Bringing Sexy Back: A Double Shot of Ray Banks

I can think of no better way to get this long moribund blog going again than with a double review of one of your favorite authors and mine, Ray Banks. Thanks to Allan Guthrie and his new Blasted Heath e-publishing company, Banks, last heard from finishing his Cal Innes quartet with Beast of Burden, has returned with two books, one old and one new. The first, Dead Money, is a reworking of The Big Blind, his debut novel about depraved double glazing window salesmen who don’t sell many windows, but do manage to get into a helluva lot of trouble. The second, Wolf Tickets, is a tight little shot of noir about two Army buddies who set out to find a woman who ripped one of them off and end up getting more than they bargained for.

Banks is a tight writer, and both of these books are short, sharp and right to the point, and their respective points are quite sharp. Dead Money is a sort of Glengarry Glen Ross without all the boring talking and focus on sales. Instead it focuses on the outside lives of two degenerates; Alan Slater and his even more despicable friend (at least to start with) Les Beale. Despite being a bit hazy on why Slater would hang out with Beale, who is a compulsive gambler, alcoholic and horrible racist, the story is strong. It focuses on Slater trying to juggle his job, his mistress, his loveless marriage, Beale’s problems and a couple of corpses, one human and one not. Considering how terrible our protagonist is, the book is funnier than it has any right to be, and Banks proves his skill with one scene in particular where Slater and Beale are trying to dispose of a corpse. It is both horrifying and hilarious. Not an easy task to pull off.

The story is ultimately one of delusion and unraveling, and Banks keeps it coming, pacing it well, making sure that, as he peels back the layers or Slater’s twisted personality that he never reveals too much too soon. By the time you get to the end, you’ll be laughing along with Slater, but not for the reasons Slater is laughing.

Wolf Tickets finds Banks up to his old narrative tricks, using dueling first person narration to tell a story, and what a story it is. No frills, no bullshit, just straight up action. This is the least reflective work by Banks that I have read, and I think the only thing I haven’t gotten around to yet is his novella California. It’s a deceptively simple story, seemingly straightforward at first, but Banks, ever the skillful storyteller, gradually complicates things, peeling back layers, getting at the truth, until you end up with something totally unexpected.

On the surface it’s about the Irish Farrell looking up his old English buddy Cobb to help him track down his girlfriend Nora, who has run off with a substantial sum of money, a small amount of blow, and, most importantly, Farrell’s favorite jacket. The story is a straightforward one of revenge, but the real fun comes from how the two characters see each other. The chapters alternate perspectives, giving the reader insight into how these two friends really see each other, adding a layer of complexity to what would otherwise be a slight story. As with Dead Money, Banks proves deft at doling out insight in just the right amounts, complicating what he presents to the reader as rather straightforward characters. By the end you’ve been spun 180 degrees with such deftness that you didn’t even notice it. A surprising, violent, and strangely uplifting ode to friendship, Wolf Tickets is not to be missed.

Blood Will Out

Blood Will Out - Book Trailer from Darren McNaney on Vimeo.

The trailer for Allan Guthrie's latest effort.

Review of Killing Mum

Allan Guthrie is the latest author to pen a novella for Five Leaves Press's Crime Express series. Killing Mum brings Guthrie back to some of his characters from Savage Night. Specifically, it puts death broker Carlos Morales in a tough spot. He's in the business of arranging to have people killed, so it's no surprise when he gets an envelope full of cash and a name. What is a surprise is the name is his mother's. Carlos can't figure why someone would want his mother dead. The only person he knows who hates his mother is his wife, and she's also the only person he knows who knows his mother is his mother. So, naturally he's suspicious. He sets up a little test, but things don't go as planned.

Killing Mum is quick and dirty read. It's probably about an hour's investment all told. It's remarkable for it's thematic similarity to Guthrie's latest novel Slammer. Characters in both novels have the the same sort of reaction to traumatic experiences. Guthrie spends quite a bit of time mining familial strife in his novels, so there's nothing here that will surprise anyone familiar with his work. It would be interesting to know, however, if this work was a dry run for Slammer, or Guthrie is revisiting a theme here. Killing Mum is rather tame by Guthrie standards, and it didn't quite pack the punch of Ray Banks' Crime Express entry Gun, but it's a solid effort nevertheless. It may serve as a good entry point for those who haven't read Guthrie's work yet. If you like this, then the novels may be for you.

