STUMPTOWN VOL. 1 by Greg Rucka

Greg Rucka crafts a really commendable hard-boiled mystery that checks off all of the right boxes. It's got twists, turns, reveals, fist-fights, a missing girl, good dialogue, and most importantly, a memorable protagonist. That detective here is Dexedrine "Dex" Parios, a private dick with a gambling problem, who agrees to find the missing daughter of the local casino owner in order to get out of mounting craps debt. Thus begins "The Case of the Girl who Took Her Shampoo But Left Her Mini."

Rucka is well-known for creating memorable female characters, and Dex is definitely someone that I would rush out to read more about. She's smart and tough but she's constantly unlucky and prone making bad decisions, and is always getting her ass beat down for some reason or another. And with her, there's no need for much backstory. We learn all we need to know from her determination to find answers, her bravery in the face of danger, the way she interacts with her brother Ansel with Down Syndrome or the way that she interacts with the police chief she had an affair with. Rucka shows how much info you can get across with a few well-placed bits of dialogue. And Matthew Southworth's art could've been a little more refined but definitely fits. This was a good one, buying the next!

GRADE: A-

GOTHAM CENTRAL OMNIBUS by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka

You know that Gotham City is a pretty screwed up place when a story focusing solely on the city's cops is just as compelling as the ones focusing on it's cape-wearing, billionaire vigilante. That's the case in this multiple award winning series by now superstar writers Brubaker and Rucka (splitting the writing duties between the day shift and night shift, and rotating story arcs). The detectives of the GCPD Major Crimes Unit are the stars here, in a constant struggle to navigate the dangerous criminal world of Gotham, all while dealing with sometimes playing second fiddle to a crazy person that runs around in a bat costume, overshadows their efforts, and undermines their authority, leaving them to constantly clean up his damn mess.

I loved seeing the Bat-world from this point of view of regular Joe's just trying to make a living: whether it's seeing the lasting effects that a super-weapon like Mr. Freeze's gun would have on a person, the day-to-day bureaucracy behind who will turn the switch on the Bat-Signal, or seeing how the mad chaos caused by The Joker could put the fear of god in a whole town.

Although I wish all of them got equal attention, all of the characters are enjoyable and well-drawn, lending to further ground the comic book atmosphere. Most of the story arcs were great but the standouts to me were:

"Soft Targets," about the unit trying to hunt down the Joker as he holds Gotham hostage during Christmas.

"Dead Robin," about the investigation of a serial killer dressing up his victims as the Boy Wonder.

"Corrigan," where Det. Renee Montoya must clear her partner's name after evidence is removed from the scene of an officer involved shooting by a corrupt forensics officer

And of course, the award-winning "Half a Life," in which Montoya's life gets turned upside down after being targeted by an unknown stalker.

This series is a must-read, and you don't need to be a Batman fan or reader to really enjoy this. The character is barely in this and only once in a while makes an appearance. It's less of a Batman book and something closer to NYPD Blue or Homicide: Life on the Street. So get on this quickly, especially if you love police procedurals!

GRADE: A-

SONGS OF INNOCENCE by Richard Aleas

If Songs of Innocence was simply another John Blake mystery, a sequel to Aleas's serviceable first novel, Little Girl Lost, it would still be a pretty good read. But it's much more than a simple sequel, outshining the first book in every conceivable way. It begins as just another detective story, with the retired Blake putting his detective hat back on to investigate the death of his classmate and lover, Dorrie Burke.

But things get darker as the book progresses, pushing Blake further and further into the abyss as he begins to discover the kind of collateral damage that his actions, his mistakes, as well as his discoveries ultimately lead to. It really is better than it has any right to be, crushing its mystery genre expectations and ascending into tragic crime opera territory. And like the best mysteries, the conclusion isn't as cut-and-dry as many would expect. 

It's hard to pinpoint exactly how the book achieves the effect that it has, but at some point I became completely engrossed! I've been tired of standard mysteries lately but this is one of the best detective stories I've read in a while, right up there with the best of Lehane, Mosley, or Lawrence Block. If you have any interest in crime or mysteries, put this one on your list.

I hadn't meant to end up this way, counting the dead, apologizing to the ghosts of the dead women I'd loved. 

But here I was, with apologies to make and so little time to make them.

