stars.