NJ37: Jon Land, Charlie Stella, Fred Zackel

Welcome. Three exciting reviews reviews in Noir Journal 37:

1. In our new series "Crime Writers Reading Crime Fiction," award-winning Irish noir author Sam Millar reviews the soon-to-be-released Strong at the Break by John Land.

2. New Noir Journal reviewer Poker Ben (a.k.a. Ben Springer) reviews Charlie Stella's Johnny Porno.                           

3. Ann Snuggs, who gave us some great Spillane reviews a while back, now reviews the 1978 hidden classic Cocaine and Blue Eyes, by Fred Zackel.

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Crime Writers Reading Crime Fiction

Strong At The Break by Jon Land (Macmillan, June 2011)

Reviewed by Sam Millar

Strong At The Break is the third and latest addictive installment of best-selling author, Jon Land’s critically-acclaimed Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong series. We first met fifth generation Ranger Caitlin in Strong Enough to Die, followed by Strong Justice. In Strong At The Break, Caitlin returns in her most personal and desperate adventure yet, an adventure that has its roots in a bloody gunfight years before in which her father, Jim Strong, killed Maxwell Arno, the cult-like leader of a separatist church in Texas. The killing was witnessed by Arno’s young son, Malcolm.

Two decades later, Malcolm Arno has become head of a feared militia movement bent on unleashing chaos and anarchy across the country. He also has revenge on his mind for his father’s death. With all the guns and money he needs to unleash a second Civil War, nothing seems to be standing in his way. That is, until his actions send him towards a head-to-head bloody confrontation with Caitlin Strong…

Already mired in one investigation of drug smuggling over the U.S.-Canadian border and another involving an Iraqi war veteran who claims the army is trying to kill him, Caitlin finds herself embroiled in the search for kidnapped Dylan Masters, sixteen-year-old son of her sometime lover, and former outlaw and hard-as-rock, Cort Wesley Masters. When Dylan’s trail leads straight to Arno’s fortified Texas compound, the three disparate trails Caitlin has been following converge in an explosion of violence that will put her teachings and courage to the ultimate test.

From the frozen rivers at the border with Canada to the desert wastelands of Mexico, the stage has been set for a battle like none neither Caitlin nor Cort Wesley has ever faced before, where the stakes are nothing less than the survival of America as we know it.

Strong At The Break is Land’s most impressive novel to-date. From the icy landscapes of Canada, to the tormenting Mexican heat, he masterfully creates scenes of terrible beauty, all tangible and eerily real - landscapes his astute readers have come to expect and demand. But as always, it’s the characters created by Land who are the heart and soul of the book. In lesser hands, Malcolm Arno would just been another nasty and two-dimensional villain trying to take over the world. Instead, we get a surprisingly complex portrayal of him as a young boy witnessing the brutal killing of his father. Tough guy, Cort Wesley, whose wife was murdered in Strong Enough to Die, is suddenly vulnerable, as any parent’s nightmare – the kidnapping of a child - comes knocking on his door. But it’s the indelible Caitlin Strong, ever-brave, ever-daring, who is the true strength of the book - and rightly so. She has quickly become one of the most compelling and formidable female leads to grace the pages of any novel in decades.

Land’s last best-selling book, Strong Justice was justifiably compared to Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men. In Strong At The Break, he has reinforced that accolade by deftly interweaving a fast paced and action-packed thriller with a masterfully constructed story of modern-day Texas and its neighbors. Aficionados of intelligent crime stories will not be disappointed with this gritty, atmospheric slice of murder and revenge. It’s another one to be added to Land’s long list of bestsellers.

Thanks to Sam Millar for this review. Sam is no stranger to Noir Journal readers; he's the award winning, best selling author of a number of excellent crime fiction books including Bloodstorm, The Dark Place, The Redemption Factory, and The Darknesss of Bones. His memoir On the Brinks, recently going for $1,000 for a used copy, is now easily available, thanks to Sam, on Amazon.

