Bullets

Rating:
Summary: Wild, Wacky and Thoroughly Satisfying!
Review:
Lily Marsden is a killer-for-hire. And she is good at what she does, very good! But Lily makes a huge mistake when she knocks off a guy in a posh Las Vegas Resort. That kind of thing breaks every unwritten rule in the book. Now the casino owner and his "muscle" are after Lilly. So too are the cops. Come to think of it, the victim's twin brothers - a couple of sociopathic "good ole' boys" with a thing for barbed wire and pliers - wouldn't mind getting their hands on Lily either. Then there's Joe Riley, an ex-cop from Chicago. He's after Lily too. Marsden killed a loan shark back in the Windy City and Riley, who owed the guy big time, is under suspicion for the murder. He needs Lily so that he can clear his name. But Joe's got other problems, including a couple of hustlers named Delbert and Mookie who, in addition to swimming in the wrong end of the gene pool, are looking for a little payback after Riley took them to the cleaners in a late-night poker game.

Needless to say, there's enough material here for any five crime novels, but you will find it all in BULLETS, a wild and wacky book by veteran author Steve Brewer. Think of Hunter S. Thompson meeting James M. Cain meeting, maybe, James Ellroy to get some sense of what this book is like. There's not a lot of substance in this tale - it won't leave you pondering the mysteries of the universe - but it will keep you entertained. In fact, at times, you will chuckle aloud at the harebrained antics of some of these bozos.

From the decadence and glitz of Vegas strip to the barren beauty of the desert highway, Brewer keeps the many parts of this quirky narrative moving in perfect rhythm. As eccentric and downright bizarre as most of his characters are, they are drawn with realism and humor. Some are even sympathetic. Marsden is a cold-blooded killer. Riley is a cop with a mean streak and an addiction to gambling. Nevertheless, you won't be able to stop cheering them both on in the pages of this book. The violence in this novel is extreme. You will lose track of the body count about one-third of the way in; after all, the title ain't "Bullets" for nothing! But, for shame, you will be laughing too hard to notice. Kind of like when Moe slaps Curly upside the head with a hammer, it's all so slapstick you just can't take it seriously.

Mercifully, the author eschews the "pat" resolution at the book's close wherein all the loose ends are tied up neatly. In fact, BULLETS leaves at least two major questions largely unanswered: will Lilly and Joe ever see one another again, and will Joe now be able to set the record straight back in Chicago? Far from a weakness, the cliffhanger-like denouement of this book is refreshingly satisfying. Who knows, the author might just be paving the way here for ... perish the thought ... a sequel. Most readers of this madcap romp through the Southwest will surely hope that to be the case. (James Clar - MYSTERY NEWS).




Rating:
Summary: Lighthearted and funny story about a female assassin
Review: You wouldn't expect a book about a female assassin who leaves more bodies in her wake than Typhoid Mary to be lighthearted and funny, but that's the perfect way to describe Steve Brewer's Bullets.

Lily Marsden is one cold woman, but she's not without charm, especially in the eyes of Joe Riley, a former Chicago cop determined to track her down and bring her to justice.

Brewer has created a passel of unique and hilarious characters and thrown them into a page-turning plot that had me laughing out loud despite a hail of bullets.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times