Review - Thin Ice by Alex Keena

Five students end up marooned in the middle of a frozen lake in the depths of winter after a car crash. With no phone signal and the weather worsening there seems no hope of rescue and less chance of getting off the lake alive.

Following a potentially interesting premise, I have to say I was hugely disappointed by this book. It proved to be by turns frustrating, bizarre and disjointed. The five characters who are trapped on the lake – Matt, Sam, Mya, Lisa and Essie –are fairly insubstantial beings. I couldn’t relate to or like any of them. All were irritating in their own way and not even worth describing.

One by one the students, unable to get off the lake because as soon as they move any distance from the car the ice cracks, thankfully die off in a variety of ways until about half way through when a mystery man appears. He manages to walk across the same ice no-one else could to rescue two survivors. In a couple of pages, the author wipes out the whole basis of the novel. But it’s not over yet because Thin Ice gets really odd once the pair are in hospital they’re attacked by one of the apparent dead.

The story then really goes off the bizarre scale when the one last survivor is suddenly at the man’s house who rescued them. No explanation why. Then she’s back in the hospital, then at a funeral, then in a mine being chased down by the rescuer, all with no understandable and believable transition between the locations. It’s as cheesy as ripe brie.

But there’s more. You may or may not remember the original Dallas series, when Bobby ‘dies’and a series later comes back from the dead? If not, look it up. Well, that’s what Thin Ice is all about…I suspect the author hoped this would be a major twist, unfortunately it was very obvious.

There were a couple of high points, such as the crash and when the car sinks into the lake with someone trapped inside, but they were pretty much it.

As to the mechanics of the tale. The author made many repeats of the same word(s) within the same sentence(s). This is something I find particularly annoying because basic editing will sort this issue out. For example:

“…in a few minutes, that will be frozen solid and you’ll be frozen along with it!” Matt looked down at the freezing liquid that now covered the ice.

Then there was the SHOUTING. Yes, lots of words and even whole sentences in capitals for emphasis. Ouch. Also a lot of dialogue was punctuated by … which is easy to over-use and the author slipped into this other bad habit quite readily.

Finally the overall writing style was clunky, it just didn’t flow well. For example:

Like he, himself, had been, Lisa was also suspended upside-down but, unlike him, she didn’t suddenly wake up.

Thin Ice just about crept over the two star line saved by the reasonable premise in the first half and a couple of heartbeat moments. But only JUST.

Rating? Two Stars

Would I add this to my bookshelf? No

Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog.

Review - Skin Games

When Maria needs help to save her business from mobsters, she turns to Skin, a shadow of a man who lives in the dark. But Maria wants to know if Skin is the right man for the job so he tells the story of Sean O’Donnell.

O’Donnell is New York Irish who grew up in the Bronx. When still young his father disappears, so his mother is forced to perform sexual favours in order to survive. Before long Sean is drawn into the mob world, stealing cars for Vinny Macho, a low level gang member. However he falls for Nicole, a troubled wild child – unfortunately her father is the mob boss Don Mario. The Don tries to dissuade O’Donnell from seeing his daughter, applying ever-increasing pressure to ensure the message gets through.

There was a lot to like about Skin Games. The sense of place in gritty New York was well drawn, the characters were generally strong (O’Donnell himself was a good protagonist) and the dialogue interesting. The story moved along at a decent pace as we watched O’Donnell back himself further and further into a corner because of his strong will and deep-seated need to never break a promise, despite the heap of trouble it ultimately gets him into.

First and foremost O’Donnell is loyal, initially to the mob (the police put him under pressure, but he won’t give) and then to Nicole (who applies her own demands on O’Donnell with her behaviour). Skin Games is also about friendships but most surprising was the gradual realization that underlying the mob life and violence this is ultimately a love story.

This was a good book, well written and enjoyable.

Rating? Four Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes

Review - The 19th Element

An Al Qaeda terrorist cell plots to attack a nuclear power plant in the US heartland. Only one man, James Becker, can stop disaster happening.

What’s the point of a thriller? Well, I guess the clue is in the word itself. Unfortunately there were many issues with The 19^th Element from a contrived plot (an Al Qaeda attack on a nuclear power plant?!) that never got out of second gear, to weak characters, and odd dialogue.

First is Becker himself who failed to convince me of his credentials. He’s ex-secret service, but then describes himself as wealthy because he invented a new bullet that can kill people at 1.5 miles (great!). He also has an unused degree – this and the money mean he’s been able to change profession and still act undercover (although independently of the government) but seems able to call in favours at will, like bringing in two Apache helicopters to take out the bad guys at just the right moment.

