Boost

Rating:
Summary: It is good to have another Steve Brewer book to read
Review: He looks like an all-American guy but for the last two decades he has made a living by boosting collectible cars. He has amassed a fortune but he still needs the adrenaline rush which is why he agrees to the request of Robin of Mitch's Automotive Salvage to steal a 1965 Thunderbird. Before dropping the car off at Robin's he stops at a 7-Eleven for a drink. The police who are also there admire the car but when a phone rings in the trunk of the car Sam is forced to answer it to allay any suspicions the police might have.

When he pops the trunk, he finds a corpse; he drives to a storage place he rents. The dead man has old tracks on his arms and is wearing a wire. He finds out who brokered the deal and then "chats" with Ernesto Morales who informs him that Phil Ortiz, who is heavily into drug trafficking, wanted Sam to steal that car. Sam concludes that it was Ortiz who placed the anonymous call to Albuquerque police Lt. Vic Stanton about the stolen car. When Sam finds out why Ortiz set him up, he drops the car with the body in the trunk outside Ortiz's estate to raise the ante in a deadly game.

Although there are some violent scenes in this crime thriller, the author writes in an upbeat manner so that there is a lot of humor in BOOST. The protagonist is an anti-hero who is easy to like and readers will find him adorable for his practical jokes and his protective nature towards those he cares about. Steve Brewer is so good at characterizations that he even makes the villain seem plausible.

Harriet Klausner



Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Steve Brewer
Review: Like his charming Bullets of last year, Steve Brewer's Boost is another breezy romp featuring a raucous rogue's gallery of offbeat crooks, cops and hoods.

Sam Hill lives to steal cars -- not just any cars but exotic classics collectors lust for and that fetch the biggest bucks on the black market.

Unfortunately, Sam steals from a guy one never wants to cross, a violent drug dealer who loves only one thing in life more than money: his car. That theft sets off a chain reaction resulting in a wave of violence and hilarity that sweeps across Albuquerque like Patton through the Germans.

Like Elmore Leonard, the writer whose work his most resembles, Brewer writes with a light and deft touch, bringing style and wit to the crime genre, along with a pleasing gift for character and dialogue.

Rating:
Summary: A high octane thriller
Review: Sam Hill has made a very nice life for himself in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by stealing cars -- but not just any car, only collectible cars fetching the highest prices for a professional thief. One night Sam steals a superb 1965 Thunderbird from a lawyer's house. In the car's trunk he finds the corpse of a police informant with a bullet hole between the eyes. To make matters worse, the cops are raiding the garage where Sam had planned to deliver the T-Bird. Sam has been set up with the cops on his trail, and gangsters on the payroll of drug dealer and car collector Phil Ortiz now gunning for him as well. It seems Sam had boosted Ortiz's favorite car! Author Steve Brewer has written a high octane thriller where the car thieves are the good guys and the action is riveting from first page to last with a plot that has more twists that your favorite pretzel! Boost is especially recommended reading. Attention Hollywood, this is the stuff of which blockbuster movies are made of!


Rating:
Summary: Another hit from Steve Brewer
Review: Steve Brewer is a master at weaving quirky characters into a mystery, carrying the reader along a wonderful journey full of action, humour, and intrigue. But it's the characters that he so good at developing. Like Elmore Leonard, he leaves the reader begging for more.