I recently read On the Brinks myself and here's my own mini-review:

 

"Read this great book. A review couldn't do it justice It goes from Millar's depressing and oppressed childhood as a Catholic in the North of Ireland, to his long stint in prison tortured for his political activities, to his time in New York as a blackjack dealer, and finally to his famous caper--a Brinks robbery in upstate NY. Goes from sad to funny to exciting. Good advice: don't expect an old van to start with twelve million dollars in the back--it's heavier than you think!"

 

 

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Johnny Porno by Charlie Stella (Stark House Press, April 2010)

Review By: Ben Springer (PokerBen)                                                                                                           

Get ready to take a trip back to New York 1973. Nixon was still President, and the Italian mob was still in its hey day. When New York Criminal Court Judge Tyler decides to ban the pornographic film Deep Throat starring Linda Lovelace, the mob sees dollar signs.  With everyone wanting what they can’t have, (in this case a cheaply made porno) the mob was glad to provide screenings of the film. For a price of course. Our main character John Albano, aka “Johnny Porno,”is the film runner, and money collector for the film screenings around New York.  

After having been fired from his construction job for punching a guy, he was forced to take odd jobs to try and make ends meat. First driving for a car service, and now working with the mob. Wanting to just make enough money to get by, he keeps his nose down, and goes to work. 

Things become complicated when his ex-wife Nancy and her on again off again lover decide to try and rob John of the mob’s money he’s collected. Add in detectives looking to take down J ohn’s boss Eddie Vento for the Deep Throat screenings, and a corrupt cop working both sides, John must dodge things coming at him from every direction. 

Charlie Stella is one hell of a writer. I was hooked from page one. With rich authentic dialog filling each scene, I felt as if I was there with the characters, not just reading along. To be able to forget I was reading and just “live” the scene was great. Each character was fully fleshed out, and the plot was tight. I couldn’t wait to turn the pages, and was sad to see the book end.  If you’ve read any of the other Stella novels, you will be glad to see a few of the characters make cameo appearances. If you are a crime fiction fan, or just a fan of great writing in general, I could not recommended this novel enough.

Reviewer Ben Springer aka "PokerBen" is an avid reader, and fan of the crime and noir fiction genres. When he's not reading, or writing reviews for his favorite websites, he's busy chatting with fellow book lovers on Internet forums and on Twitter. Sometimes he even plays a little poker. He lives in Colorado.

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 Cocaine and Blue Eyes by Fred Zackel (1978)

Reviewed by Ann Snuggs

All Michael Brennan did was stop at the OK truckstop on a rainy Christmas night. He had no intention of becoming involved in any kind of investigation. He didn't even work for Pacific-Continental anymore. But a good heart for the women who ran the place and the mechanical failure of the obnoxious runt's van gave him company for his ride back to San Francisco. Had he cleaned his car out more often, he would have dropped his undesired passenger at Sausalito and sunk back into his dull existence.

Instead, an old business card plucked by his passenger from the debris in the car provided the runt with Brennan's identity and address. His unwanted acquaintance later reached back from death to pull Brennan onto a dark and dirty roller coaster ride through drugs, violence and intrigue.

Within the first few pages of Cocaine and Blue Eyes, fans of classic protagonists created by Chandler, Hammett and the old pros of the past know they have found a new friend in Brennan. Divorced, living on unemployment since leaving Pac-Con but with a few months to go on his P.I. license, he fits right into the line-up.

The runt – Brennan didn't get his name – wants to hire him to find his “old lady” who split. Brennan flicks the offer away like a fly off his shoulder. His rider insists, but Brennan drops him off with no commitment.

That should be the end of it – no search for the blue-eyed Dani on Michael's agenda. But the next day the police ring him up and request his presence at the morgue. The dead is his would-be client. A freak accident. Name Joey Crawford, but carrying an assortment of aliases. Being a do-right guy Brennan thinks the girl should know her ex-lover is dead. The cops don't care.