GRADE: A-

THE SEVENTH by Richard Stark

*Book 7 of the Parker series*

The Parker books have no business being this good seven books into the series. The stories are so simple that one would expect them to be too formulaic and repetitive. But with plot master Richard Stark at the helm, this is not the case. He's always so effortlessly creative when it comes to weaving a plot and he makes this book the best Parker novel so far in the series.

In this one, rather than detailing the setup of a complicated heist, we begin after the crime, as Parker holes up with the money and a woman he can bone until it's time to split the take. But when he goes out to get some beer and comes back to find her stabbed to death with a sword and the money stolen, he sets out to track the thief down and make sure he gets his cut. One of the things that really makes this one standout (aside from having an even faster pace than the others) is the fact that some of the obstacles that push the story forward is caused by Parker's mistakes. Parker is usually shown as an efficient, emotionless man who's always right and is always the one with the best judgement. But he fucks up a couple times here and it's interesting seeing him dedicated to fixing the situation.

So far, Stark's Parker novels are pretty dependable and enjoyable and The Seventh is the best one so far.

GRADE: A-

DOPE by Sara Gran

Sometimes, if you've been unlucky enough to find out the truth, you're better off forgetting it. Especially when there's not much you can do with it.

For a while now, I've been pretty over reading standard detective mysteries. I've begun to find them terribly boring, mostly featuring a slightly flawed investigator running around asking the same questions for most of the book; it gets pretty tedious and repetitive after a while. These days, I'm more interested in dark crime and noir stories that are a little more creative and substantial. So I'm not sure why I expected something different when I cracked this open.

The thing is, author Sara Gran really creeped me out with her previous demonic possession novel, Come Closer, impressing me with her matter-of-fact, conversational prose. So I really wanted to read more of Gran's work. But Dope doesn't offer much more than most of the other usual crime mysteries. It really is mostly just about ex-dopefiend Josephine Flannigan stalking around Manhattan searching for a missing girl. Gran does give us a bit more with her exploration of Josephine's past and her fight to stay on the wagon. Other than that it was all pretty forgettable. There's nothing inherently terrible about Dope, I just found it unremarkable. But hey, it might just be me and the way my taste has been changing.

GRADE: C

SIN PIT by Paul S. Meskil

One of us would die. For the other, there would be Grace. I didn't know what she meant to him but, to me, she was worth all the risk.

Sin Pit was one of those cult pulp paperbacks that were notoriously difficult to find. But Automat.Press has come along and valiantly made it available again in e-book format, so I was stoked to get a crack at reading it! I was disappointed though to find that the book is more of a hard-boiled mystery than the sleaze noir that I hoped for. As a crime mystery, it's fairly enjoyable but at the same time, much of the developments and twists unfortunately were still pretty obvious. I could've done without much of the lagging bits featuring our unlikeable hero Barney Black pounding the pavement looking for clues and instead more of the interesting psychological touches of Barney confronting his hatred for women and himself, and how his infatuation with the aptly-named Randy Harding emphasizes it all.

A tiny warning bell sounded somewhere in my mind —the bell that had always meant danger. This time, I ignored it and told myself nothing mattered but this strange, catlike girl with the midnight eyes.

GRADE: C+

LITTLE GIRL LOST by Richard Aleas

Richard Aleas's debut novel is a hard-boiled NY detective tale in the vein of Block's Scudder series but featuring one of the worst detectives out there. Seriously, it was kind of hilarious how this guy just couldn't get it together! He seemed to fail at even simple detective decision-making. But ultimately I think that was part of the point.

Our hero, John Blake is one half of a tiny detective agency and he is obsessed with solving the murder of his old high school sweetheart, a girl who went from pre-med studies to shaking her ass in a grimy titty bar called the Sin Factory. The story and its turns kept me fairly engaged throughout and Aleas keeps it all going at a smooth pace. But as a whole, the book never lived up to its potential, mostly due to the weak presentation of Blake's motivations. Despite a few flashbacks, I never really felt the connection between Blake and his deceased ex, a connection that's supposed to fuel Blake's dogged determination. If I really felt his emotional connection to Miranda, it could've made the events through the book and its ending much more affecting. But I still enjoyed it and it's another solid Hard Case Crime book!

