Eight Millon Books to Read

4 out of 5 pistols The novel starts off with a slightly revised version of Kolakowski's short story "A Nice Pair of Guns". I found this out when I started both this and his short fiction collection, Somebody's Trying to Kill Me , on the same day! The story acts as an introduction to the characters of Jake and Frankie providing their backstory and the circumstances they find themselves in for part two of the novel. Jake is a bounty hunter and Frankie is a black market arms dealer, so they are a pair worth reading about. Part two commences with Jake and his ex-wife/fiance Janine returning home from an arduous visit to their wealthy neighbours only to find a dead girl curled up in Jake's gun safe. Jake decides to look into things himself, hoping for a quick and easy resolution to the problem. As with most crime fiction, there is most certainly not. This is a fast, fun read that ends all too soon. Kolakowski has a penchant for genuinely funny one liners that sometim...

3.5 out of 5 Pistols The simplest comparison for Sam Hawken's Camaro Espinoza would be that she is a smarter, female Jack Reacher. She helps those who can't help themselves and that help is usually takes the form of violence. Camaro has returned to her life as a charter captain in Miami following her last adventure in California. This was a bit of a surprise initially as the majority of the Camaro novels, novellas and stories have seen her moving around the country escaping her last bit of trouble. This is the third novel in the series, but there were initially four novellas, which are sadly no longer available from what I can see. Camaro is hounded by Faith Glazer, who is looking to be trained in self defense personally by Camaro having learned of her reputation and Detective Ignacio Montellano wants to be her friend having taken an interest in Camaro in the first book, The Night Charter . Faith is being stalked and fears that her stalker will escalate things imminently. I...

4 out of 5 Pistols I'd read a good chunk of these over at Shotgun Honey , so I knew I was in for a fun time. The flash pieces are largely great and show what can be done with the form. The longer pieces here were equally fun, but some felt unfinished or as if they could go on to become something larger. One such story that has gone on to become something bigger is the opener, "A Nice Pair of Guns", which forms the basis for Kolakowski's novel, Boise Longpig Hunting Club . It introduces us to these characters and if you're intrigued by the sound of it, it is included as the first part of the novel. Kolakowski plays with timeframes and non-linear storytelling in "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" and closer "The Coriolis Effect". They both work, but it takes a minute with both to situate yourself in the story. "The Last Redemption of Bill" might be the first story I've read from the POV of a parasite, but it contains the standard ...

3 out of 5 Chainsaws Randy Lee and JT are looking to dig up the money to purchase the car made famous by Burt Reynolds "Smokey" and to do so they need to rob the bank with Randy's newly acquired chainsaw. It's was purloined from Farmer Bender's equipment shed and he is far from happy about it. This was a crazy short read that just tried too hard to be funny all the time. It made me laugh out loud in places, but at others the jokes felt a touch forced. It's not a book that is aiming for realism, so there is no point judging the characters on that. Randy Lee and JT's relationship is mostly abusive with brotherly love thrown in. Being the forgiving reader that I am, I'll stick around for the sequel and see if I like that any better. Synopsis: Randy Lee Travis and James Taylor Gunderson are white-trash outlaws. These men share a passion for old Burt Reynolds movies, and they share a dream. If they can scrape the cash together, their dream just mig...

5 out of 5 Pistols David Miller loses his wallet in a bar one night after taking a woman for a drink. This might be the least of his problems though as he's tying to extricate himself from his relationship with Rebecca, a vapid party girl running up debt on his credit cards, and dealing with the fairly recent death of his sister that cost him his job with the Wall Street Journal. Things start looking up though when he gets a call that his wallet has been found... This one was recently mentioned on Writer Types as a recommendation by both Steve and Eric and when I saw it available as part of Kindle Unlimited, I thought it was worth taking a chance on. It paid off big time and this is the kind of book where any spare minute was spent reading it. Written in first person, the narrative voice engages and the events of the story grip. It's a fast paced book that zags where you expect it to zig and eschews expectation. In a way the ending felt hurried and maybe could'v...