Boise Longpig Hunting Club by Nick Kolakowski
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 sometimes appear from nowhere, but never jar against the tone of the book. "The pen is mightier than the sword." You'll understand when you read it. He creates colourful characters reminiscent of Elmore Leonard's where the character's display eccentricities rather than being just plain hardboiled non-entities.
I'm hopeful the characters will return for another adventure down the line as the dynamic between Jake, Frankie and Janine works well and because I want more Monkey Man.
Thanks to Down and Out for providing the review copy!
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 sometimes appear from nowhere, but never jar against the tone of the book. "The pen is mightier than the sword." You'll understand when you read it. He creates colourful characters reminiscent of Elmore Leonard's where the character's display eccentricities rather than being just plain hardboiled non-entities.
I'm hopeful the characters will return for another adventure down the line as the dynamic between Jake, Frankie and Janine works well and because I want more Monkey Man.
Thanks to Down and Out for providing the review copy!
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