Book Report #80 - The Max by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

Book 4 of 52
Page count - 220

I can't help it; I just loved this series.  Max Fisher, aka The M.A.X. Finds himself in prison.  But, just like always, he makes the best of it from sheer blind luck and arrogance.

I've never come across a character that was as much fun to read.

Bruin and Starr are a great writing team.

Ken Bruen

Jason Starr

Book Report #68 - Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman

The opening pages made my heart race; it was so intense and scary.

Bruen's work has a quality of malevolence that I've encountered from no one else.

The structure of the book is interesting; it begins at the end and works its way back to it in two separate narratives.

Each part of the book tells the same story, in first-person, but through the eyes and minds of the two main characters.  Nick and Todd have been life-long friends both have become involved with an Irish mobster.

The book tells the story of how each one got involved and, ultimately, out from under the thumb of their boss.  The lies, betrayals and violence are impressive.

If you like your crime fiction stone-cold then you should pick up anything with Ken Bruen's name on it.  This is my first taste of Coleman's writing and it tied in very well with Bruen's.  I'll be adding his books to my watch list.

This book clocked in at 172 pages, at throwback to the paperback era, which makes it a perfect summer read with a fast moving plot.

Ken Bruen

Reed Farrel Coleman

Book Report #62 - Slide by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

Continuing from Bust we follow the out-of-control life of Max Fisher.

In this go-around Max is reinventing himself as a hip-hop crack dealer.  Pretty outrageous for such an un-hip, self-centered white guy.

I loved this book.  I must have had an "I can't believe what I'm reading" look on my face the whole time I read it.

It was a ride.

Book Report #61 - Bust by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

Oh what fun!

Reads like an Elmore Leonard in that i never knew where the story was going to take me.  Random events and pure, believable, chance cropped up to throw the plans of the principal characters.

Visually this could very well be a Quentin Tarantino film; the violence is quick, brutal and unexpected.  There were great gobs of dark, dark humor in here too.  So if you like either Leonard or Tarantino this book is for you.

The good news is that it's the first in a trilogy.

So, what's it about?  One of the most unlikable guys in literature decides he wants to kill his wife because he certainly doesn't want a divorce and give up half his money.  Through his mistress he hires an assassin who calls himself Popeye.  And that's the only part of his plan to goes as he wants it.  From then on the book is like an amusement park ride - you just don't know what's going to happen next.

There is nothing I love more than reading about an idiot's life as it starts to spiral out of control and how he deals with it.

This was great fun and I'm already reading the sequel - Slide.

Sanctuary by Ken Bruen - Book Review

As you know I love my crime fiction.  Make it dark, make it mean, but don't give me psychopaths or insane serial killers. 

One of my favorite authors is Ken Bruen who lives in Galway, Ireland.  His Jack Taylor series is set in Galway and is steeped in Irish culture.  There are currently seven books in this series and Sanctuary is the latest one.

This one breaks my "no serial killers" rule but this killer is different and not killing for the fun of it.  Plus it clocks in at a thin 223 pages which is my kind of page count.

Ken Bruen