In this edition of The Electric Mayhem I write about:
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston - "If you’ve read his crime novels then you know what to expect. The slacker hero, the humor that rides shotgun with violence but never approaching bleakness, and, in the new book more so then the others…a modicum of hope. It’s vulgar and violent but there is a certain likability level to the characters that keeps you on their side no matter what."
Leather Maiden by Joe lansdale - "In many ways Leather Maiden is a conventional mystery, especially in the sense that a lot of familiar elements are here (small to mid sized town, scandal, murder, blackmail, psycho side kick, etc.) but at this point Lansdale has been at the game so long that he really knows his shit and you are in safe hands. He has taken the things that you know and used them in a story that’s really good. It’s like the notes may be familiar but the song is still great. He’s written something like 30+ novels at this point so he really knows how to tell a hell of a story and he does."
Last Days by Brian Evenson - "Often times crime fiction is billed and blurbed as being “dark” and too often it fails to live up; flinching first and crying uncle when the story gets tough. In this unique detective novel Brian Evenson is willing to hold the gaze of the abyss and the result is a novel that isn’t likley to be forgotten anytime soon."
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock - Knockemstiff is filled with stories of low-bottom fringe dwellers with nothing. Not nothing to lose, literally nothing. Bill Hicks once assaulted a heckler with the following line “Your gene pool is so shallow that its like your daddy jerked off and your mama sat in it.” The characters of Knockemstiff are the result of that union.
Werewolf by Night #1 by Duane Swierczynski
In this edition of The Electric Mayhem I write about:
Escape from Hell by Hal Duncan - Escape From Hell! is like a John Carpenter/Walter Hill late 70’s-early 80’s movie in book form. If you understand the references then you get it right off. I mean if the bridge scene doesn’t take you back to Escape from New York then nothing will. The action is ramped up to insane levels, and it just keeps pumping forward at a relentless pace.
Incognito #1 by Ed Brubaker - "Brubaker became the preeminent writer of the American Icon, by pulling off the biggest crime in recent memory, and doing it in brazen and economical fashion - you can’t kill Captain America any other way. He just had him got. Brubaker is a crime writer. He got to his story by murdering somebody. That’s Crime 101."
In this Electric Mayhem I write about:
The Mammoth Book of Crime Comics - "With the rise in popularity of crime comics in recent years it would be easy to think the marriage of crime and comics was a recent one but in fact it’s a relationship that goes back decades as this collection shows."
Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman - "I liked Small Crimes but it’s not the masterpiece that others have been proclaiming it as. It’s a problematic book with an over-reliance on coincidence to advance the plot and scenes that are supposed to be rife with tension seem to lack it and are just…flat."
Toros and Torsos by Craig McDonald - "After reading two of them I’m fully prepared to say that I love the Hank Lassiter books and with his life spanning much of the century and his adventures bringing him into contact with so many prominent historical figures Hank Lassiter is practically something of a pulp fiction Forrest Gump."
Greasing the Piñata by Tim Maleeny - "I’m still a fan of the series and even if this one wasn’t a favorite Greasing the Piñata has done nothing to dissuade me from reading further in the series."
The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford - "If the two best fiction tools that we posses to describe the insanity of the new century is the language of crime fiction and the language of the fantastic then Jeffrey Ford in many ways represents the perfect nexus point of these two languages. It’s from this synthesis that the power of the story is derived. I think that Ford is in a unique position to write some of the more powerful fiction of our times because of how well versed he is in both modes."
Joker by Brian Azzarello - "Given Azzarelo’s writing background (100 Bullets) one way to try and look at the story was an attempt to filter the Joker character through a crime fiction story. As an intellectual exercise it has promise but the practical application just didn’t pan out."
Dead Women's Shoes by Kaye C. Hill
Please stop by and comment on any of these if you like. If you disagree with any of the reviews then let us know because honest discussion of books will only make the genre better. If you don't like any of the forum topics then come and start another
--Thanks from BSC