The writing isn’t bad, it’s just overly descriptive and ponderous. It’s ‘tell’ instead of ‘show’, observation instead of participation. For example, Becker gets into a fight at one point, it felt like I was watching the process from afar. When Jack Reacher fights, he fights, you feel every punch, every injury, adrenalin pumps. Unfortunately not with Becker. I wanted to put on my pyjamas and go to bed with a hot water bottle.

There were quite a few examples of this over use of tell. Remember the unused degree and new job. From the following, can you guess what Becker does?

‘Today was Wednesday and I was at my office. Becker Law Office. James L. Becker, Attorney-at-Law.’

Um, I think he’s an attorney? But I could be wrong.

On occasion, there were long, bulleted and descriptive lists. Once Becker described everything he was carrying on a mission. So what? Then there was the whole set of instructions to take off in a B-24. Why?

Then there were continuity errors. Most, but not all, chapters started with some or all of the time, date, and location. In the early chapters, the date jumped around. It was May 8^th, then the 6^th, back to the 8^th, then the 7^th, then to 1979 (this chapter didn’t have a date description though!). It was difficult to keep an eye on. Sometimes you’d be informed that it was 3 am, then be immediately told this again the first line of the chapter. Or you’d be told you were on the plane, it’s obvious. We know where Becker is because he hasn’t moved. Tell, not show.

Also, a couple of sub-plots seemed thrown in. A Mongolian, part of a gang Becker took down in his past, follows his daughter on campus. He races to save her. There’s also some Al Qaeda observer early on that’s explained away at the end, tied into the Mongolian.

Finally, the style changed in some chapters. When in the nuclear plant scenes all of the dialogue is written as if it’s a screenplay. Why? For interest perhaps. If so, it didn’t work. It made the dialogue clunky.

So overall a disappointing read. The 19^th Element promised much but failed to deliver. I needed much more ‘thrill!’ and a lot less ‘er?’

Rating? Two Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? No

Review - The Vanity Game

Beaumont Alexander, superstar mega-rich footballer, has the life some people will kill for. He seems to have everything – fast cars, a mansion, beautiful pop star girlfriend, Krystal McQueen, the adulation of his football team’s fans and parties with a multitude of famous friends. He can have what he wants, when he wants.

But Beaumont is a man on the edge and, after a sordid encounter with a hostess at a celebrity party, his life spins out of control and he turns to his manager, Serge, to help him. Enter a shady crime mob, The Substitutors, and Beaumont is going to have to fight to keep the life he so easily achieved.

This is an impressive debut novel. It is fast-paced, topical and darkly witty. Beaumont lives in a money-no-object world many would aspire to but probably wouldn’t want once they had it. The Vanity Game cleverly shows both sides of the fame game where egos are large and life is ultimately the cheapest thing on offer.

Beaumont himself was initially vain, selfish, and seedy, very much like many of the football (or soccer depending which side of the pond you live on) stars of today. He has a couple of unhealthy quirks, a fear of germs and an obsession with George Michael. However, during the story Beaumont’s character develops into someone much more palatable – although I still wouldn’t like him as a friend, he never quite shakes the football mud off his boots.

In fact very few of the characters are likeable (which was the point). Celebrity, either gained or wished for, seems to have skewed them all. The wannabes are just as bad, they’ll do anything to be with Beaumont and his friends. The character’s names read like something out of the celebrity magazines that Beaumont regularly appears in.

The action is constant, except for a brief pause in the middle when Beaumont thinks he’s got away with his crime. There are many unexpected twists and turns that keep you guessing right through to the end.

H.J. Hampson poses some interesting questions about the society of today’s obsession with celebrity via The Substitutors mob. Without spoiling the read, Hampson brings about a physical change in Krystal which at first I questioned. Then, however it made me think – how much do we truly know about celebrities? Only what we read in the papers or see on the TV and how much of that is real?

Well worth a read and highly recommended.

Rating? Four Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes

Review - Insane & Out

Jason Carver is a newly promoted, newly divorced tax inspector, but he’s fed up and wants to make a change in his life. Jason has recently inherited a house in Orbaton and he wants to move away from London. However, he needs cash to pay for the refurbishment and afford to have a part-time job (so avoiding paying his ex-wife maintenance). Therefore, Jason bribes a tax evader, Albert Carlotti, to bank roll him.

