Ken Bruen - on Mystery at Mulholland Books

Ken Bruen (Jack Taylor, Max series etc.) has posted a great essay tackling the mystery verses literary debate amongst some of the more influential writers of the then and now. Head over to Mulhollnd books to check it out.

The Last Deep Breath by Tom Piccirilli

The Last Deep Breath is more like one large inhale held throughout the main duration of the story before slowly exhaling towards the climax. In Grey, Piccirilli depicts a protagonist oozing noir, everything from his unstable childhood to hit-man occupation, even his name are inturn the essence of noir – you dont want to be on the wrong side of one of his contracts.

The story follows Grey from a dusty desert fling to the seedy world of porn in LA searching for his sisters attempted killer. Along the way we meet some bit-players (Grey’s sort-of girlfriend, a film industry agent, and Pax – Grey’s brother) who are entertaining but don’t stack up to the investment made by Piccirilli into Grey’s persona. Personally I’d like to see more of Pax, a career serviceman with a badass authoritative attitude whose dark past surpasses Grey’s (they grew up in the same foster home together). The story has some minor twists which led towards a nice ending but left me wanting more depth to the journey.

The Last Deep Breath is an enjoyable must have one-sitting read (it runs only 80-odd pages) for fans of The Cold Spot and The Coldest Mile. I’m hoping to see a full length novel with both Grey and Pax – maybe I should start a petition?

The Last Deep Breath was released by Tasmaniac Publications as a limited edition in 2010 – a nice book to have in the collection.

INNOCENT MONSTER COMPETITION!

Reed Farrel Coleman's 6th instalment in the Mo Prager series - Innocent Monster - is due out this October and for fans of Reed, this couldn't have come any quicker! To celebrate this occasion Sara J. Henry is running a competition giving away an advance reader copy on her blog (which the Noir Addict has thrown his hat in the ring for - hence this shameless plug) with the winner to be announced Sept. 3.

Oh, and while we're talking about Innocent Monster - let the Noir Fiction Addict formally ask Reed Farrel Coleman to guess blog on this here side - not only will it help my chances of winning but you'll also be the FIRST ever guess blogger! It's history in the making!

Anyways - head over to Sara's blog for more info - and for those reading this (if there are any of you out there) wish me luck.