I didn't actually finish the book. I have a rule of thumb: if I can't get past the 50th page of a book, generally, that means I didn't enjoy it. I got halfway through, which is better than most - I have been known to stop on the first page of a story simply because I got bored, so it was okay and I do know enough of the plot to talk about it.
This is the second in a series of books penned by these two particular authors. I didn't read the first one, called "Bust" for those of you interested. I simply picked up the book because I liked the cover. It's published by Hard Case Crime novels and I thought, "Oh, a detective story and it's short (221 pages), that's good enough for me".
So, if it was short and I had gotten halfway through why did I stop? It saddens me that I have to follow that guestion with the most lame of excuses: I just couldn't get into it and it wasn't my type of story. It wasn't that there was something wrong with it, or writing was bad or anything. It was fast-paced and about interesting, if unscrupulous, people.
Well, here's the plot up until I got disinterested: there's a man named Mac who has recently moved to an uninteresting and boring motel which is in complete contrast to where he had been living: New York city. The reason for his departure is he lost all of his money and I think somebody or somebodies were after him to kill him for not paying his due or to arrest him for being a very bad boy. But, luckily for him, he's made a friend of an adolescent youth who works at the motel and just happens to know a man who sells the best weed Mac has ever smoked. So now he sells weed to make some quick cash to get back on his feet.
The second character of this book is a beautiful, redheaded bombshell, named Angela, who happens to be a part of the reason for Mac's misery as she had been the one to sell him out. she's one of those people who would like to get through life sipping champagne on a yacht without having to work for it. While having the looks to pull this off, she seems to have an unfortunate streak of bad luck following her: she just can't find the right man. To get out of a bad situation she's moved back to her native Ireland where she doesn't quite belong anymore as her accent has changed considerably while living in America. After running out of money for a room, she takes to the streets looking for someone who will keep her for a while.
There she finds the third lead character of the story, a serial killer nicknamed Slide because of his excessive use of the phrase, "This time I'll let you slide" just before he kills someone. He's the oddest character in this book in that he's obvious;y dangerous and has no moral center ( he killed his sister because she made fun of his hair or something) but he is so lame and says very odd things which provides some more dark humor for the book. He's described as a poor man's version of Bono which is pretty apt as he wears the same shades and clothes that the lead singer of U2 would also wear. Though at first he only wanted Angela for a victim, he falls for her charms and even kills a desk clerk who was rude to her. This is followed by a scene in which they're having vigorous sex and he takes out the clerk's lips and rubs them on her without her ever realizing it. Then he says, "Loose lips sink ships" before throwing them away. Then he makes her an accomplice to help him kidnap one of the Rolling Stones.
And that's as far as I got.
This book has been compared to Quentin Tarantino movies, and I would say the same, but I think I prefer to watch Tarantino films than read something like them. It is an enticing read for those of you who like fast-paced action stories about despicable people.
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