Noir

Book Review: Selena by Greg Barth

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Selena, written by Greg Barth is another fun pulp noir from the publisher All Due Respect. When I started reading this book, I didn’t know if Barth was a genius who understood damaged young women, or a writer making a strong but flawed female character. Is Selena an unreliable narrator? Could a character be this damaged yet this strong? Was Barth just writing some sick twisted male fantasy of a woman? I didn’t know and still don’t, all I know is I couldn’t put down the book and had to force myself to, or it was going to be a sleepless work night.

This book is split into three parts and each part has a different feel. The first part is a brutal revenge noir, the second is a country noir, and the third is a survival noir. All three parts are told in the first person by Selena herself with the exception of the third part which bounces from first person to third person and back.

Selena is an interesting character that has gone through a lot. She is a stripper, prostitute, alcoholic who occasionally partakes in drugs and was an abused child. Her Mother died when she was young and she has been struggling ever since. The book opens with Selena waking up from a one night stand and when she steals some cash and a CD, things get dark fast. Something is on the CD, but she doesn’t know it. She is attacked at the strip club she works at and is brutally beaten and raped. When she recovers and sets out to get even, we are lead on a violent journey where one act of revenge escalates to another, until we are in an all out war.

Selena is about as damaged a character I have ever read. As I was reading this, I couldn’t get past thinking if this character was based on any possible truth. After a few hundred pages I stopped analyzing Selena and just sat back and enjoyed the ride she took me on. After all this is pulp fiction, it doesn’t have to be based on any kind of reality.

I will warn you, this is a very brutal and violent book. If you are squeamish, this may not be the book for you. If you like your sex, drugs and violence brutal and bloody, you will enjoy Selena. Thanks to All Due Respect and Greg Barth for another dark pulpy entertaining book and can’t wait to tackle the recently released sequel Diesel Therapy soon.

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Both books are available over at http://allduerespectbooks.com/

News: William McIlvanney: Godfather of Tartan Noir dies aged 79

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Sad news coming out of Glasgow, Scotland today, December 5th, 2015. William McIlvanney has passed away at the age of 79. Known as the godfather of Tartan Noir, McIlvanney was a force in Scottish literature. Read the full news article over at The Guardian here:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/05/william-mcilvanney-not-just-godfather-of-tartan-noir-but-lion-of-literature

Book Review: The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli

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The literary world lost a good author to soon this past July when Tom Piccirilli pasted away. He wrote in many genres throughout his career being nominated and winning awards in the horror, mystery and sci-fi genres. This review covers the first book in his noir series, Cold.

The Cold Spot is an epic noir that starts in the metro area of the Northeast United States and travels to the Deep South and back. The story follows Chase through his young life.

This book starts out with a bang, literally. We find Chase playing poker with his Grandfather Jonah and his crew when Jonah shoots one of the team in the head out of nowhere. The crew just had a successful score robbing the mob. Jonah says the man was wearing a wire and had to die. This is the last straw for Chase who decides to branch out on his own and leave his Grandfather.

Chase is raised in a middle class home when his life is turned upside down. His Mother is murdered and soon after his Father, not able to live with the pain, committees suicide by taking a boat out in a big storm and never returns. Chase goes to a loving foster home, when his Grandfather shows up and Chase goes with him. Chase soon learns the ropes as a getaway driver for his Grandfather at the age of 15.

This book follows Chase through a lot of ups and downs and tells an amazing story of trying to go straight and finding happiness, but getting pulled back into the world of crime.

This is only the second book of Piccirilli’s that I have read and I have loved them both. The other book being The Last Kind Words.

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The Last Kind Words also tackles the subject of a man trying to break free from his criminal family only to be pulled back in.

Piccirilli has built up a cult following over the years, but he definitely deserves to be discovered by a wider audience. I look forward to reading more by this incredible author. Piccirilli is the two time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award (one of those awards for the sequel to this book, The Coldest Mile), The four time winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a Edgar Award nominee for The Cold Spot in 2009. R.I.P. Tom Piccirilli and may your stories inspire a new generation of creative storytellers.