GRADE: B-

THE ASSIGNMENT by Walter Hill

Most fans of crime fiction are familiar with the solid work put out by Hard Case Crime. But fewer might know that they've just recently started delving into the comic book world with the intention of bringing the same high quality work to the graphic fiction world, so far recruiting great authors like Christa Faust, Megan Abbott, Max Allan Collins, and legendary filmmaker Walter Hill. One of the Walter Hill stories is now the first complete graphic novel release from the company.

The story here is pure pulp, following a smooth hitman named Frank Kitchen who is kidnapped by the batshit crazy sister of his latest victim whose intention is to (umm, let's see, how should I say this?...)...permanently "transition" him. He is released into the world as a "changed" man but with a grudge and the will to track down the people responsible. Cue the bullets!

It's an action-packed tale similar to an entertaining B-movie that you can't help but finish. It's interesting to see Frank trying to deal with his new life, although it takes a bit of suspension of disbelief. The way that the writers treat the villain and the hospital scenes are a little awkward as well but the art pays a great attention to detail and this graphic novel is definitely worth a look! FYI, there's a reportedly-shitty movie adaptation of this directed by Hill and starring Michelle Rodriguez.

GRADE: B-

BLACKSAD by Juan Díaz Canales

This volume collects the first three graphic novels in the award-winning Blacksad series, which follows the adventures of cool cat private detective John Blacksad as he navigates the 1950's, fighting crime, righting wrongs, and bedding down some sexy pussycats while he's at it. It reads like the classic hard-boiled tales of Chandler, Hammet, and Spillane, with many familiar genre conventions on display.



In the debut story, Somewhere Within The Shadows, John investigates the violent death of a beautiful actress, who also happens to be an old flame of his. It's a decent intro to the character and the world, even if it's a little too simple and pretty derivative by design.

The next story, Arctic Nation, is an overall improvement with higher stakes and deeper themes, as Blacksad searches for a missing child in a town brimming with racial tension. It's the best story in the collection.

And the final story, Red Soul, finds our hero in the middle of a conspiracy involving Communist witch-hunts and the nuclear fear that was everywhere during that time period. I like that Canales tries to expand his stories beyond just detective tales and tackle bigger issues.

Although storywise there really isn't much that's new and original here, the real star is the drop-dead gorgeous, Eisner-Award-winning artwork by Juanjo Guarnido, who laces every page with lovingly detailed watercolors. The whole thing is a real pleasure to look at.

GRADE: B+

FOUR DAYS by Iain Ryan

This rugged, hard-boiled noir is a solid debut for Australian author Iain Ryan. It's a short, moody crime novel about a broken and self-destructive Brisbane detective with one foot forcefully out the door to retirement, who decides to go all the way out on his own terms and not only solve a haunting murder case, but also confront his demons and the corruption that he's been a part of for years.

It's a gloomy, fatalist story and I really enjoyed Ryan's use of language to illuminate it's flawed hero in Jim Harris. I only wish that less time was spent on the murder mystery element and more time on Jim himself, his backstory, and his struggle for redemption. Because when Ryan does focus on Jim's internal, personal struggle, that's when the book really shines!

The late night phone calls kept coming.
Harris knew this was it this time. It didn't matter who was on the other line or what the world thought of him. He was home now and all the ghosts were interconnected. They all knew where to find him. They were all calling. And they all had the same body.
He waited.
And she eventually came.

GRADE: B-

TRIGGERMAN #1 by Walter Hill and Matz

Triggerman, along with Peepland, is part of the first round of Hard Case Crime's great expansion into the comic book world. And it's a great way to start. It's a story by famous film director Walter Hill, one that he couldn't get made into a movie. Some French comic book guys picked it up decades later and adapted it for publication in Europe and now it's made its way to the U.S comic scene. It's a hard-boiled, 1930's-era crime story that follows a gunman for hire who's recently been busted out of prison by the Mob for one last assignment.

The art in this one (by artist Jef) is stellar! It's rich, detailed, and laced with dusty shades of brown and great textures, really evoking the Dust Bowl-ish Arizona landscape where this first issue takes place. Being the first issue, we're only introduced to a tiny bit of the story so there are still tons of un-answered questions, but what we do get is compelling enough to continue. It definitely sets the stage. I'm excited with what Hard Case is trying to do now, and both of their new comic series are a success!

