Rating: 
Summary: The New Lawrence Block
Review: Although I read primarily Horror for my book reviews in the Small Press, I always mean to get more Mystery, Thriller, Sci-Fi and Humor reading done -- and I have, all in a single book: THE LICKING VALLEY COON HUNTERS CLUB.If you're a fan of ANY genre, you won't be disappointed -- this book is a gem, and it has something for everyone. I haven't seen a character with such a smart mouth and big heart as Hopkins's Martin Zolotow since I began reading Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr character in his "Burglar" series. If you're at all acquainted with those, DEFINITELY get this book. It'll make a great addition to your collection, and give you a whole new character to cheer for! Zolo began life in a series of stories Hopkins co-wrote with another great author, David Niall Wilson (these stories would be well worth the search through the Small Press to find!), and I only hope he continues to live on and on through the pen (computer) of Hopkins! The Horror is in no way heavy-handed (for all who may be squeamish), and indeed you'll be so carried away by the plot and it's fast-paced action that you may not even realize it's there -- it blends so perfectly with every other element in Hopkins's writing that you become so involved in what's going on, everything you and Zolo encounter seem perfectly plausible! (It's worth the price of the book for the "scuba-diver" incident alone!) And the man can WRITE. If I may give you just one quote: "He smiled right back at her. 'Lady, I live in that abyss. I call it home. When the abyss gazes into me, it trembles.'" The entire book is THAT well-written. Speaking as both a writer myself and as a reviewer, short of taking the book and placing it into your hands I couldn't urge you more strongly to buy this book. It'll make you a Zolotow and Brian A. Hopkins fan for life! I'd stake my professional reputation on it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Return of Martin Zolotow
Review: Brian A. Hopkin's short novel, "THE LICKING VALLEY COON HUNTERS CLUB" (Yard Dog Press, 2000), enjoys the distinction of having been nominated for the Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Having said that, and having enjoyed previous work by the author, I'm forced to admit to some measure of disappointment in this particular novel. LICKING VALLEY reintroduces the reader to the dysfunctional private detective, Martin Zolotow, previously featured in a series of stories co-written with David Niall Wilson (including the superior "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," 1995). The present novel, which pits the protagonist against what might be loosely termed a gang of redneck, genetically-engineered vampires, does have a bit to recommend it, but (in my opinion) it ultimately founders under the weight of a number of problems. First, the pace of the novel is so break-neck that Hopkins has decided to reveal bits and pieces of Martin's bruised psyche through the slightly clumsy artifice of occasional flashbacks in which he verbally spars with a police psychologist. Second, Hopkins adopts a literary stratagem that always makes my skin crawl: At various points in the narrative Zolotow quotes or paraphrases lines from well-known literary works. To my mind this is almost always a transparently cheap attempt to appear erudite. Third, too many of the characters appear as cartoonish sterotypes (e.g., the aforementioned psychologist; a young biogeneticist who, like too many scientists that inhabit the world of fiction, is a whiz-kid in the laboratory, but just doesn't understand women; and -- to a certain extent -- Zolotow himself, yet another tough-but-tender-hearted P.I.). LICKING VALLEY isn't a bad effort, but I expected better.
Rating:
Summary: The Return of Martin Zolotow
Review: Brian A. Hopkin's short novel, "THE LICKING VALLEY COON HUNTERS CLUB" (Yard Dog Press, 2000), enjoys the distinction of having been nominated for the Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Having said that, and having enjoyed previous work by the author, I'm forced to admit to some measure of disappointment in this particular novel. LICKING VALLEY reintroduces the reader to the dysfunctional private detective, Martin Zolotow, previously featured in a series of stories co-written with David Niall Wilson (including the superior "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," 1995). The present novel, which pits the protagonist against what might be loosely termed a gang of redneck, genetically-engineered vampires, does have a bit to recommend it, but (in my opinion) it ultimately founders under the weight of a number of problems. First, the pace of the novel is so break-neck that Hopkins has decided to reveal bits and pieces of Martin's bruised psyche through the slightly clumsy artifice of occasional flashbacks in which he verbally spars with a police psychologist. Second, Hopkins adopts a literary stratagem that always makes my skin crawl: At various points in the narrative Zolotow quotes or paraphrases lines from well-known literary works. To my mind this is almost always a transparently cheap attempt to appear erudite. Third, too many of the characters appear as cartoonish sterotypes (e.g., the aforementioned psychologist; a young biogeneticist who, like too many scientists that inhabit the world of fiction, is a whiz-kid in the laboratory, but just doesn't understand women; and -- to a certain extent -- Zolotow himself, yet another tough-but-tender-hearted P.I.). LICKING VALLEY isn't a bad effort, but I expected better.