 

Interview: I Write Pulp Because I Love It: An Interview with Josh K. Stevens

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Here is an interview with noir author Josh K. Stevens. I have not read any of his books, but after this interview I look forward reading his books. Check out the full interview with his take on the history of noir, who has influenced him over the years and who he is reading today:

http://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/i-write-pulp-because-i-love-it-an-interview-with-josh-k.-stevens

Video: San Francisco is the Scene of a Perfect Crime

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In the world of noir Los Angeles and New York seem to be the two cities used most often. San Francisco may not have the numbers of the other two, but it sure has a lot of high quality noir and neo noir films based in this city. Here are the films I have already reviewed that appear in this video from RubyTuesday717 on YouTube.

Bullitt

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/21/re-watching-the-classics-bullitt/

Basic Instinct

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/04/14/the-great-villain-blogathon-2015-catherine-tramell-and-re-watching-basic-instinct-2/

Woman on the Run

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/06/24/review-women-on-the-run/

Maltese Falcon

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/03/05/re-watching-the-classics-the-maltese-falcon/

The Conversation

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/05/14/re-watching-the-classics-the-conversation/

Zodiac

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/26/re-watching-zodiac/

Here is the video, this is well done and every noir and neo noir fan will enjoy this short video:

Article: The Modern Noir Has Atrophied

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Angelica Jade Bastién has written an interesting article over at Vulture. She looks at neo noir and what is missing from it lately compared to the classic noir period. She gives a very interesting point of view with some great information. Though I don’t agree with everything she has to say, it does make for some interesting reading and discussion.  What do you think of her take on noir and neo noir?

http://www.vulture.com/2015/08/noir-has-atrophied-its-not-all-true-detectives-fault.html

Book Review: Criminal Love and Other Stories by Mike Monson

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Criminal Love and Other Stories by Mike Monson is a hodge podge of a book. The first third is a collection of short noir tales. Some of these are as short as a few pages long. The stories pack a punch and some would make a great premise for longer stories or even novels. It is amazing how much story Monson can put in just a few pages. Most of the tales take place around Monson’s current home of Modesto, California, but one standout tale for me was “An Evening in Sin City.” This story is about a couple on vacation in Las Vegas. When the wife just wants to stay in the room and watch the same old reality television she would be watching at home, the husband decides to go downstairs and play some craps. When he wins big and catches the eye of a young attractive women who looks like Cher in her youth the story really takes off and doesn’t end the way you would think.

The middle third of the book is some short stories of Monson’s own experiences working at different locations. Some of these are humorous and some insightful and some are just disturbing how big corporations see their employees.

The last third of the book is a few interviews with crime authors. The four authors interviewed are Tyler Dilts, Jason Starr, Jake Hinkson and J.A.(Julie) Kazimer. I have not read any of these four, but look forward to checking out their work based on these interviews. It was interesting to see how different and how similar all of them are.

So the book is very entertaining in a variety of ways. Some may find only one or two section of the book to their liking, but the whole book is worth reading. All Due Respect does it again with another great entry in the noir genre! I haven’t read anything from these guys that I did not like yet. I look forward to reading more from this publisher in the future. Check out their website for all the books they have available.

http://allduerespectbooks.com/

Book Review: Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead (Claire DeWitt mysteries #1) by Sara Gran

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I have heard a lot of good stuff about Sara Gran and the Claire DeWitt books from Goodreads and other sites and blogs. This book is the first in the series. Claire DeWitt is obviously our main character in this series and she is one of the best private investigators in the world.

This story revolves around DeWitt traveling from California to take a case of a missing lawyer in New Orleans. The missing lawyer disappeared during the Katrina storm. This gives us a look at how this city is doing after the horrible disaster as well as giving us an interesting backdrop to the story. We also flashback to DeWitt’s past, where we find DeWitt started learning to solve mysteries from an early age. She finds a book, written by the famous french detective Jacques Silette, called Détection. She uses this book as her life guide and often quotes from it. We also learn about her teacher Constance, who studied directly under Silette and lived in New Orleans. Though DeWitt does not live in New Orleans we learn part of her past is from this city.