But Jason has a new neighbor, Dennis Brodan, and they immediately get off on the wrong foot. Brodan is renting Jason’s garage and will not give it up. As Jason’s mind spins out of control, he fixates on Brodan as the source of his ill will and decides to do something about it.

I really don’t understand the purpose of this story. The premise, that Jason is going steadily mad and the underlying reason, aren’t clear at all. I sort of figured out what had ultimately sent him around the bend on the last page, but by then I just didn’t care because most of the outline leading up to it was unclear for a number of reasons.

First, Insane and Out completely failed to engage me. It’s not badly written, but some sentences are odd, i.e. they didn’t seem to fit with the prose, and others were just downright difficult to understand. To give an example of the former:

‘There was no-one else on the train, which hummed with a vile, sonorous drone, just like it was being pulled by a million meat flies.’

Okay Jason was having a dream, but it would probably fit better in the horror genre. And of the latter:

‘His hair was jet black and below his pallid, almost waxy complexion glowed an unhealthy tinge of hectic red.’

I’ve read that sentence perhaps 10 times and I still don’t get it. Maybe it’s me, but why make it difficult for the reader?

The characters are lifeless and add nothing to the narrative. They appear, make a few comments and then sidle off again. Sometimes a potential conflict is created by the character, but almost always isn’t followed through. For example Jason meets someone he calls Wolfman in the opening chapter. Wolfman wakes Jason up, helpfully meaning he doesn’t miss his train stop (the reasons why are explored for a few pages). Then he and the Wolfman walk to the same location. Wolfman invites Jason to join him in the park for a couple of beers…yes it is that dull.

This issue continues throughout the story. At one point Jason thinks Carlotti is going to kill him, potentially interesting, but then this possibility evaporates – instead Carlotti gives Jason a brand new car. The situation Jason gets himself into with Brodan is pointless, who cares that Brodan is renting the garage and he can get to his car faster than Jason? Not me. Yet the author spends many chapters investigating this. Yes, Jason might be going mad but the reason for the conflict? Far, far too weak and unbelievable to create tension in this context.

The dialogue is bland and laborious. It’s like sitting on a bus and being forced to listen in on a particularly boring conversation between two strangers who you hope to never meet again. Unfortunately, you’re treated to every word uttered.

Finally, there was absolutely no sense of place for me. Jason eventually lives in Orbaton, where’s that? In the ‘grim’ north of England where everyone’s ugly (where I happen to come from).

Overall, a very disappointing read that almost sent me mad in the process.

 

Rating? One Star

Would add this to my bookshelf? Categorically No

 

**Originally reviewed on Books & Pals blog.**

The Fix - Latest News & Update

It's been far too long since my last blog post, sorry. The main reason is time, more specifically a lack of it. Unfortunately I've a day job for one, but I've also been reading and reviewing (more of these to follow) but most importantly, working hard on the follow up to The Fix. Still no title as yet but the words are flowing relatively well - within shouting distance of 30,000 words in a first draft. Not bad, I can live with that.

On the other had the above cover is an endangered species. I like the fact that it's bright and strong, however the feedback to date is it doesn't convey what's inside.

 

With a new cover also comes an endorsement from Tony Black, acclaimed author of the Gus Drury series, among others.

 

So a new one is on the way. More to follow...

 

Back to the follow-up. Of course as they do the sands of the story keep shifting. A couple of days ago a new character sneaked up on me, Shed McGavin he's currently called (although names do change with the character traits). He's a nasty piece of work, almost as bad as his boss. This has put the main character's story on hold for now until I properly understand the ripples and how they affect the story. One thing's for sure it's better for his arrival, a lot more intrigue has been added. I'd love to say more but it's as yet an untold story...

 

 

The Obituarist - Patrick O'Duffy

Kendall Barber is an Obituarist, a social media undertaker who cleans up the electronic trails of the deceased. Kendall’s day doesn’t start well. First he’s beaten up by a Hell’s Angel and told to stay away from Tonya Clemmens. The trouble is he’s never heard of her. Then Tonya herself arrives at his office – she wants Kendall to find her missing brother. Against his better judgement Kendall agrees and it’s then that things really start to go wrong as local maniac, D-Block and, worse, the police, all show an interest in the case as well.

