Joan Y. Edwards: Auras of Deceit by Sandra Warren, E. Jax Willoughby, James Salkeld, Annette Larkin, and John Stickney

 Joan Y. Edwards: Auras of Deceit by Sandra Warren, E. Jax Willoughby, James Salkeld, Annette Larkin, and John Stickney

John Stickney's Short Story Wednesday Review: Shooting Creek and Other Stories by Scott Loring Sanders

 

It has been a long time since John Stickney reviewed here. The review below came from John Stickney back in April 2017. It seemed like a good time today to remind you all of John’s review.

 

To paraphrase a Sheriff in one of the stories, There is a school of thought that there Lord does not give us more than we can bare but in a lot of theses stories He sure seems to be pushing it…This collection of short stories reveals the more literary side of crime fiction, many of the stories involve crime only in a tangential way. Like Art Taylor, Sanders knows that criminal activity is just another element in a well told story. Sanders touches on family and the dynamic between fathers and their sons, whether abandonment or devotion, between sons and their mothers, and when truth might emerge… “One night after Mom had one too many Schaefers…”

In Joyride, a fifteen abandoned by his father latches on to his nineteen year old cousin, newly released from Rahway State Prison…. “People crossed to the opposite sidewalk when they saw him coming. He had a swagger, a hardness which most rational folks immediately recognized: steer clear of that guy. The hackles of dogs would stand on end when he passed. But for me, just being around him made me feel tough as if toughness was contagious…” Introduced to the joy of stealing cars by his cousin, his first job was to dispose of a garbage bag full of license plates.…"like a Rouge Santa with an illegal pack of goods. And it did feel like Christmas in a way. Some sort of delinquent, sinister Christmas…”

For as much pain as some of these stories offer, there are equal amounts of humor. For example this comment on matters marital...”Bacon sizzled in the skillet, a spatula clinking against a skillet, no doubt Deborah making exactly five piece for her own self and exactly zero for me, a perfect illustration of where our marriage stood.” (from Waiting on Joe)

The details ring true, in Jim Limey's Confession, Jim is telling his deathbed tale so it is not forgotten. A black man who cleaned the outhouses in a southern town knows who killed the missing little white girl but can't say. Even on hot days he can not be seen by white folks covering his mouth with a kerchief..."White folks didn’t like to see a Negro covering up his face at the smell of their business.” Imagine what could happen if you accused a white man of a crime.

In Moss Man, a farmer points out to the journalist seeking the Jersey Devil…”A jackass learns to plow a row by doing, not by being told.” It is a story about what the devil takes and what one man will do to survive.

This is a truly enjoyable and well written story collection, full of humor, ambiguity, and often no good choices. Highly recommended.

 

 

John Stickney ©2017, 2023

John Stickney is a writer formerly from Cleveland, Ohio now residing in North Carolina.  His fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Demolition, Needle, among others.

Guest Reviewer John Stickney Reviews Bad Boy Boogie by Thomas Pluck

A taste of Cajun revenge served up hot in New Jersey

Bad Boy Boogie (featuring Jay Demarteaux) by Thomas Pluck  

Down and Out Books

March 20, 2017

“You’re an animal.  A hate machine.  Killing’s all you’re good at.  Aim you at something and you tear it apart, don’t find nothing but shreds in your teeth…”

“Reckon so.”  The corner of Jay’s mouth curled…

Sentenced to life as a teenager for killing the school bully, twenty-five years in, Jay Demarteaux is released to civilian life.  He returns to the scene of his crime and the crimes which led to it, Nutley, New Jersey.  His mission, first to find his family and then to attend to some righteous revenge.  Righteous, you may ask.  Pluck answers that question with a novel full of disturbing flashbacks of child molestation, sexualized teen bullying and assault, and rape/sodomy, silences and cover-ups.  This material is handled in a thoughtful, non-exploitive manner.  The consequences of the abuse are graphically illustrated with broken damaged lives.  Some people, as Demarteaux believes, just deserve to be killed. 

