The Perpetrators by Gary Phillips (Plus Bonus News)

    Okay, so I'm back (again) sorry for the lag in reviews on the blog. My attention has been divided with other work and getting a paid gig doing, well, this, writing about books. I tackle vintage horror books over here at Fathom Press though I do sneak a Men's Adventure book in here and there. Between that reading and finishing the first feature film that I've written and produced, a Neo-Noir called Arrive Alive, which is my little homage to Gold Medal paperbacks, I've been swamped. Then not to mention working on other film projects and scripts and this other BIG news...well I'll save that until after the review. Anyway, I've been a busy little beaver, but my goal is to read more (and more and more) here in the near future and write more reviews here. Sorry to bother you with this little pile of excuses and self-promotion (there's more self-promotion later, ugh) but here's today's BOOK REVIEW!

    I've mentioned before that in my teens/early 20s I was obsessed with private eye fiction and crime fiction in general. Going from Goosebumps to Fear Street to Hard Boys: Casefiles to Joe R. Lansdale and James Crumley. Then the classics of the genre, but what I think I was always searching for the most was the raw thrilling crime stories in the Crumley/Lansdale flavor. Tough dudes in trouble, plenty of fights, and bad, bad, bad guys. Some mystery/detective books gave me those little rushes. George Pelecanos with his Nick Stefanos books, Red Harvest, Mickey Spillane, etc. etc. But I read a lot of the genre, sampling whatever The Thrilling Detective Web Site told me was good.

    One day it told me that Gary Phillips was good. I dutifully went to my public library and read most of his Ivan Monk books and at least one of his Martha Chaney books. Phillips is one helluva writer, his characters always leap off the page and his action is tight and thrilling. He's written a lot of good stuff, in both prose and comics. His Angeltown graphic novel is fantastic and his short story (that I covered here) A Fox on Broadway is a short little blast of cool Men's Adventure. In my humble opinion, the Ivan Monk series is the some of the best often overlooked 90s crime fiction. Go check it out. Like now. Why are you still here?

    Oh, you're still there? Okay, anyway The Perpetrators was one of those books that fundamentally shifted my personal taste in books. All those private eye books had down time. Time for the P.I. to deduce the murder and wax philosophical and I had yet to discover the joys of (GOOD) Men's Adventure fiction. So, The Perpetrators was like a shotgun blast to my brain. It was the literary equivalent of my diet of low-budget action pictures that I was constantly watching at the time (still do) and that was just so fascinating to me. I didn't know a book could be all chase or all action. I thought you had to talk about sandwiches, beer, and love and stuff. It needled my mind for a while before I finally figured out there was other books like it out there and I was off and running with The Spider, The Executioner, The Penetrator and the rest. 

    The Perpetrators stars professional expeditor and badass Marley who's hired to take Lina, a drug queen-pin from point A to point B in 24hrs. That's it. In-between is a sea of bad guys are out to get them, like a couple randy sicko professional assassins, then car chases, ambushes, helicopters, rocket launchers, gunfights, witty banter and all that magic. Lina is a woman who is used to getting her way and Marley is a dude used to telling people what to do, so it's trouble, man. This is a slim novel that literally has a ticking clock printed on its pages counting down the 24hrs Marley's got, not to mention the illustrations that accentuate the peril. Phillips puts the gas pedal on the floor and then never lets up, it's a non-stop thrill ride. The pages go by fast, almost too fast, as I want more of it.

    I'm glad I took a little break from horrifying novels to get an adrenaline rush. I rarely read books more than once, luckily The Perpetrators is a good as a I remembered. It's a quick read that's easily available used or as an eBook. The original printed version is a very nice package, beautiful artwork throughout with wonderful cover. Check it out!

Start of the self-promotion. Be warned.

    If you're still hanging out, let me go ahead and tell you some big news. Before the end of the year I will be publishing my first short novel, Gunpowder Breath under my for funsies pseudonym Killroy. It's been a long-time coming, but it's all almost finished. Why do I mention it after a review of The Perpetrators? Well, after I finished the first draft I was thinking about where it came from, because it all sprang out of my mind rather quickly and The Perpetrators is on the inspirations along with a 100 B-Movie action pictures. So, thanks Gary!

    Check out the cover below, drawn by my awesomely talented wife (it helps to be married to an artist at times like this) and read the synopsis! Thanks! 

One Friday, Dick Mulligan, a washed-up mercenary on the ropes suddenly finds himself the target of a powerful Russian mobster after a drug deal gone south. With wave upon wave of killers after him Mulligan has to figure out why this mobster wants him dead and live through three incredible gunfights throughout a hellish weekend of booze, bullets, drugs, grenades, and punches as he tries to get to Monday alive.

A gonzo homage to 90s direct-to-video action movies and Men’s Adventure paperbacks, GUNPOWDER BREATH is a funny, rollicking short novel with too many guns, too many bad guys, too much ACTION!

Just how many people can Dick shoot in a weekend?