DIG MY GRAVE DEEP by Peter Rabe

 Pulpy Tagline: "He wanted out of the big rackets—and the boys said okay—feet first!"

Oh man, this one was hard to get through! This was one of the most difficult times I've had reading something that I was actually interested in. I was attracted by the reputation of pulp author Peter Rabe, the nifty title, and the awesome cover. The story of a gangster who's lost the taste for the bad life and having to fight to get out from under his mob bosses isn't the most original of plots, but if done well, could be pretty great. But jeez, all the shady deals with crooked politicians and pages-long talks about wards and taxes and properties just bored me to tears. And the book is only like 150 pages! I feel like I'm getting increasingly impatient while reading now that I've seen what could be done when great, efficient writers take the helm, and this book might be an unfortunate victim of that impatience. To add to that, the writing was glaringly awkward, clunky, dated, and sometimes downright confusing. I read a review where someone mentioned that Rabe learned English as an adult and knowing that now, that might be a big factor in the writing style. Granted, the problems that I had got better as the book went on but ultimately it still wasn't very enjoyable. But Rabe was a very popular pulp novelist and a Gold Medal star and I have some other attractive books by him, so I'll give his work another try. Maybe this wasn't the one to start with...

GRADE: D-

THE SCORE by Richard Stark

*Book 5 of the Parker series*

The plan might sound completely nuts but it's too tempting for Parker to pass up. This time, he signs onto a heist to rob the entire town of Copper Canyon, North Dakota! Author Richard Stark had a real knack for conceiving really original plots for his various heist novels. As I've mentioned in other reviews, these books are so simple and although there's not really a whole to talk about, so far they've been consistently enjoyable for what they are. The omniscient POV style that is a trademark to the Parker novels works damn well here as the heist reaches its crescendo. The pace really starts to move as we jump from one point of view to another. If you're looking for a quick, dependable read, so far you can't go wrong with these Parker books, and The Score is a great example!

GRADE: B

FALLEN LAND by Taylor Brown

Fallen Land is an expansion of Taylor Brown's title story from his award-winning collection In The Season of Blood and Gold, which I read last year and loved. This debut novel follows teenagers Callum and Ava, thrown together after he saves her during a pillaging in the middle of the Civil War. Together with their horse Reiver, they search for a place to call home, while trying to evade Callum's former gang and an infamous one-armed bounty hunter.

While I was equally impressed with Brown's writing here as I was when reading his short stories last year, this novel was a disappointment and a bit of a slog to get through. Most of the novel focuses on Callum and Ava riding through the countryside, which would have been alright if I were engaged with the characters. But ultimately they never really flew off the page for me. I'll be reading more by Brown because there's tons of promise and I like his short stories, but I really had high hopes for this one and it just turned out to be "okay."

*I received an advance copy of this through Netgalley in exchange for my honest take on it.*

GRADE: C+

MY 2015 IN BOOKS!

2015 was another good year in books, where I read just under 100 books of varying length and genre! Here are the ones I wanted to highlight:

FAVORITE NOVELS I READ IN 2015:

*The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich
The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout
American Tabloid by James Ellroy
The Whites by Richard Price

   

WORST NOVEL I READ IN 2015:

Skinner by David Bernstein

 

FAVORITE NOVELS PUBLISHED IN 2015:

*Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

The Whites by Richard Price

MOST ENTERTAINING NOVELS:

*Savage Season or Bad Chili by Joe R. Lansdale

The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski
Butch Fatale, Dyke Dick: Double D Double Cross by Christa Faust
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

FAVORITE STORY COLLECTIONS:

*Love and Other Wounds by Jordan Harper

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson
In the Season of Blood and Gold by Taylor Brown

FAVORITE SHORT STORIES:

*"Dress of White Silk" by Richard Matheson

"Whorehouse Piano" by Taylor Brown
"The Confidential Informant" by George Pelecanos
"Lucy In The Pit" by Jordan Harper 
"Playing Dead" by Jordan Harper 

FAVORITE NOVELLAS:

*Every Shallow Cut by Tom Piccirilli

The Rain Dancers by Greg F. Gifune
With Fury In Hand by Lee Thompson
Saint Homicide by Jake Hinkson

FAVORITE CRIME NOIR:

*Every Shallow Cut by Tom Piccirilli

The Posthumous Man by Jake Hinkson
Hell Hath No Fury (aka The Hot Spot) by Charles Williams
Hell on Church Street by Jake Hinkson
The Cold Kiss by John Rector

FAVORITE HORROR:

*Suffer The Children by Craig DiLouie

Crawl by Edward Lorn
Come Closer by Sara Gran
The Underdwelling by Tim Curran

FAVORITE BOOK SERIES:

The Hap and Leonard Series  by Joe R. Lansdale


MOST IMPRESSIVE PROSE/WRITING:

*Benjamin Whitmer in Pike

Glendon Swarthout in The Shootist
Marlon James in The Book of Night Women and John Crow's Devil


FAVORITE AUTHORS I DISCOVERED THIS YEAR: 

*Jake Hinkson

Tom Piccirilli
Benjamin Whitmer
Christa Faust

FAVORITE BOOK HEROES:

*Lilith from The Book of Night Women
 
Hap Collins and Leonard Pine from Savage Season and The Two-Bear Mambo
John Booth from The Shootist
Hugh Glass from The Revenant

FAVORITE BOOK VILLAINS:

*Simon Holly from Bull Mountain
 
Rudi "Gatsby" Barnard from Mixed Blood

THE BIG UGLY by Jake Hinkson

The Big Ugly is more of a hard-boiled mystery than the all-out dark noir in Hinkson's other work. But that's not a bad thing at all. This novel sports the most sympathetic and likable character in all of his work, even if she's not the most fascinating. Ellie Bennett is a recently released ex-convict and former correctional officer who has just been released from prison for beating up one of her inmates. Once she gets out and is in need of a job, she tries her hand at a little detecting after she's approached with the task of tracking down a fellow parolee that every shady character in the city seems to want to find. Now that I think about it while writing this, the book reminds me a lot of Walter Mosley's great Devil In A Blue Dress, in regards to plot and structure.

What follows this time around is a somewhat toned down Hinkson tale when compared to his past work but it's still just as confidently written, compelling, and as unflinching at its commentary of Christianity. He also makes Ellie Bennett instantly like-able, a woman in prison but guilty of nothing but making bad relationship decisions. Her dreams of working as a cop are ruined but I love how she latches on to psuedo-detective work as the next best thing. She's a little rough around the edges as a detective, but that's what makes the story interesting! This is another enjoyable piece of work by an author who is consistently rewarding. If you're a fan of great crime fiction, stop what you're doing and read this guy!

GRADE: B+