Thomas Pluck is an action writer, fight scenes, break ins and car chases are rendered with believable cinematic precision.  He also keeps a sense of humor about things, it is not all darkness.  Whether describing a mobster – “Dante Mastino had hound-dog eyes, a forehead that recalled Easter Island moai, and hands fit for scooping gravel pits.  His hand-tailored suit hung off him like cave bear pelts.” Or thoughts on a high school reunion, “They say it gets better,” Brendan said, eyeing the room. “That’s a load of shit. It gets bitter, if anything. You get used to it. Most people turn into bigger versions of the little assholes they were in school.”  In another instance, his characters consciously recall the Blues Brothers while they rip up a country club with their vehicles.  It is not a linear story but as told we see Demarteaux as an exploited child, as a fall guy induced like many juveniles to confess with false promises, a fresh fish in prison guided and educated by an older con, after release, used by the mob and his former girlfriend, and hunted by corrupt police and a powerful politician. Armed with his father’s Vietnam era Hatchet and a Case Rebone Trapper, Jay Demarteaux sets out to make things right.

Plucks writing has an edge of artful realism, when he makes you laugh and when he makes the reader cringe.  If you are a fan of AC/DC, you are doubly lucky.  Bad Boy Boogie is further proof that Thomas Pluck is the real deal.

This book was received from Down and Out Books via NetGalley for review.

John Stickney ©2017

John Stickney is a writer formerly from Cleveland, Ohio now residing in North Carolina.  His fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Demolition, Needle, among others.

Guest Reviewer John Stickney Reviews Coney Island Avenue by J.L. Abramo

Having recently reviewed The Last Collar by Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro as well as The Origins of Benjamin Hackett by Gerald M. O'Connor, John is back today with another review.

Coney Island Avenue by J.L. Abramo   Down & Out Books

An excellent read, worthy of comparison to Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series.

“My sister’s boy is popping the question.”

“What question is that, why the eggplant is always greasy?”

“He bought a ring for his girlfriend.”

“Jesus, Augie, what kind of uncle are you.  Couldn’t you talk him out of it?”

“You’re a hopeless cynic, Tommy.  I haven’t met her, but my sister says she seems like a nice girl.”

“They all seem like nice girls, and then they grow up and become their mothers.

Shamus Award winning author J.L. Abramo’s new release, Coney Island Avenue (Down & Out Books), continues the story of the New York Police Department’s Detective Squad in the 61st Precinct, Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y., a squad first visited by Abramo in his acclaimed novel Gravesend.  Set in the dog days of August, the new novel opens with a multiple homicide, that of the young man and woman referred to above.  Their execution is perpetrated by two guys.  The first, dressed in a gray business suit, looked good enough that he could pass for a banker.  The second, is a big ape in a blue jogging suit, or as his not a banker partner notes, a “goombah outfit,” the appropriate dress for a mob enforcer known as Paulie Bonebreaker. As the Detectives of the 61st begin investigating, more bodies turn up, the crime itself is not all that simple.  While that investigation evolves, additional crimes and cases are dropped on the squad.  Abramo keeps the story moving in real time, clever dialogue and small rapid fire paragraphs jump us between the various plot lines.  The squad is a mix of veterans and squad newbies.  Their personal stories, their families or the lack thereof is woven into the narrative.  A total of 58 characters appear in the book, from bakers to mob bosses, from Russian criminals to corrupt building contractors, the police and the detectives, through Abramo’s skill we get a sense of each.  The story and the members of the 61st Squad are life-like, compelling and believable.  As a police procedural, the investigation and procedures followed are spot on, it compares favorably to the best of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series.   Abramo is an accomplished writer, his West Coast set series about PI Jake Diamond, revived and also available from Down & Out Books is award winning.  But Abramo grew up in the Gravesend area of Brooklyn, NY.  He knows the streets, the neighborhoods and its people.  And he knows police, as this bit from two uniform officers talking while on stationary surveillance…

“I don’t know about you, but I could eat a horse,” he said.

“Pinto or Appaloosa?”

I hope J.L. Abramo is working on other novels involving the 61st Precinct, Gravesend and Coney Island Avenue are both excellent reads. I cannot wait for the next in this brilliant series.

I am grateful to Down & Out Books and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read Coney Island Avenue.

John Stickney ©2017

John Stickney is a writer formerly from Cleveland, Ohio now residing in North Carolina.  His fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Demolition, Needle, among others.

