Reviewed By: Carl Brookins - RAM
47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers
Amazon US TPB Amazon Canada TPB
Troy Cook
Class/Genre: Mystery Humorous Hard Boiled
Hardcover, 282 pgs., $14.95
I guess I'm old fashioned. I don't need or want a slightly defensive letter from the publisher as a frontispiece of a novel. Even in an ARC. But maybe that's just me. However, the tone of the letter sort of sets up both an expectation and a negative reaction. Actually, I'm not tired of reading cookie-cutter mysteries. That's mainly because I don't.
Read them.
But, as I say, maybe that's all just me. Or maybe I was in the wrong mood when I opened Troy Cook's debut novel. Let me tell you first what I like about this novel. It's fast paced. The writing runs at a high energy level from the first page to the last. Some of the characters are interesting to read about, although I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time with any of them. Watching their antics, from across the street, sure.
Tara is the principal focus of this novel. She's nine when the book opens, although she talks like a child of twenty, and she's already had the experiences of a thirty-year old bank robber. Her daddy has taught her the trade. Then he hooks up with some other criminal types and they breeze around shooting up a few more banks. Tara wants out, especially after bodies start falling. And especially after she encounters Max, who is especially smitten. Dialogue is mostly breezy and mostly effective, and the novel established strong marks as part of a new sub-genre, pell-mell.
There are a lot of characters in the novel, along with a lot of words in capital letters, to make sure readers get the point, I presume. Same for the exclamation marks. I think it is extremely difficult to write a whole long novel with manic high humor as its motivating core. And like its title, this novel has too many words.
Carl Brookins - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Carl Brookins - RAM
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