Normandy Gold story by Megan Abbott & Alison Gaylin art by Steve Scott & Rodney Ramos - A Graphic Novel Review

Once again Hard Case Crime and Titan Comics have published a story that is gritty, violent, scary and just uncomfortable enough to keep the reader engaged.

Normandy is a county sheriff who is a witness, well ear-witness, who hears her troubled sister murdered while on the phone.

Set in the dirty 70's the look and feel of the book drew inspiration from such movies as Taxi Driver and All the Presidents Men.  The murder is largely ignored since Normandy's sister was a prostitute.  So she takes up the investigation.

But in this story she is no cop, she is out for revenge and to hurt as many people as she can along the way.

I liked the story but as I said, it was disturbing too.  The lengths Normandy went to learn the truth made me question her sanity.  But then that edginess kept me reading too.

In the end, I needed to take a walk to get some fresh air and then to take a shower, just to remove the effect the story had on me.

The style of the artwork is a perfect rendering of those times and just like those movies, I did not come away feeling good about humanity.

The ending was satisfying but I came away from it questioning my own sense of justice as much as Normandy Gold's

Read this carefully and do not let children near it.

Megan Abbott's website - https://www.meganabbott.com/

Alison Gaylin's website - https://www.alisongaylin.com/

Triggerman by Walter Hill and Matz

Hard Case Crime is one of my favourite imprints.

It has been a few years since I've read something from them and today I was taken aback.  Maybe I'm getting old, I dunno, but I found this story excessively violent.  Bullets fly, blood splatters and bodies pile up with quick regularity.

Set in the American west during the height of gangsters and prohibition; Roy is released from prison in order to do a contract revenge job for his employer.  Corruption is everywhere and everybody is out to stab each other in the back.

This was Noir Fiction at its most distilled.  The artwork, by Jef, is dark and gloomy and utterly bleak; perfect for this story.

As good as it was, it was actually a bit too long, considering that nearly every character had to double cross somebody and pay for it in some way.  Much of the violence felt gratuitous.

For a first taste of Hard Case Crime's graphic novel series this one left me a bit disappointed.

This in no way will prevent me from reading their other offerings, I know they publish a terrific variety of crime fiction.  This one was simply not for me.

Hard Case Crime website - http://www.hardcasecrime.com/

Walter Hill's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hill

Walter Hill