Brennan might have dropped the whole matter had he not arrived home to find an invitation to trouble in the mail.

“... I slit the first class letter and dumped it on the counter, knocked over the milk carton when a thousand-dollar bill fluttered to the floor. Chocolate dribble landed on it. 

“I held the bill beneath the hot water faucet. The ink didn't run. I found a magnifying glass. The red threads were all there, as were the dots along the President's nose. I never knew Grover Cleveland had beady eyes. 

“I went back to the letter. A sheet of notepaper inside. The words 'Find Dani for me' were scribbled across it followed by Joey Crawford's signature. A wallet-sized photograph was wrapped in the notepaper. The young blonde who smirked at the camera's lens had big blue eyes, all right. As blue as the bay at sunrise and larger than robin's eggs.” 

 

Even if this intriguing set-up fails to suck in the reader for the long haul, the quality of the prose should. Zackel's mastery of the English language makes it worth sticking around. At times it becomes a sensory overload of metaphors and similes but the lyricism is a delight for lovers of the richness that vivid, well-written prose can hold.

"It was windy on Nob Hill. A daisy chain of yellow cabs was outside the big hotels. . . .

"I passed the building before I saw it. It was hunched against the winds like an old man at a bus stop. It was stone, like the Hill itself, a symbol of eternity for the poor people of San Francisco. A mailbox watch-dogged the front while two stone lions covered the flanks. The building could have been a neighborhood branch of the public library. All it needed was a bicycle rack." 

Brennan's search for Dani leads him from the colony of houseboats where she and her ex resided to her wealthy but perverted family - cousins marry as if they were Hatfields and McCoys - to Chinatown and the Tongs and even on to Tahoe to confront her elderly but still controlling grandfather.

All Brennan wants is to deliver the message to Dani that her ex-lover is dead but his presence serves as a catalyst to set in motion a wave of CYA violence and murder. Every single character he meets in his search possesses a sordid secret. Most will use any means possible to keep their haunting skeletons hidden from each other and the world. No one - not even the missing Dani - is what he or she appears to be at first glance.

Fred Zackel's Cocaine and Blue Eyes was first published in 1978 and is steeped in the California culture of that day. Despite the seventies attitudes and trappings, the story holds up over time. A reader would have to be extremely picky to let the retro details deter him from plunging into this wonderfully convoluted and well-written tale.

Fans and critics debate what is noir and what is not noir. One school of thought maintains that P.I. fiction cannot be noir but, Buddy, if any investigator can be the star of a noir novel, Brennan is the one. Nobody wins in Cocaine and Blue Eyes. Every fan of noir fiction should check this one out.

Thanks once again to Noir Journal reviewer Ann Snuggs, a published author herself, and in my opinion, an expert on hard-boiled fiction as well as on film noir.

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About Fred Zackel:  Fred Zackel was discovered by novelist Ross MacDonald in 1975. MacDonald became a mentor and was influential in Zackel's writing.   Zackel's first novel, COCAINE AND BLUE EYES was followed by CINDERELLA AFTER MIDNIGHT. Both feature his San Francisco PI, Michael Brennen.  Zackel's MURDER IN WAIKIKI sparked a fascination with Hawaiian culture. His short story collections include  THE BICYCLES WERE GRAVESTONES  and  CREEPIER THAN A WHOREHOUSE KISS.

To read Chapter 1 of COCAINE AND BLUE EYES, click on that title in the upper right-hand column of this page. 

To learn more about Zackel and his mentor Ross MacDonald, click here.  

That's it for now.

Lots to come,

ML

 

Comments

[Sam Millar]

Mike
thank you for spreading the word about Jon Land's up coming book. He's a terrific writer. Oh, and thank you for mentioning On The Brinks. Very much appreciated. I owe you one.

[Spencer Koch]

Thanks for reviewing some VINTAGE crime!

[Mike L.]

Thanks Spencer. I'm glad you liked the vintage crime review.