I really enjoyed The Obituarist. It’s clever, sharp and funny. The dialogue is great and the characters well described, from the grubby policeman, Grayson, who uses Barber to get what he wants, through to the maniac bikers, Kowalski and Ploog, who are trying to permanently silence him, they’re vivid and full of life. The location for the story, Port Virtue, is as grimy as its residents. The pace clips along with the action starting at almost the first page and doesn’t let up to the last, helped by The Obituarist being written in the first person. I really appreciated the sense of humour and the direct style in which O’Duffy tells the tale - there isn’t a wasted word, the sign of a well written novella.

However, just when I thought I had the story figured out (and so did the characters!) The Obituarist delivered a couple of wrenching twists and surprises that were very cleverly done…I’d love to say more but I don’t want to give anything away.

At just over 20,000 words it’s a quick read and could be taken in one bite (you’ll want to once you start). In fact, I did read it all over again, even though I knew what was going to happen, just to look at how everything unfolded from a different perspective.

In the near future I’ll be tracking down Patrick O’Duffy’s other works. If they’re as good as The Obituarist I’ll be a happy man.

 

Rating? Five Stars

 

Would add this to my bookshelf? Absolutely Yes

 

**Originally reviewed for Al's Books & Pals. May have received free review copy.**

 

Children Of The Enemy - DJ Swykert

Jude St. Onge is a drug addict who thinks he’s onto the deal of his life when he steals a bag of drugs from heavyweight dealer, Mitchell Parson. But whilst fleeing Jude’s car breaks down. By chance he seeks refuge with Ray Little, a brooding junkyard owner and ex-con.

Parson’s fixer, a brutal Haitian called Swallow, is sent out by Parson to track Jude down. Swallow tortures and then kills Jude’s wife, Ariana. He kidnaps Jude’s daughter, Angelina, who was forced to watch her mother’s hard death, so he can use her as leverage to ensure Jude returns the drugs.

Swallow’s plan works, but not everything goes right for Jude. Ray swears he will rescue Angelina and, with the help of story hungry local reporter Ted Rogers, he goes about the task in single minded and lethal fashion.

If I was going to describe this book with one word it would be ‘argh!’ If I was allowed a second it would be ‘yuck’.

To elaborate a little, I found this book by turns frustrating and overtly graphic. First, the frustration. Children of the Enemy started out well enough, with a strung out Jude losing control of his car and coming across the complicated and enigmatic Ray in his moment of need. However, the story soon slowly went off the rails and by the latter quarter I’d had enough, primarily due to the writing style where dialogue and sometimes description was repetitive, meandering and unrealistic. For example:

“I want to do what’s right, Ray. But I don’t want to do something I’ll regret later.”

“The way I see it we either regret doing something or we regret doing nothing. Either way we end up living with regret. I’d rather regret what I did than regret what I didn’t.”

And on occasion the characters kept going over the same ground, for example (in a much, much shortened outline):

“Is he gonna make it?” McCants asked.

“…He must have one of the hardest heads on earth to still be alive. He shouldn’t be alive, but he is, and most likely he’s gonna survive…” Dr Litton said.

“Then you think he’s gonna recover…?”

And sometimes just downright clunky:

“I think all rich people are crazy. They do crazy shit and they get into crazy shit. What you have going on here is rich people crazy shit…” And so on.

Maybe it’s just me not taking to the author’s style, but after wading through what must have been in excess of one hundred of these types of lines I tired of it.

The second element was the graphic description of torture, drug use and sex on which I will barely dwell. I’m not the squeamish sort, but personally having to read about a fourteen year old girl having her finger chopped off was just too much. And that was by no means the end of it…

Rating? Two Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? No

**Originally reviewed for Al's Books & Pals. May have received free review copy.**

Dangerous Times - Phillip Frey

Frank Moore, hitman for gangster boss Eddie Jones, has a plan. He intends to rip Eddie off to the tune of $5m, the trouble is he needs to find someone else to take the fall. Enter John Kirk, an ex-soldier turned car mechanic who bears a striking resemblance to Frank. However, things start to go wrong almost immediately. Frank ends up with $10m in his lap, John doesn’t die quite as Frank intended, all manner of people are after the money and then the bodies start piling up…

Even several days after finishing Dangerous Times I’m still not sure about whether I liked it or not. Yes, it’s well written, yes, the characters are well scoped out and yes, the dialogue is interesting. Although I appreciate an intriguing plot that gets to the point with a minimum of fuss and embellishment, Frey’s writing was economic to the point of being terse. So much so it proved sometimes difficult to keep track of what was happening, a few words missed here and there and I was soon lost and having to re-trace my steps for confirmation.