And yes, the Kindle edition artwork I found on Amazon has a squirrel. I'm just as puzzled as you.

Review of Slammer

Working as a prison guard has to be one of the most thankless jobs in the world, even if you’re not working in a maximum security prison and your colleagues are decent, friendly types. Nick Glass, the character at the center of Allan Guthrie’s Slammer (Polygon, 2009), isn’t so lucky. He is a new guard at a prison nicknamed The Hilton" full of Scotland's worst offenders, and his coworkers aren't exactly friendly.

Glass is hardly on the job a couple of weeks before a murderer is pressuring him to smuggle drugs inside, and another thug is threatening his wife and child to give him an extra incentive to comply. He wants to keep his job but he wants to keep his family safe more, so he gives in and smuggles drugs, keeping a little back for himself, and starts on a quick, vicious downward spiral.

Slammer represents a departure for Guthrie in more than one way and is his most assured novel to date. His books up to this point have focused on unlikable thugs. Glass is a 22-year old kid who is full of good intentions, but hopelessly out of his depth. He's a bit weak, but he's not a bad guy, which makes his downfall much harder to watch than that of an average Guthrie character.

The story is also remarkably light on violence for a Guthrie novel. It seems Guthrie has realized that a sense of fear can be accomplished without decapitations and crucifixions. The tension in Slammer comes first from the dread of impending doom and later from the reader's confusion over exactly what has happened. Much of Guthrie's work can be read as a critique of a certain boneheaded definition of manhood. His books are filled with impotent, cuckolded thugs, tough guys with mommy issues, and the insanely jealous. For an author who enjoys mocking tough guys, however, his books are filled with grisly, pointlessly sensational acts of violence, as if he's daring the reader to look away, playing the very sort of games he's critiquing. It's as if he's smirking at the reader, saying "I can take it, can you?" Slammer is different. There is a terrible act of violence at the center of the novel, but it is entirely routine, which makes it much, much worse than any grand guignol tortures that Guthrie could have dreamed up. There's no sign of adolescent arrested development tough-guy posturing in Slammer. It is Guthrie's first grown-up novel.

Guthrie's writing style has also grown. His prose is tight. There is almost no description, but the few words Guthries does use stand out sharply enough to paint a vivid picture. He has also given up his habit of changing points-of-view. Slammer is written from a tight third person limited p.o.v. The story is Glass's and Guthrie tells it all from that perspective, making the surprises he's worked this tale all the more effective.

The result of Guthrie's more mature story married with his more disciplined writing is a nerve-wracking page turner that stands apart from Guthrie's earlier work that will appeal those who may have been turned off by Guthrie's earlier work without alienating his fans. Not an easy trick to pull off.

(And I'm giving away a copy of Slammer next Thursday, April 9. Details are here.)

Win Allan Guthrie's Slammer

Allan Guthrie's new novel Slammer is out in the UK. I've bought a copy, and I'm reading it, but today in the mail I got a review copy, which I take it was kind of late, because it looks like it was sent to an old address first. Whenever something like this happens, I like to pass the good fortune on, so I'm giving away the brand new, never opened copy of Slammer I just got in the mail. To enter, just send an email with "Contest" in the subject line and your name and address in the body to IndieCrime-at-gmail-dotcom. I will pick the winner next week using a random number generator. Entries are numbered in the order in which they are received. Good Luck.

And stay tuned. I have another extra book to give away soon that you will want.

Savage Night Trailer

Al Guthrie has a rather tasteful trailer for his upcoming Savage Night. Tasteful is a relative term, of course, and there is talk of arse cheek slicing. I received a copy in the mail quite unexpectedly a while ago, and it seems like Guthrie's up to his old tricks. There's a scene with a mentally ill woman with a full adult diaper and her husband that's more disturbing than anything in Hard Man, but I still have every intention of finishing the novel, which should tell you something.

Reviews of Kill Clock and The Killer

Allan Guthrie’s latest offering, Kill Clock, (Barrington Stoke, 2007) is an adult story written so children could read it. The simplicity of style is intentional, as Barrington Stoke is a publishing house devoted to putting out books for reluctant readers. Billed as a novella, Kill Clock takes less time to read than many short stories written for less-than-reluctant readers.

