Helpful Score: 4
Five important lessons:
1. When you hire a hit man to kill your wife, don't pick a psychopath.
2. Drano is not the best ool for getting rid of a dead body.
3. Those locks on hotel room doors? Not very secure.
4. A curly blond wig isn't much of a disguise.
5. Secrets can kill.
Very good, very funny crime novel. One of the best Hard Case books I've read.
1. When you hire a hit man to kill your wife, don't pick a psychopath.
2. Drano is not the best ool for getting rid of a dead body.
3. Those locks on hotel room doors? Not very secure.
4. A curly blond wig isn't much of a disguise.
5. Secrets can kill.
Very good, very funny crime novel. One of the best Hard Case books I've read.
Helpful Score: 2
BUST by Ken Bruen & Jason Starr: Hard Case Crime Number twenty features two of the best in an awesome collaboration. A wealthy and successful New York City business owner wants to get rid of his nagging wife so he can shack up with his sexy secretary. When the secretary introduces him to Dillon, a former IRA hit man, Max (the businessman) thinks his problems are solved, when in fact they are just beginning. What Max doesnt know is that Angela (the secretary) is Dillons lover and that the two plan to double cross Max as soon as it is profitable. Enter wheelchair-bound Bobby Rosa, an ex-con with a taste for lewd photography, guns and blackmail, who has his own objectives. Its pulp fiction at its finest, combining the best (worst) of both the Irish and New York City underworlds.
Helpful Score: 2
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This first-time collaboration between two rising crime fiction writers is a full-tilt, rocking homage to noir novels of the 1950s, taking full advantage of the neo-pulp Hard Case Crime imprint. Wealthy, successful New York City business owner Max Fisher finds himself in a delightfully familiar scenario: he wants to get rid of his nagging wife so he can shack up with his sexy secretary, Angela Petrakos. When Angela introduces Max to Dillon, a former IRA hit man, Max thinks he's found his man; what Max doesn't know is that Dillon is already Angela's man--and the two plan to double-cross Max as soon as it becomes profitable. Dillon, however, proves to be less a professional than a psychotic: he'd just as soon kill "for the price of a pint" as he would for Max's wealth. Rolling in on the action is wheelchair-bound Bobby Rosa, an ex-con with a taste for lewd photography, guns and blackmail. As it tends to do, the murderous plot goes awry, sending Bruen and Starr's delicious, despicable characters scrambling for their money and their lives. A seamless blend of Bruen's dead-on Irish underworld and Starr's hellish vision of the Big Apple, Hard Case's latest release is smart, trashy fun, fulfilling ably the series' irresistible promise. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Starred Review. This first-time collaboration between two rising crime fiction writers is a full-tilt, rocking homage to noir novels of the 1950s, taking full advantage of the neo-pulp Hard Case Crime imprint. Wealthy, successful New York City business owner Max Fisher finds himself in a delightfully familiar scenario: he wants to get rid of his nagging wife so he can shack up with his sexy secretary, Angela Petrakos. When Angela introduces Max to Dillon, a former IRA hit man, Max thinks he's found his man; what Max doesn't know is that Dillon is already Angela's man--and the two plan to double-cross Max as soon as it becomes profitable. Dillon, however, proves to be less a professional than a psychotic: he'd just as soon kill "for the price of a pint" as he would for Max's wealth. Rolling in on the action is wheelchair-bound Bobby Rosa, an ex-con with a taste for lewd photography, guns and blackmail. As it tends to do, the murderous plot goes awry, sending Bruen and Starr's delicious, despicable characters scrambling for their money and their lives. A seamless blend of Bruen's dead-on Irish underworld and Starr's hellish vision of the Big Apple, Hard Case's latest release is smart, trashy fun, fulfilling ably the series' irresistible promise. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Helpful Score: 2
Part of the new and exciting Hard Case Crime series of paperbacks, this is a hard-boiled noir book that takes place in modern-day NYC. It features a not-very-bright but midly rich fellow who is tired of his wife and wants instead to marry his very hot secretary. He hires a hit man--the wrong guy; he's a psychopath--and things spiral out of control. Some find this hilarious; I found in mildly amusing. I always have trouble identifying with lowlife viewpoint characters; other than that it's a well-written, entertaining story.
Helpful Score: 1
Ken Bruen is rapidly becoming one of my favorite suspense writers. This is an excellent noir style of mystery. Very enjoyable.