In addition there were several apparent methods of adding interest including switches of character perspective within a paragraph, which just served to jar the narrative and set the teeth slightly on edge. Also, the chapters rolled into one another, just a line space between them.

The whole cast of characters, from Frank’s wife and mistress, to John’s girlfriend and mother, to Hicks the bent cop (who seemed superfluous to needs most of the time), to Eddie and his cohorts, were particularly unpleasant and all, frankly, entirely out for themselves. That the plan went wrong almost immediately led to some interesting outcomes, however I found myself doubting that someone of Frank’s apparent intelligence would have left certain elements to chance (okay, this would have killed the story dead but then suspension of belief stretched).

And to Frank himself. Frey on his website says his protagonist is ‘impish’ and ‘playful’. This would not be how I would depict a sociopathic murderer with a penchant for cutting open main arteries with a razor. The book is also described as being darkly humourous, yet I can’t recall laughing once, it’s just not within that genre.

So, back to the beginning – did I like Dangerous Times? You know, I’m still not sure…

 

Rating? 3 Stars

 

Would I add this to my bookshelf? No 

**Originally published on Books & Pals blog (http://booksandpals.blogspot.co.uk/). May have received free review copy**

The Enemy We Know - Donna White Glaser

Letty Whittaker, a psychotherapist, is threatened in her office by a drunk, deranged patient, Wayne, who is angry with Letty for trying to persuade his girlfriend to get out of their abusive relationship. Wayne then subjects Letty to increasing and varied harassment as he blames her for the predicaments in his personal life.

Letty, however, has a secret herself. She is a reforming alcoholic and she struggles to keep this from her employers whilst undergoing the twelve-step programme. She’s also in a strange, unrequited relationship with her boyfriend Robert, a reforming alcoholic himself.

Then Wayne ends up dead and Letty is immediately a suspect. However, the harassment continues unabated and Letty has to work out who’s really after her.

I enjoyed this story. It is very well written, well plotted, and the characters vivid and imaginative. Letty herself is one damaged and conflicted lady, she had a challenging life even before Wayne showed up - an alcoholic with suggestions of a difficult upbringing, she can only bring herself to sleep with men when she’s drunk. She has a boyfriend she’s not close to and finds herself attracted to her boss.

It took a few chapters to really draw me in (despite the immediate tension created by Wayne’s attack) in part because there are a large number of characters to get to know and the alcohol reform programme and AA meetings are heavily illustrated. Some trimming of the detail here would have picked up the pace of the plot, I feel.

On the other hand the tension created by Glaser’s description of Wayne’s ratcheting up of the harassment, offset by the lack of belief in her story by the police and her employer was very well done, stirring ‘that’s not fair’ emotions within me. Wayne and Robert’s murders were good twists although it did reduce the number of potential suspects and the guilty party was not a total surprise, but nevertheless the conclusion was well written with a lot of stress and more difficulties for Letty – I feel sorry for her. 

Rating? 3 Stars

Would I add this to my bookshelf? Yes 

**Originally published on Books & Pals blog (http://booksandpals.blogspot.co.uk/). May have received free review copy**

Sad Jingo - Ron Dionne

Jingo Dalhousie is a troubled wannabe musician who works as a janitor in his cousin’s New York jazz club. He finds his unusual name in a highly successful debut novel and feels driven to track the author down and discover why. However, the author has a secret she’s desperate to keep.

Sad Jingo opens with the protagonist, Jingo Dalhousie, being given a book that, mysteriously, has his name in it. Jingo cannot understand why and decides to track down debut author, Diana Medeiros. By night, he works as a janitor in a club surrounded by jazz musicians, something he aspires to be. The club is owned by his cousin, Harold. By day, he lives in a small flat, attempting to write and play music.

Jingo first goes to Diana’s publishers and then to a signing. There is a huge queue to see Diana, the book is a smash hit. Jingo finally gets to the front and questions her. Diana has no idea who he is and Jingo gets thrown out of the store without any answers. It’s worth saying that to reach this point in the plot I had to plough through 25% of the book – 15,000 words…

The focus then shifts to Diana. We learn she used to be a patient at a mental hospital and perhaps she knew Jingo there? But she cannot remember. Jingo for his own part continues to be obsessed with Diana. He appears at a reading and has a brief conversation with her before being beaten up by a guard and ends up in hospital.