Rating:
Summary: Rednecks and baseball bats- Vampires and Cadillacs!
Review: Hopkins will keep you on the edge of your seat as he takes you through a journey of pure adrenaline pumping action! No wonder this monumental novel won a Stoker! You can't put it down!
If you review this for any less than five stars- you are impossible to please or joking!
Rating: 
Summary: How cool!
Review: I read this novel chapter by chapter, as it was being written. Was it 1997 - 98? The author was kind enough to allow many of his Literatzi cohorts the privilege of taking the journey with him as he unfurled his brain onto the page. It wasn't precisely my cup of tea when it comes to fiction, but extraordinarily well done within the genre. Well done Brian! Bravo!!
Rating:
Summary: A STOKER AWARD WINNING BOOK, AND DESERVEDLY SO!
Review: I read this, Brian A. Hopkins debut novel, when it was first released last year, and I loved it. After it *WON* the Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for 2000, (not just nominated, as another reviewer erroneously states), I decided to go back and read it again.
The first time was great, and I found it an even more satisfying reading experience the second time through. All the good stuff these other reviewers are saying - it's true. This is a fast moving mean machine of a page turner, and my only beef is that it's over too soon.
This book carries my highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: Kickin' It
Review: I'm guilty. I've known Brian for a few years, and because of that I had the opportunity to read THE LICKING VALLEY COON HUNTERS CLUB before Yard Dog Press got their claws on it. I read it chapter by chapter...as it was written. And it's sweet. Brian leans toward mixing genres; it's in his nature. In TLVCHC he carries this penchant to a new level. There's techno, horror, action, and thriller. Laboratories and fist fights, hookers and detectives. It's got damn near everything. Martin, a character previously explored in long fiction with LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI and LA BELLE DAME SANS REGRET (I hope I spelled all that right,) is a tough guy long on muscles and short on memory. He's crosswired, and that spells some pain for our hero. But he's also smart, and he's also tough. Martin slaps and punches his way through the quandaries Brian throws his way. Goons first, then hunters reminiscent from THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. Throw in a variety of innocent victims (most not so innocent) and you have stage after stage of action. Sometimes I found my self holding my breath. Five stars plus...and I ain't kidding.
Rating:
Summary: A Wild Ride
Review: I've been a fan of Brian A. Hopkins's short fiction for years. He has a way of bringing the reader into the depths of a character's mind and soul, whether they want to be there or not. I find myself being dropped into his stories, rather than simply reading them. You don't even know it's happening until you're done, and exhausted. It's a sure sign of a smooth and confident writing style. However, picking up Brian's first full-length novel, I didn't know what to expect. I mean, with a title like The Licking Valley Coon Hunter's Club, I had to assume it was going to be a LITTLE lighter than his usual fare. My assumption was correct, but the crisp writing, the feeling that you, as the reader, are in the story rather than simply an outsider, is there as much as ever.
Without rehashing the plot as earlier reviews have done, I WILL say that this book starts with a bang, grabs you by the hair and drags you along on one of the most bizarre and wild adventures I've read in a long time. I was bruised and bullied as badly as Mr. Zolotow, and loved every minute of it. I found myself hoping the author would keep up the break-neck pace until the end, like a kid on a carnival ride not wanting it to ever stop. He didn't disappoint. We occasionally leap into the past, to a quiet interplay between Martin and a police psychiatrist, and the subtle mind games each play against the other, but we're in these moments only long enough to catch our breath, when the ride starts up again.
