Thursday, January 28, 2016

Zip: "Hellbound" by Victor Gischler, et al

Zip: Hellbound by Victor Gischler and a bunch of artists, 2015, 9781616558154.

Typical Gischler work: very good and very entertaining. This is the bound hardcover of a short comics series. I have Gischler's Stay checked out and will start that after I finish by current read.

Short version: X-Files + werewolves + vampires + alien beings = Hellbound.

Longer(ish) version: Two FBI Agents are sent to a strange crime scene in rural Vermont. The crime scene is heads and corpses. The Agents chase a lead, get into a shoot-out, are attacked by a thing. One Agent is bitten but they are rescued by a dude in metal suit who dispatches the thing. The thing turns human.

Anyway. A fun story. Flashbacks scenes use a different artist and I appreciated that artwork more. Lots of scary monsters. Blood. Fights. SKRITSSHH. VVRRROOOOM.  BLAMM.  GRRARR. SHRRRIIIP.

Cheap Find: "The Confession" by Domenic Stansberry

Cheap Find: The Confession by Domenic Stansberry, 2004, 9780843953541.

This past December the boys and I were walking through St Vincent DePaul after dropping off donations. Paperbacks were half off. I selected two Hard Case Crime novels and paid a total of $0.60.

This is an original novel, not a plucked-from-obscurity reprint.

Narrated by a forensic psychologist accused of murder. Jake Danser admits that things don't look good. Jake gives chronological rundown on his actions how there is no way he is serial killer. Danser is certainly no psychopath, even though Stansberry has other characters place all the evidence in front of us.

Danser enjoys his Marin County home, his wealthy second wife, his numerous opportunities to have secret girlfriends, fancy clothes, and head turning looks. He has charm and grace. He strange urges. The fact that dead bodies follow his path is pure coincidence. That Danser's wife leaves him right before the murder really burns him up. He must have her back.

Anyway. I really liked the writing in this novel. The story really flows along and Danser is an engaging narrator.

Musical Interlude Bonus!

I was listening to BBC 6 Music a couple weeks ago and heard this song for the first time. I'd heard of Teenage Fanclub before but never heard their tunes. 6 Music played a similar version to this, sung by the writer, Norman Blake.

1. Stansberry won an Edgar for this novel.
2. Stansberry has a handful of other novels to his name and I'll have to try and hunt some down.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Yellowing: "The rainy City" by Earl W. Emerson

Yellowing: The Rainy City by Earl W. Emerson, 1985, 038089517X.

I do not know where this paperback came from or how long it has been in the house. I'm guessing I bought it at some sale. Or, I may have brought it from my parent's house in Champaign. The paper is yellowing and the cover art is very '80s style. The cover reminds me of some Dashiell Hammett reprints I bought back then.

This hooked me at the start. I do not know why. Thomas Black is a former Officer with the Seattle Police Department. While Black was working as a police he shot and killed a man. Flashbacks of the shooting rendered him unable to fully do his job and Black was granted a retirement for a bad knee. For the last several years Black has been a PI.

Black drives home one rainy night after telling a client that the client's girlfriend was stepping out. Black pulls into his driveway, sees his dog on the pavement, and a man running away in the dog. Black now owns a dead dog. Emerson just lost a bunch of readers. Black ponders who is mad enough at him to bash his dog's skull.

Black lives in a house with a basement apartment. He's been renting that apartment to the same young woman for several years. The woman, Kathy, has become a good friend. Kathy and Black are close and Black is kinda interested but age and circumstance preclude sex and romance. Kathy tells Black: I had and premonition. Melissa, my old pal is in deep trouble. And look! There is an advert offering a reward to find her! Help Obi-Won Black, you're my only hope!

Black begins butting in. Kathy and Black drive to see the missing. Kathy is a sexy law student and a flake. As the reach the house Black and Kathy see Melissa's parents rushing away with Melissa's daughter. They enter the house and the husband is being pounded on by a local bad guy PI, Julius. Julius leaves and we start to learn more about the husband, Melissa and the pile of shit Black has stepped into.

Melissa's father is a physically imposing and financially powerful bully. Melissa's mother is subservient. Black talks to Melissa's aunt an hour to the north. Black finds out Melissa is in prostituting in Portland. Black's home is burgled and Kathy tied up and prepped for torture when Black comes home and scares the guy off.

More things happen and nasty stuff goes on. Black tries to figure out a murder. Black decides who to believe.

Emerson did a fine job with this. The setting is well done but Emerson gave Black a very strong voice as 1st person narrator.