The story follows Edinburgh thug, Pearce, from Two-Way Split and Hard Man as he tries to rescue his former fiancée from a local loan shark. Pearce is, as usual, reluctant to get involved. When his ex, Julie, shows up with a story about how her newly dead husband owed a lot of money, and she has to pay it back or be killed, he thinks she’s putting him on. After all, she ran off with the engagement ring he gave her years ago. Even after Julie is kidnapped in front of him, and her two children, Pearce is still skeptical about her story, but he feels he has no choice but to get involved because of Julie’s kids.

Kill Clock moves quickly, but it’s such a short story that it has to. It takes place after the events of Hard Man, but they are alluded to only in a vague way. The lack of background is understandable because of the nature of the writing Guthrie is doing, but Pearce is becoming problematic. He’s been through a lot. He found his sister dead of a drug overdose. His mother bled to death in his arms, and he watched a man get crucified. Through it all, he has remained the same hard headed tough guy. It’s beginning to stretch credulity. If Guthrie is going to carry on with Pearce, as seems likely, the character is going to have to grow and change to stay viable. In Kill Clock there are hints that Pearce may take. Hopefully, Guthrie will expand on those hints the next time he brings his fans another Pearce story.

The Killer (Archaia Studio Press, 2007) by writer Matz and artist Luc Jacamon, is a not terribly original story about a hitman who is struggling to stay sane while he tries to retire in peace. Crime fiction is full of hitmen who suffer existential crises and try to get out of the business only to find out it’s not easy to quit. The Killer would be boring if it weren’t a graphic novel. Comic books have a tendency to be over the top, which is only natural given that most of the characters in comics wear tights and have superpowers. It’s an over the top premise. The problem comes when comic artists and writers try to tell a story that should be done in a realistic fashion, but can’t leave the visual and verbal hyperbole behind. The Killer doesn’t have that problem. It’s subdued in it’s presentation, for a comic book. The title character isn’t some sort of super killing machine. He’s a man. A lonely man, and the violence, while graphic isn’t over the top. Aside from Ed Brubaker’s Criminal series, there isn’t a lot of crime fiction being published in graphic novel format these days, and for that reason, The Killer is a welcome volume.

If you're interested in The Killer, be sure to check out the online Flash version of the comic book, here.

Allan Guthrie Wins

Allan Guthrie's first novel, Two-Way Split, originially published by Point Blank Press, (which has a new Web site) has been awarded the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. I think this means a bunch of people voted for his book via the Internet. It's my favorite novel of Guthrie's and I heartily congratulate him on his win.

The Hard Man Backlash

I can't say I didn't see this one coming. When I reviewed Allan Guthrie's new novel Hard Man back in February, I said this book would disconcert people and probably put off many readers. I almost referenced movies like Saw or Hostel in the review, but I ended up skipping that. Eddie Muller, however, has made the connection in his review in the San Francisco Chronicle.
This review comes on the heels of Kevin Burton Smith's commentary "Neo-Nah," which has inspired a great deal of discussion on blogs and the Rara Avis mailing list. To summarize, Smith finds a lot of what passes as noir these days tasteless and sadistic. While Smith has refused to name names so far, I'm going to go ahead and guess that Hard Man is one of the books he's complaining about.
Al Guthrie has posted a response to both the Chron review and Smith comments at his blog. He also talks about his influences. I'm gonna say straight out that I find Guthrie's taste in movies somewhat questionable. (Ichi the Killer?) I don't think that Hard Man is torture porn, however. As I said in my review, the books owes a lot to Jacobean drama, and Jacobean drama was a bloody mess. You don't believe me, read The Duchess of Malfi some time.
Ugly violence alone doesn't make or break a story. King Lear, which I consider the greatest work ever written in English, has an on-screen eye gouging that's still pretty shocking, even in our violence soaked culture. While Hard Man is hardly Shakespeare, it isn't torture porn either.
And let me say, while I'm on the topic, that I think Smith should name names. The thing about art is it's entirely subjective, so no intellectually honest person can stay angry at you for long if you say you don't like their work.

I've been slacking lately, so here's some stuff

I've been a bit slack with the content of late, so I sat down to try and find things of note this afternoon.
First, we've got a profile of Akashic Books' Johnny Temple that ran in the IHT some time ago. I missed it the first time around. He also managed to land himself in a Glenlivet ad.

Over at Bleak House Ben LeRoy interviews Mike Segretto of Contemporary Press. (For a publisher with books like these, they sure have an innocuous sounding name.)

The Rap Sheet has the scoop on Crippen & Landru's definitive collection of Lew Archer short stories.

Allan Guthrie is on television.