Is this a horror novel? Well, sort of. I'd be more likely to classify it as an action/mystery story. Take the fun of a Grafton, the action and violence of Block, a likeable main character as you might find in a Hillerman novel, put them together with the voice and style of one of the best new writers out there today, and you've got an eclectic, fast-paced, sometimes-nasty but always-fun read.
Rating:
Summary: If You Dislike Private Detectives...
Review: If wise guy, smart mouthed private detectives get on your nerves, if you are revolted by the possibility of having to read one more of Parker's Spencer novels, then this recent tidbit from Brian Hopkins might be just what you need. The investigator in question is Martin Zolotow. Retired from the police due to the excessive death rate that seems to follow him around, Zolotow now alternates between working for hire and rescuing young women from lives of sin on the street. He perceives of himself as a white knight, defending the innocent while quoting Rosetti. The rest of the world, however, seems to disagree with him. In this tale Zolotow is literally kidnapped into helping rescue the daughter of Tobias Weatherford Washington, an Oklahoman crime boss. She has been kidnapped by another equally unpleasant Oklahoman, James McDevitt, who mixes the manufacture and sale of designer drugs with genetic experiments that turn humans into vampires. McDevitt has discovered that young black women are the perfect vampire snack, so Rayleen Washington is at considerable risk. Martin quickly discovers that his work is cut out for him. He finds Rayleen, but is captured himself, and eventually winds up one of the prey in a vampiric cattle drive. What makes "The Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club" remarkable it the amount of gratuitous and headlong violence it contains. Almost all of it is aimed at Zolotow. By page 20 he has already received two vicious beatings, and the bloodshed continues through the remaining 152. If you carefully tally up the injuries Martin receives in the 48 hour course of the book, one can only conclude that he has special powers of his own. Unfortunately none of those talents include knowing when to step out of the line of fire. Zolotow likes to irritate his opponents, and often gets what he deserves. I don't want to give the impression this is a badly written book. I'm inclined to think of it as a sort of noir bodice ripper for the macho set. There's lots of rescuing damsels, lots of attacking the bad guys, and not a whole lot of plot to confuse things. In a short novel with this much action it would be too much to expect fine characterization. Instead, Hopkins relies on archetypes to populate his tale (the huge fat bad guy, the prostitute with the heart of gold, etc.). Even Zolotow does a fair amount of posturing in a set of short flashbacks that are intended to help us understand him. It took me a bit to adjust, but in the long run I found the book enjoyable, if somewhat hard to believe.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible Title But A Great Read
Review: There is a long standing tradition joining Detective stories with the supernatural or involving a science fiction twist. Clive Barker, Phillip K. Dick and Arthur Conan Doyle have dipped their literary toes into this particular pool with fantastic results. Brian Hopkins has added another quality, fast paced volume to the sub-genre with The Licking Valley Coon Hunter's Club. The hero, Martin Zolotow, joins his predecessors with a few interesting twists of his own. He suffers from a unique malady that can cause bouts of memory loss. It's not the focal point of the story, as is Leonard's little memory quirk in Momento, but it does provide an interesting trait to the character. This little complication explains how his mind is able to make some bizarre connections between pieces of evidence and gives him an excuse to pepper in bits of obscure literary references, poetry and Shakespeare. (Zolotowmemorized bits of prose to train his recollection as a child). Unfortunately, this same interesting quirk also serves the authors inclusion of several distracting flashbacks of the hero in therapy with the one woman that he seems unattracted to. While these vignettes from his recent past are interesting and do add quite a lot to Zolotow's depth of character, the structure removes the reader from the action and breaks the pace of the story. I wouldn't want to see them removed so much as condensed and possibly included as a prologue or serving as the opening chapter. This however, is the one minor misstep in an otherwise cracking good novel. The pace is incredibly fast and the action virtually nonstop. The villains are properly menacing and sinister with loads of interesting little eccentricities of their own. Not only that, but there were plenty of them. Every character, save our hero, a misplaced grad-student and a group of kidnapped prostitutes, wears a figurative black hat. Zolotow was really up against the wall in this one. Licking Valley is a nice, quick read that will leave you wanting more. Hopefully the subtitle- "A Martin Zolotow Mystery" is indicative of the fact that there will be more adventures of my favorite, brain damaged detective forthcoming.
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