Monday 31 December 2012

LOU BERNEY - GUTSHOT STRAIGHT (2009)

Blurb.........


Professional wheel man Charles "Shake" Bouchon is too nice a guy for the life he's led and not nice enough for any other. Fresh out of prison, he's supposed to deliver a package to Vegas strip-club owner Dick "the Whale" Moby and pick up a briefcase for Shake's former boss and lover, Alexandra Ilandryan, pakhan of L.A.'s Armenian mob. But when the "package" turns out to be Gina, a wholesome young housewife, Shake decides to set her free—a move as noble as it is boneheaded.

Now Shake and Gina are on the run in Panama—looking to unload the briefcase's unusual contents while outmaneuvering two angry crime bosses, a heartbroken ex-linebacker, and a sadistic thug plagued by erectile superfunction. And Shake's learning that Gina is less wholesome and more complicated than he initially imagined.
Once in a while you come across a book that just reinforces all you love about reading and ticks every box that needs ticking at that particular moment in time .........humour, action, violence, sex, character, dialogue, pace, plot, curveballs.
I absolutely loved this from first page to last, which was sometime the same day, albeit late in the evening.
Berney's first novel and it's a peach. It's been likened to Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen which I won't disagree with having read plenty of both and enjoyed them too.
If you fancy a caper-heist type romp, you could do a lot worse than trying this for kicks.
He has a second book - Whiplash River which has been added to the Keane wishlist.  
5 from 5 and very probably book of the month.
This was purchased for me from Amazon, and was one of my favourite Christmas presents by my better half.
  

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