No one writes noir like Ken Bruen. He is the darkest of the dark. Oh, there is always a bit of snarky, nasty Irish humor thrown in, but laugh out loud funny? Never, not from Ken Bruen. Well, that's true when he's writing alone, but put him with Jason Starr and get ready to be transported to the hardest, meanest, criminal world, one that doesn't give a bleep about suspension of disbelief, and get ready to keep checking to see if you have, indeed laughed your a** off. Their books are brutally dark and outrageously funny.
This is, I believe, the fifth collaboration of Bruen and Starr, and the continuing story of their pair of villains, Max and Angela. This book came as a very pleasant surprise to me, as I was pretty sure that they were both dead at the end the last book. With the skill of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in resurrecting Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, Bruen and Starr resurrect Max and Angela. Let the criminal world beware. Also, let Hollywood, Lee Child and many other mystery authors beware. This is a no holds barred send-up of the world of book-to-movie process.
The only "plot" I can tease out, while trying to hold onto my Kindle while laughing so hard, is that this book presumes that the previous books about Max and Angela were, well, just that, books. Now, someone is trying to make a movie based on Angela's story. I will say nothing about who that is. I will say that Lee Child's cover blurb, "I want to kill these guys – except I can't stop laughing long enough," is both accurate and a fair warning.
Bruen and Starr proceed to eviscerate the industry and the people who work in it, and the authors who have had their books turned into movies. I think (my personal opinion) is that the notion of Tom Cruise to playing Child's hero, Jack Reacher, was just too over the top to resist. (note: the character of Jack Reacher is 6'4" and a former member of some special forces group, and Cruise is well, short.)
From the moment the book begins, right through to the end, you need a bibliography and a score card if you are going to get all the jokes and wisecracks. I love snarky, but this is snark taken to the an artistic extreme. No one is safe, not even the authors themselves. Trying to summarize it would take, well, as many pages as the book, so just read the book.
One caution: this could be read as a stand-alone, but the reader will be lost and unappreciative of just how outrageous this book is if the reader has not read the four previous books starring Max and Angela.
Without question, this is the best collaboration by ANY pair of authors I have ever read. VERY funny and ridiculously well-written. Ten stars if it was possible.
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Top reviews from other countries
Zoltan Pinter
Successful relaunch of a great collaboration!
Reviewed in Germany on November 11, 2016Dennis Keough
A book too far. denniskeough@gmail.
Reviewed in Canada on May 3, 2016