 GRADE: B+

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

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+

A DANCE AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE by Lawrence Block

*Book 9 of the Matthew Scudder series* 

"Sometimes it's a dog-eat-dog world and the rest of the time it's the other way around."

This year I've realized that I'm not that big of a fan of standard detective series. They get too repetitive and frankly boring after a while. It nearly broke my heart when I realized that I was starting to feel the same way about this book in Lawrence Block's Scudder series, arguably the top of the detective pack. As I read, I started to notice the formula and the trends. Once again, Scudder has to explain that he's not an official private detective, once again Scudder "struggles" with what to charge people for his services, even though he always seems to settle on the same price (somewhere between $2-3K), and once again Scudder has a moment where he's unsatisfied with his work and considers giving the client a refund, even though he's never actually gone through with it yet. I guess it's designed for the casual reader that might jump into the series at anytime, but for me it becomes a slog reading the same shit over and over. At least in this book we were spared him having to explain why he's not a cop anymore; I'm a little tired of hearing that story too.

This time around Scudder takes on two cases that somehow end up connected, determining whether or not a TV producer was responsible for the rape and murder of his wife, as well as tracking down the masked sex killers in a grisly smut film he stumbles onto in the middle of watching a VHS rental of The Dirty Dozen. This novel's plot developments were based on so many coincidences that the plotting seemed a bit lazy this time around. But even with these issues that I personally had and the fact that this book lacks the emotional weight of Eight Million Ways to Die, the freshness of When The Sacred Ginmill Closes, or the urgent danger of A Ticket to the Boneyard, it's still as thoughtful, readable, and well-written as any of the other novels in Block's Scudder series, with some cool characters and nasty villains.

"We are closer than close, you and I. We are brothers in blood and semen."

So although it suffers from the usual stale repetitiveness as other later novels in most mystery series, it's still a Block novel so it's still one of the better detective books out there. If you're going to read a repetitive detective series, this should be the one you read.

"Well it's a hell of a story," he said. "And I guess you could say it has a happy ending, because you didn't drink and you aren't going to jail."

GRADE: B-

GHOST OF THE FLEA by James Sallis

* Book 6 of the Lew Griffin series *

And finally we get to the grand finale of James Sallis's atypical, challenging, and elusive Lew Griffin

series. This novel has solidified the feeling that all six books are just part of one large story, a singular investigation into Lew Griffin's own life and purpose. No single book in the series can stand on its own without the others surrounding it. These novels probably shouldn't even be considered crime fiction, but if they are, they should definitely be seen collectively as one of the bravest pieces of crime fiction out there. I believe that not only was Sallis painting us a portrait of a complex man named Lew Griffin, but he was also painting a portrait of himself as a writer, with details for us to discover, or as he puts it many times in his books: he was sending us messages in code. Sallis is a superb writer, and this book is possibly the most impressive in the series in regards to pure prose. Sallis also provides a wonderful conclusion to the series, with a tone that fits perfectly in with the rest of the novels. But I want this review and the 5-star rating to not refer to this book alone, but to show big love to the series as a whole. These six novels might not be for everyone, and can be demanding and at times frustrating, but by its end, you'll know you experienced something special.

Out there in the window-world where a moth beat against glass, a man I knew both too well and not at all stood watching. A man dark and ill-defined, with the mark of lateness, of the autumnal, upon him too.

GRADE: A

SOLOMON'S VINEYARD by Jonathan Latimer

From the way her buttocks looked under the black silk dress, I knew she'd be good in bed. The silk was tight and 

under it the muscles worked slow and easy. I saw weight there, and control, and, brother, those were things I like in a woman.

Yea, from that first line, we know that this book puts the "hard" in hard-boiled. This one might just be the "hardest" of them all. I can see now why it's publication was delayed for NINE(!) years due to content. It follows private detective Karl Craven, who's hired to travel to a small town to convince a young woman to leave a religious sex cult that has wild orgies every year in the woods, worships a rotting corpse they keep in a temple, and chooses a girl to go marry the dead dude and have sex with it. Like Craven says about his story in the prologue: "It's got everything but an abortion and a tornado."

