We all remember that female singer that
made us crazy as adolescent boys. The one that you fantasized about meeting up close
in the most intimate and very personal way. Okay, don’t admit it, but I did. I
am also not about to say who that was, but I still have all her records. Not
CDs like the kids today have, but the old vinyl records. For Nob Brown that
certain singer was, and to a certain extent
still is, Lana Strain. Her murder twenty years ago remains an unsolved case.
LAPD Lieutenant Gloria Lopes has
decided to give the murder book to Nob in an effort to cheer him up. Nob used
to be a cop before he walked away from the job. These days Nob is having a hard
time on a variety of fronts including working as a freelance writer. The
Lieutenant, who also happens to be his frequent bedroom and anywhere else sexual
partner, says that she is giving him the book for six days so that he can do
research and just maybe sell a piece on the murder as part of a twenty year
retrospective on the stunningly beautiful singer. Considering Nob is known as a
true crime writer, as well as any other kind of writing that pays the mounting
bills, this temporary gift of the murder book for a legendary cold case that is
still a hot bed of publicity just might save him form the financial ruin of his
recent divorce.
Lana Strain died when Nob was 17. It
rocked his world at the time and the incident still shakes him to the core when
he sees the brutality of the crime scene photos. While giving him the murder
book for the stated reason of Nob’s being able to sell some writing is one
goal, Nob is highly motivated to solve the crime the LAPD has not been able to
for all these years.
Twenty years after Lana’s violent
death in her home, Nob’s poking around will bring him contact with her family,
Russian organized crime, porno peddlers, and more in Go Down Hard by Craig
Faustus Buck. It also might get him and everyone he cares about killed as
someone works to tie off loose ends uncovered
by his poking into the cold case.
While some reviews have referred to
this as a mystery noir spoof, that would imply far more humor and slapstick than
there is in the book. Nothing in this hard hitting and often violent book is remotely
slapstick. At times graphic in terms of language and descriptions, this is a crime
noir style story with an underpinning of sarcasm throughout the read. Nob Brown
tends towards the sarcastic in word and action, but when things get dangerous
he is prepared to be one hundred percent serious to get the job done.
According to the recent interview
with the author on The
Rap Skeet Blog this is the start of a new series. That is excellent news
and this book was incredibly good. Go Down Hard by Craig Faustus Buck, recently
published by Brash Books, is very much worth it and one you should not miss. It
is one of those books that, if the award committees and voters in various organizations
have any sense next spring, it will be up for quite a few awards.
Go Down Hard
Craig
Faustus Buck
Brash
Books
May
2015
ASIN#
B00UIVNIIC
E-Book
(also available in print)
368
Pages
$3.99
Material
supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2015
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