Despite Diana’s reservations, she meets Jingo again and he plays for her in the club, the one time he manages to string together a decent piece of music. But Harold loses control of the business and Jingo is out of a job.

As Diana gets closer to Jingo (primarily because her problem mirrors his) she begins to admit her terrible secret is catching up with her.

If the above sounds a less than exciting summary, I apologise but there was little to get animated about in Sad Jingo. Where to begin? Well, there’s a mass of bland characters, some described, some not (it took me several thousand words to realise Jingo is a man in his sixties, well I think he is). Many of these featureless characters have ridiculous names which are used repeatedly, and often in full, instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’ making the reading a challenge. Jingo and Diana take turns in engaging in long periods of introspective internal dialogue supposedly to help us understand them better. However, this meant it took 25% of the book to achieve three key activities, as I mentioned.

In the early chapters there’s excessive use of punctuation interrupting what little plot flow there is (I was shocked to read an acknowledgement to a copy editor). Some paragraphs are a page or more long and the formatting is not great.

There are other problems – past and present tense are mixed together in the same paragraph on several occasions. The dialogue is often white noise and generally meaningless, dull and barely moves the tale along, like listening to clucking hens. Sentences are regularly horribly mangled with repeated usage of the same word – just two examples comprise:

‘…author of a book about her book but had not read the book.’

‘…what’s wrong with that, what’s wrong with that Harold, tell me a single thing that’s wrong with that?’

In the final chapter Jingo learns Diana has killed herself and, after 62,000 words, I felt like following her…

Rating? 1 Star

Would I add this to my bookshelf? Absolutely not!

**Originally published on Books & Pals blog (http://booksandpals.blogspot.co.uk/). May have received free review copy**

Review - Setup on Front Street by Mike Dennis

Don Roy Doyle has just been released from prison after a stretch for his part in a diamond robbery. He arrives in Key West to get his hands on the $200,000 share of the proceeds that’s rightfully his. His attempt to wrestle the money away from his ex-partner in crime, Frankie Sullivan, opens a series of Pandora’s boxes and everyone, from the FBI to the police to the Russian mafia and local politicians, are after him in case he reveals the truth of what really happened to the cash.

It’s 1991. Don Roy Doyle, a hustler and con artist, is just out of prison after a seven year stretch and he has the scars to prove it. He was jailed for his part in a jewel heist, the only gang member that took the fall. In the opening chapter Doyle steps off a bus to arrive back in Key West and settle a few more scores, in particular he wants his $200,000 share of the robbery proceeds. He wastes no time and immediately confronts Frankie Sullivan (Sully) a nightclub owner and partner in the original scam. Sully, however, has ‘invested’ the money in a dubious property deal with the Russians mafia and cannot immediately access it. Doyle gives him a week to do so or expect the worst.

After leaving Sully, Doyle spends subsequent chapters reacquainting himself with characters from his past – Avi Abraham a weapons supplier, BK the mayor and ex-classmate, Ortega the local police officer who threatens to send Doyle back to prison should he step out of line and Mambo DeLima a Cuban criminal. Then Sully ends up dead and Doyle is in the frame for his murder.

And herein lies one of the problems with this novel - new characters pop up almost every chapter through literally the first half of the book (and one or two in the latter half as well) including BK’s patriarchal father, Wilson J Whitney, and Doyle’s ex-girlfriend Norma who’s turning tricks for BK (she immediately becomes his current girlfriend), BK’s needy wife Rita, and a variety of Russian gangsters among quite a few others. Unfortunately, the time spent introducing characters, their past relationship to Doyle and / or the crime, means the rest of the plot feels crammed into the second half primarily because Setup on Front Street is relatively short at 50,000 words. So little space is left to fully explore the plot. For example Ortega the policeman is only made reference to once more in passing, FBI special agent Ryder appears then shifts to the background until it’s time, all too soon and all too easily, to take down the bad guys (helped by yet another character introduced to help Doyle get the information he needs).

That being said, Setup on Front Street was an enjoyable read, the story skipped along at a decent pace and the characters, despite there being so many, were in the main colourful and entertaining. The plot is set against an interesting historical backdrop - the locals are convinced Castro is about to fall and Cuba will be a fantastic opportunity for a new criminal gold rush that is about to begin and the various factions want a piece of the action.

Rating? 3 Stars.

Would I add this to my bookshelf? Yes.

**Originally published on Books & Pals blog (http://booksandpals.blogspot.co.uk/). May have received free review copy**