I thought it was pretty cool that Craven's true nature was kept vague throughout the story, causing the reader to never fully know where he stood on certain things and never be able to predict what he would do. We know he's supposed to be a detective, but is he disguising himself as one? Is that a lie? Is he a con man? Or maybe he's just the worst private eye in the world and is just using the job to bed down as many ladies as possible? This added an interesting dynamic on top of the craziness. But at the the same time, it was a thin line to walk for a writer because I also felt like I was distanced from him as well. He also sometimes seemed like a real dick in the way he treated women, minorities, or for that matter, every other human being he came in contact with...

I also thought the book was unexpectedly funny because Craven seemed like he didn't really give a damn about solving the case for most of the story. He spends a good amount of the book either napping, eating, taking multiple showers, reading Black Mask magazines, or having rough sex with the cult's princess, who likes to get punched around while in bed instead of getting kissed. I just got a kick out of how laid back he was, as if he thought that the pleasures in life were the priority and everything else would work itself out in the end. And who knows, maybe it will. You'll have to read to find out.

I took a peek into the grave. Flowers had almost covered the coffin. I thought: there goes $135. It was the first time I'd ever spent that much on a doll without getting something in return.

GRADE: B

WHITE JAZZ by James Ellroy

* Book 4 of the L.A. Quartet *

Every time I've finished an Ellroy book, I've had to sit back and process everything, climb up out of

his world, shake my brain free of his expert grasp. With White Jazz, he concludes his epic "L.A. Quartet," by narrowing his focus even more so than in The Black Dahlia, and miles away from the gargantuan L.A. Confidential. Returning to first-person narration and a single protagonist, Ellroy presents a portrait of racist and corrupt police lieutenant Dave Klein, who finds himself a pawn in a law enforcement political war when a Federal attorney mounts an investigation into LAPD malfeasance and its involvement in Southland vice.

Klein is a fascinating character, because he's not some hero or your everyday good guy caught up in a conspiracy and must be the one to bring it all to light. Instead he's a full-time criminal/part-time cop who finds himself in over his head, involved with individuals and systems that are even more corrupt than he is, and must fight through the whole book just to keep his head above water. And it was cool to witness as some semblance of justice (maybe goodness) starts to seep in to his motivations, once he gets a little love in his life and is forced to confront his actions in the past.

Style-wise, Ellroy takes the trimmed and slashed prose style he adopted for L.A. Confidential (by cutting out unnecessary words to cut the manuscript down by 100 pages per his editor) and ratchets it up to a thousand here! Paired with yet another complex plot, the clipped style makes White Jazz a very challenging read, as it's hard at times to follow, as major plot developments and twists can occur in just several well-chosen words, and if you blink (or skim), you miss it. It's not a casual read. But once I got settled in and used to it, I was along for the ride. And I began to realize how much this jazzy, bebop prose fits the confessional, stream-of-consciousness style that's used in the book. It's Dave Klein truly telling his story in his own words. And at times, it can be really poetic in it's own way. Here's what Ellroy himself had to say about his choice to continue the use of this technique for Klein in a Paris Review interview:
"I saw that if I eliminated words from his speech, I would develop a more convincing cadence for him: paranoid, jagged, enervated..."

This book, it's content, and it's writing style, as with most of Ellroy's work, definitely won't be to  everyone's taste, and I would suggest that people new to Ellroy not start with this one (probably start with the more accessible Dahlia). For a taste of what's in store in the book, here's a portion of the novel where Klein searches police records for a possible suspect:

Keyed up—glom the pervert file. Dog stuff/B&E/Peeping Tom, see what jumped:
  A German Shepherd-fucking Marine. Doctor "Dog": popped for shooting his daughter up with beagle pus. Dog killers—none fit my man's specs. Dog fuckers, dog suckers, dog beaters, dog worshipers, a geek who chopped his wife while dressed up as Pluto. Panty sniffers, sink shitters, masturbators—lingerie jackoffs only. Faggot burglars, transvestite break-ins, "Rita Hayworth"–Gilda gown, dyed bush hair, caught blowing a chloroformed toddler. The right age—but a jocker cut his dick off, he killed himself, a full-drag San Quentin burial.Peepers: windows, skylights, roofs—the roof clowns a chink brother act. No watchdog choppers, the geeks read passive, caught holding their puds with a whimper. Darryl Wishnick, a cute MO: peep, break, enter, rape, watchdogs subdued by goofball-laced meat—too bad he kicked from syph in '56. One flash: peepers played passive, my guy killed badass canines.