Guest Reviewer John Stickney Reviews The Origins of Benjamin Hackett by Gerald M. O'Connor

Having recently reviewed THE LAST COLLAR by Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro, John is back today with another review.

The Origins of Benjamin Hackett by Gerald M. O'Connor  Down and Out Books

In The Origins of Benjamin Hackett by Gerald M. O’Connor we explore the Irish city of Cork, it’s denizens and characters, and its lively language.   Told through the eyes of Benjamin Hackett our narrator is on a journey of discovery a common enough story for many young men turning 18 years of age.  Here’s the difference, on this his 18^th birthday in 1996, a hungover Benjamin learns from his parents that he was, in fact, adopted.  Off he goes with, accompanied by his best mate JJ, to find out the truth of who and why.  In the course of this five-day journey we encounter the Catholic Church of Ireland and all of its institutional secrecy, the sport of Hurling (as foreign to some as Quidditch once was), gangsters, arch rivals, distant women and the most dangerous thing of all, family.

This is author O’Connor’s debut novel, it is remarkable that his voice is so developed, there is a lushness apparent in both language and dialogue, and an equally well-tuned sense of humor.  The ending leaves us with the hope of more, these characters, and especially our narrator deserve an on-going series.  Funny, engaging and well-paced, it is a diversion worth your time.  Highly recommended.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.  

John Stickney ©2017

John Stickney is a writer formerly from Cleveland, Ohio now residing in North Carolina.  His fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Demolition, Needle, among others.

Guest Reviewer John Stickney Reviews THE LAST COLLAR by Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro

Please welcome guest reviewer John Stickney to the blog today. This is his first review here and hopefully there will be many more.

THE LAST COLLAR by Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro. Down & Out Books.

Not all police procedurals are created equal.  Some reach beyond the standard cliches.  The Last Collar delivers what we expect and much more.  Writing that is clean, fast and decisive.  Snappy dialogue, cops cracking wise in a funny back and forth.   We discover what the investigating detectives, Brooklyn Homicide’s finest Detective John “Mocha” Moccia and his partner Matt Winslow, discover, and are led to the make the same hunches and brought to the same conclusions.  We are also there as  larger personal questions are asked of Mocha.  So yes, we want our Ed McBain procedural, and it is delivered.  Collaborating authors Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro add the unexpected, a little John Donne to the mix.  

Our narrator John “Mocha” Moccia is relentless, working his cases in a methodical manner but obsessed to find justice for the victims.  His single mindedness cost him his marriage and he is a coast away from his young daughter.  Mocha is determined to help see his partner, Matt Winslow to his retirement seven months away.  They catch a case, a beautiful wealthy young woman, Jessica Shannon, strangled to death.  “Her face looks as distressed as Han Solo’s  sealed in carbonate.”  The case has some ‘high jingo’, Jessica’s father is a prominent wealthy defense attorney who is a member of the CPAC, the Citizens Police Advisory Committee which meets informally and regularly with the top Brass.  The suspects include a therapist  ex-husband recently released from prison after doing a stint for underage sex crimes.  A current boy friend who is an artist though his past includes various criminal charges including prostitution and theft.  Their Lieutenant Marcus Coltrane is putting on pressure to get the case solved.  “Why don’t your try coming to work dressed as a professional,” Lt. Coltrane tells Mocha,”instead of a substitute teacher.”  And Winslow, “A first year real estate agent.”  

As the story develops we get hints that things are a bit off with Mocha, as he begins engaging in risky, out of character behavior.  He chases a suspected rapist down a dark alley without back-up, suffering a head injury.  He has unprotected sex with a street prostitute.  In a dalliance with a coffee shop waitress, he turns violently ill.  We learn how little time Mocha has left.  The second half of the book deals with personal mortality and Mocha’s sense of duty.  

A note on method, The Last Collar is a book written in collaboration by Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro. Both authors have published other books, Zafiro has written a crime novel The Back List  in collaboration with Eric Beetner.  As to The Last Collar, I am not sure what Kelter and Zafiro’s method of composition might be but the result is a seamless, enjoyable read.  Highly recommended.   

ARC provided by Netgalley for a fair and honest review.

John Stickney ©2017

John Stickney is a writer formerly from Cleveland, Ohio now residing in North Carolina.  His fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Demolition, Needle, among others.