Max Fisher used to run a computer company; Angela Petrakos was his assistant and mistress. But that was last year. Now Max is reinventing himself as a hip-hop crack dealer and Angela’s back in Ireland, hooking up with a would-be record-setter�in the field of serial killing. Will their paths cross again? What do you think?

Slide is the second collaboration between Jason Starr and Ken Bruen and a sequel to last years Bust.

Since we are already familiar with the characters this book starts off running and never really lets up. What’s most readily apparent in this outing is that they are comfortable with the characters and that comfort lets them cut loose and just have fun. The characters, especially Max, become increasingly over the top and its hard to not laugh out loud at times. If there is a downside it would be that Angela is almost a non factor in the book, but she makes the most of her page time.

Apparently there is one more book to round out the Max/Angela trilogy to be published next year. It’s hard to imagine a more over the top book and it should be interesting to see what’s in store next.

Slide isn’t so much a black comedy as it is a dark raucous riot running rampant through the streets destroying storefronts and giggling like cracked-out banshees.

--Brian Lindenmuth

Joe Hope is an enforcer for Edinburgh loan shark and long time friend Cooper. After paying a visit to a non paying client Joe finds out that his daughter, Gemma, has committed suicide. Joe loves his daughter very much and was upset when she left home to go live with his wife Ruth's cousin, Adam. Joe holds Adam responsible for Gemma's death and goes to see him to exact a measure of revenge. When he gets there the police are waiting to arrest him because Ruth has been murdered. Joe has reason to suspect that he is being framed, but doesn’t know by whom. There are hints of dark family secrets and when Adam discovers Gemma's diary, which sheds some light on those secrets, he teams up with Joe and becomes involved with the investigation. All of this leads to a brutal confrontation where the truth will come out.

Allan Guthrie presents a surprisingly sophisticated and well crafted tale that subtly weaves in subplots and observations of his characters that keep the suspense going until the final chapters. This is a down and dirty and sometimes mean tale that begrudgingly makes Joe the guy to root for even though he doesn’t seem to have any redeemable qualities other then the tenacity to get to the bottom of his daughters suicide and wife's death.

My first response to the ending was that it was a little too pat, a little too neat, the way everything wrapped up. But upon later reflection I realized that the ending was perfect as it was a natural continuation of the story arc and grew naturally from the characters involved. Also since the all of the characters have an abundance of unredeeming qualities every single one of them, Joe included, is held in suspicion until the very end. Which further adds to the observation of Guthrie's subtly as a writer.

Some variation of this could be said about every Euro-noir book that I review but I love that Guthrie pulls no punches when it comes to the slang. He leaves no room for explanation to the American audiences and leaves it up to them to catch on, or not. The slang filled dialogue adds a new speech rhythm that American audiences just aren’t used to. It adds to the lyricism of the books when new turns of phrase are encountered.

Joe as he is presented is a fascinating character. Guthrie has linked his violent tendencies with a total dysfunctional in his life that can be interpreted numerous ways. It’s unclear whether his disfunctionality is a result of his violent tendencies i.e. some form of penance, or whether the violent tendencies are a result of his disfunctionality. He is an alcoholic, he is a horrible husband in a ruined marriage, he is impotent (literally) and he has a dead end job. That Guthrie makes the connection between the two is fascinating that he refuses to clarify or define the relationship is commendable.

-Brian Lindenmuth

Bust is destined to become a modern classic of crime fiction. It is the first collaborative novel in the Hard Case stable and a better paring couldn’t have been had then Ken Bruen and Jason Starr. With every outing Hard Case continues to live up to their stated goal to “bring you the best in hardboiled crime fiction, ranging from lost noir masterpieces to new novels by today’s most powerful writers” by putting out some of the best crime novels being published today. Sometimes when books are written jointly the two styles don’t blend well and the differences are often noticeable, especially when each contributor has their own unique style as Bruen and Starr do. Starr and Bruen came up with a unique approach to this common problem they decided to write each others parts, Bruen handled the Starr parts and Starr handled the Bruen parts

Starr and Bruen tell us what happens when a business man wants his wife killed. His secretary, whom he is having an affair with, convinces him to hire her boyfriend, a low-level IRA member to do the job. Does this simple hit on an unwanted wife go smoothly or as planned? No, he turns out to be a psychopath and botches the job. The question doesn’t become 'will it spin out control' but 'how far will out of control will it go'.

Max Fisher is the self made business man who feels that death is a more viable way to end a marriage then divorce. He is presented as a thoroughly despicable man with no redeeming qualities to his person to speak of. You spend the entire novel wishing horrible thing to happen to him, which is exactly why he is such a compelling character. You want to rush to the finish to see what exactly, if anything is going to happen to him.


Dillon is the crazed Irish hit man. Cursed by a tinker he leaves Ireland after meeting Angela in a bar. His soul is so thoroughly black that he wanders from one situation to the next without a care in the world, for himself or for others. There is also a reference to Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor series that is embedded in Dillon's past for any who care to search for it.




Of all the characters the one that rises to the top is the secretary Angela. She starts out as a cliché and quickly develops a more faceted personality that shows great depth of character. By the end of the novel she has become a classic Femme Fatale with modern sensibilities. You begrudgingly wish her well and want some level of success for her regardless of the despicable things that she has done throughout the novel.


The writing is tight, smooth and seamless. Each writer’s strengths are showcased in the best possible way. Bust isn’t just hardboiled fiction redux, it is a smartly told caper novel filled to the brim with black humor. The situations that are presented are so absurd and the characters are such dunces that Bust is at times laugh out loud funny.


-Brian Lindenmuth