Rating: 
Summary: AMERICAN TO THE BONE
Review: NOBODY does America like John Ridley. These are not the sugared down moral tales they're feeding you on prime time. Nor are the characters well adjusted homeowners, working in airconditioned offices during the heat of the day. These are wicked, wicked tales, happening in savage places, where one bad move leads to another. But John RIdley's writing saves it from being just another bleak trip to the underside. BRILLIANT WRITING. Alternately vicious and dazzling, Americans will recognize the landscape. Will know it best as home sweet home.(Tip of the day, John: The Coen brothers should be making the movies.)
Rating:
Summary: AMERICAN TO THE BONE
Review: NOBODY does America like John Ridley. These are not the sugared down moral tales they're feeding you on prime time. Nor are the characters well adjusted homeowners, working in airconditioned offices during the heat of the day. These are wicked, wicked tales, happening in savage places, where one bad move leads to another. But John RIdley's writing saves it from being just another bleak trip to the underside. BRILLIANT WRITING. Alternately vicious and dazzling, Americans will recognize the landscape. Will know it best as home sweet home. (Tip of the day, John: The Coen brothers should be making the movies.)
Rating: 
Summary: Forget the plot- listen to the words
Review: Ridley knows how to make words sing. There's almost a scat-like sound to his writing. Occasional pulp story readers and serious writers alike will enjoy Everybody Smokes in Hell. You can dip into the story for a minute or two while riding a train or bus, or take it in long drinks in your easy chair. Either way, you'll be entertained by the action, the parade of sordid and screwy characters, and the musicality of the writing.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, bloody, brutal, chilling, fun
Review: Ridley writes noir with the cynical edge of a stand-up comic. He also has a wonderful style that might be merging screenwriting and novel writing into some new kind of art form. Love his gleeful, viscious take on Hollywood scum and sleaze that is SO dead-on. This was one of the best thrillers I've read in a long time.
Jason Starr, author Twisted City, Tough Luck, etc
Rating:
Summary: ONE "HELL" OF A NOVEL
Review: Ridley's "the man" when it comes to noir thrillers. Cooler and smarter than his own "Stray Dogs", funnier and faster than "Love is a Racket", "Everybody Smokes in Hell" proves that he's a novelist with Jordan-esque moves when it comes to storytelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the timid
Review: Ridley's novel is savagely funny and delightfully gritty, a quick and nasty romp with a cast of characters not even a mother could love. A sexy but deadly femme fatale. Gansta drug lords. Weasle-like record producers. Just basically folks you're NOT going to have over for Thanksgiving dinner. EVERYBODY SMOKES IN HELL is a bloody, hilarious, raw smack in the face. But one of the novel's flaws stems from the side-show qualities of its characters. Freakshows might generally intrigue us, but they don't usually offer us anyone to cheer for. A clearly sympathetic protagonist (even a gritty one with a dark side) would have stuck another star onto the rating -- really, I'd say I'd give this novel 3.9 stars instead of four, but that wasn't an option. Still, Ridley is one of the small but growing group of writers who are raising noir violence to new and exciting levels.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the timid
Review: Ridley's novel is savagely funny and delightfully gritty, a quick and nasty romp with a cast of characters not even a mother could love. A sexy but deadly femme fatale. Gansta drug lords. Weasle-like record producers. Just basically folks you're NOT going to have over for Thanksgiving dinner. EVERYBODY SMOKES IN HELL is a bloody, hilarious, raw smack in the face. But one of the novel's flaws stems from the side-show qualities of its characters. Freakshows might generally intrigue us, but they don't usually offer us anyone to cheer for. A clearly sympathetic protagonist (even a gritty one with a dark side) would have stuck another star onto the rating -- really, I'd say I'd give this novel 3.9 stars instead of four, but that wasn't an option. Still, Ridley is one of the small but growing group of writers who are raising noir violence to new and exciting levels.
Rating:
Summary: RIDLEY'S GREATEST HITS
Review: Take the best of Mr. Ridley's two previous books, and you get a third that is a mindblower. Fast, vicious but fun and hysterical Everybody Smokes in Hell is one of the best of the hard boileds that I've read in a long time. Serious, but never taking itself too seriously, it's got Ridley's usual twisted but facsinating cast of nuts and great turns of phrase. I really thought he wasn't going to be able to top Love is a Racket. I'm happy to say I'm dead wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Writing -- Poor Story
Review: The critics are correct; Ridley IS a talented writer with a gift for certain character styles. The sad thing about this book is that the wonderful writing is overshadowed by an awful plot and characters you more than likely won't care about. Some writers make the mistake of having a good story and writing it poorly, expecting the plot to make up for it. Ridley has done the opposite, and expected his gifted writing to make up for a predictable, asinine, unengaging plot. There are no twists, exactly what you think is going to happen does, and the feeling you have after reading this book will be the same as binging on junk food. It tastes good at first, but as soon as you're done, you'll wonder why the hell you bothered.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: The term page-turner has become cliche, but it's certainly the only way to describe this book. It starts with a bang and travels like a bullet. As funny as it is violent, this book is one of the best of its kind!
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