Although the style is more challenging than the previous books, making for a less smooth a read as I wanted, this novel is still an incredibly engaging crime saga, and skillfully ties in the events in the earlier novels, bringing the entire Quartet to a close in satisfying fashion (Ellroy's most poignant ending since Dahlia)! Ellroy and his work continues to fascinate me and he just climbed even higher in the ranks of my favorite authors.

To eclipse my guilt with the sheer weight of his evil. I'm going to kill him in the name of our victims, find Glenda and say:
  Tell me anything.
  Tell me everything.
  Revoke our time apart.
  Love me fierce in danger.

GRADE: A-

BLUEBOTTLE by James Sallis

* Book 5 of the Lew Griffin series *

That's what we're here for, Griffin. To bear witness, to

take notice. Ever doubt that, you just look into a child's eyes.

When jumping into a book by James Sallis, especially the ones in the Lew Griffin series, I've learned not to expect that he'll be interested in focusing very much on plot. I don't read them for action, but I do read them for Sallis's evocative writing, and for the characters themselves. I've mentioned before that one of the most fascinating things about the Griffin series is the malleable chronology, the blurring of history and the parallels (which essayist Richard Martin calls "echoes) in Lew's life. In Bluebottle, the fifth and penultimate novel in the series, time is at it's most malleable here than in any of the previous books as Lew remembers a time in the seventies, after he was shot and lost a year of his life and memory, and the subsequent search for the white woman he was with at the time of the shooting. 

Chekhov insists that once a story is written we cross out the end and beginning, since that's where we do most of our lying. What you have here, then, is all middle: all back and fill, my effort to reconstruct the year missing from my life, to hold on to it.

Sallis jumps back and forth and up and down through time as Lew recalls various aspects throughout his life, but it never felt too confusing. And there are many echoes of characters and situations from other parts of Lew's narrative, and sometimes it causes you to either doubt Lew's memory, or wonder at the significance. For example, the woman he's searching for, Dana Esmay, is eerily similar to Esmé Dupuy, the white journalist who was with Lew during the shooting in Black Hornet that is almost a straight parallel to the one here. There are more examples of this throughout all of these books and it makes for fascinating reading. There are some interesting plot elements this time around, like the missing writer that Lew ends up searching for, a man who begins to write his masterpiece by researching a white supremacist group, and might have ultimately began to commit fully to their cause.

I never found out exactly what it was that had hurt my friend so–something working in him a long time, that finally found purchase. In future years I'd come to recognize similar things scrabbling for footholds within myself. They were already there, of course, even then. Sometimes at night I heard them breathing.

GRADE: B

THE DEVIL'S SHARE by Wallace Stroby

* Book 4 of the Crissa Stone series *

Crissa Stone is back and this time she's taken a job in my neck of the woods, in sunny Los Angeles,

the City of Angels. She's there to lead the easy heist of millionaire, Emile Cota's prized art pieces as

they're being driven from Vegas to the Port of Los Angeles. It's a piece of cake job because Emile Cota himself is the one who hired her! Can't be anything easier than robbin' a dude who's asking to get robbed right...? Wrong. Dead wrong.

One of the things I've been a bit worried about with this series is the potential to become repetitive and boring. But Stroby has been able to keep it fairly fresh with each installment. And this newest novel definitely feels more distinct, and a bit more dangerous for our diligent heroine this time around. This one feels more assured and you can feel the author really getting into the groove of the series in his writing. I really appreciated how the "villain" this time around turned out to not be as one-dimensional and mustache-twirling as the previous ones have been. But I still want to see the series really evolve more and not fall into the usual series trap of not growing and not raising the stakes. Wallace Stroby, if you're reading, what about maybe having Crissa, in her desperation to be with jailed boyfriend Wayne, plan an epic breakout that might go horribly wrong, or maybe have her do a job that becomes really personal, like one that Wayne organizes or something? Something like that would be awesome and really step things up in the future!

But in the meantime, although the writing is as usual pretty straightforward and workmanlike, mostly surface with no frills and no time for real explorations of inner drama, this style really works with Crissa's character. The series is full of exciting action and all the books are quick, fun reads. And The Devil's Share might be the most satisfying and well-imagined book of the series.

GRADE: B+