I’ll be honest, the mystery of the missing lawyer was good, but I was way more intrigued with DeWitt’s past cases and history. The missing lawyer case does get solved, but a lot of interesting stories from DeWitt’s past are left open and I want to know more about her history. Her two best friends growing up, Silette, and Constance are all people I want to know more about and think I will in future books. I will be continuing this series for sure!

Sara Gran is a fun author to read, and I look forward to following this series and want to go back and read some of her stand alone books as well. I recommend this book if you are looking for a new series in the noir and mystery genre.

Book Review: Two Bullets Solve Everything By Chris Rhatigan and Ryan Sayles

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Two Bullets Solve Everything is a double feature of noir novellas from All Due Respect.  Both stories are quite different from each other and unique in their own right.

Our first story is Disco Rumble Fish from Ryan Sayles.  This is written from a first person perspective of a SWAT team member.  A stranger who has bumped into a cop, while handing a mafia member a handgun.  This happens while the mafia member is in custody and being transported. The mafia member uses the hand gun on the officer and escapes.  The SWAT team is looking for the mysterious stranger who brought the gun to the mafia member.  This is my first story I’ve read about a SWAT team and it was interesting and action packed, as you would expect.

The second story is A Pack of Lies by Chris Rhatigan.  This story is about a small paper journalist, who is past his prime and basically going through the motions at his job.  He also bribes people to keep their stories quiet.  This story has him doing this twice, the first one may have him lose his job, the second may cause him to lose everything.  A Pack of Lies is interesting as our protagonist starts out in a bad place, but in control and we witness him make one bad decision after another on his downward spiral.

I really liked the first story and really loved the second story.  Disco Rumble Fish is action packed and has some good humor.  A Pack of Lies kept me turning the pages and looking at how few pages where left and kept wondering “how is this going to end?  Are there enough pages left to complete this story?”  The tension was strong and kept me on the edge of my seat all the way to the end.  I think noir fans will really like both of these stories.  All Due Respect delivers again with this book.  Check out their website for this book and other great books here;

http://allduerespectbooks.com/

I can’t wait to read more from this little publishing house!  Thanks for getting these great noir stories out to the masses!

Book Review: Love You to a Pulp by C.S. DeWildt

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Love You to a Pulp is another great book from the small publisher All Due Respect.  This one is from C.S. DeWildt.

The story telling here is very interesting, it tells two stories, alternating from chapter to chapter.  Both revolve around our hero Neil.  The first story is about our adult Neil, a glue sniffing down on his luck, hardboiled private detective.  The second story is about a teenage Neil growing up.  I found this interesting because we find how he was raised and why he is a glue sniffing adult.

Like all the noir fiction I’ve read from All Due Respect, this book is very dark and this one made me cringe more than once.  The story starts with Neil taking a case from a father who wants his daughter back in his life.  The daughter and her boyfriend have ripped him off, the father owns a pharmacy and the pair has taken a bunch of drugs from the store.  He doesn’t want his daughter to get in trouble, and wants her taken away from her boyfriend.  The second story shows Neil growing up with his pimp father and whore mother.  To make a few bucks, his father enters him into illegal fights, reminiscent of dog or cock fights, but with young boys.  We learn as the story goes on and gets darker and darker how Neil grew up to be a man.  We also take a crazy voyage in the present, with Ex-wives, lawyers, shady motels, drug deals, suicides, strippers and on and on.

I enjoyed this book immensely, the characters were interesting and most were more twisted than Neil if you can believe that.   I think it is safe to say, after three books, if you have a weak stomach don’t read anything from All Due Respect.  If you like to go deep down that dark rabbit hole, All Due Respect is your one stop shop.  This is another amazing original noir for the hard-core fan.  I look forward to reading more from DeWildt and hope to soon.  Check out All Due Respect’s website to find this and other great books.

http://allduerespectbooks.com/