Win A Copy of Allan Guthrie's Hard Man

Today, dear reader, is your lucky day. I just received copies of Hard Man and Kiss Her Goodbye from Polygon Press. I already own both books, so I'm going to have a contest to give them away. First up for grabs is the new one, Hard Man. If you want a copy send an email to Indiecrime at gmail dot com with the subject line Contest. I will number each email in the order of its arrival. Then, when the time comes, I will use Random.org to generate a number. Whoever's entry number matches the random number wins. I will drop the book in the mail gratis. No shipping, no handling, no nothing. Just a free book. The deadline for entry is June 1. Good Luck.

Things that are worth your valuable time

Allan Guthrie has quietly updated his Noir Zine. As I mentioned last week, Bleak House Books has launched a daily podcast. I was kind of skeptical that they'd acutally do it daily, but they have. You can choose between interviews with author Marcus Sakey, Uberblogger Sarah Weinman, or the fiction editor from Library Journal. You can also hear Allison Janssen and Benjamin LeRoy answer questions from readers, and learn about experimental Doritos.

Al Guthrie in America

I thought Allan Guthrie was doing pretty well when he made it into three posts in a row on this blog, but Duane Swierczynski over at Secret Dead Blog has gone full-tilt crazy, and declared it Allan Guthrie week, since Guthrie is in the states to take part in a panel on "Tartan Noir." Ian Rankin and Denise Mina are also putting in an appearance.
What I want to know is, how did Allan Guthrie get a visa? I mean, who decided to let him into the country? If the Department of Homeland Security can't keep Scots out of the country what on Earth can they do? I mean, I've seen Trainspotting and Braveheart, so I'm an expert on Scotland, and I can tell you, I don't think it's a good idea to start letting heroin addicted broadsword enthusiasts onto our shores. We have enough native born heroin addicted broadsword enthusiasts, and they don't need the competition.

New Spinetingler

If you want to waste some serious time, go check out the new Spinetingler, where Sandra Ruttan interviews Allan Guthrie and Ken Bruen. There's tons of good stuff, so go ahead and read it. Productivity is overrated anyway.

The Reed Farrel Coleman Update and some thoughts on book reviewing

Reed Farrel Coleman's follow up to The James Deans is out this month. One of the most striking things about the new novel, Soul Patch, is the way Coleman evokes a sense of place, and the latest issue of The Big Thrill Webzine, has an article from Coleman on Coney Island.

This article is a prime example of why I usually publish my reviews early. I finished my review of Soul Patch a couple of weeks ago, but I've been sitting on it, planning to release it when the book came out. This morning I boot up the computer and read this article, where, among other things, Coleman talks about how he wanted to make Coney Island more of a character in the book than just a setting. Well, this is a point I made in the review. Now, this means that Coleman was entirely successful, because I got it. I still cringe, however, because I hate the thought of anyone thinking that I take points for my reviews from anyone else-especially an author. I make it a point not to read anything about a book I plan to review until my review is done. A reviewer has a responsibility to give their impressions about the book, and only the book.
I was planning to start April off with my review of Hard Man, but I published that review early, because I knew I would break down and listen to Guthrie's interview at Behind the Black Mask. I really wrestled with what to write about Hard Man, and I knew that listening to the author talk about it would likely change my impressions of the book, and, in fact, my impressions of the book have changed a little. After I published the review, the author contacted me (to thank me, not to complain), and we ended up discussing the book. That discussion has changed my perspective somewhat, but I still stand by my review, and the criticisms I leveled, because those were my initial, honest impressions, and that is what a book review should be.

Allan Guthrie at Behind the Black Mask

Allan Guthrie (who has now appeared in a record three posts in a row) has a new interview up at Behind the Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. My Internet connection has been acting up, but I'm downloading it now. Scroll one post down, or click here to read my review of Hard Man. It's one of the most disconcerting books I've ever read.

Review of Hard Man

Allan Guthrie’s latest offering, Hard Man (Polygon, 2007), is a kick in the teeth. A novel about what it means to be tough, its unflinching depiction of violence is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness.
Hard Man reintroduces Pearce, the unlucky thug who first appeared in Two Way Split, having been released from prison just in time to watch his mother get murdered in a botched post office robbery. Pearce has settled down, bought an apartment, and gotten a dog, which he has named after his mother, even though it is male.
Pearce is drifting through life, with no particular plans, when he is approached by the highly dysfunctional Baxter clan, who want him to protect their youngest member, 16 year-old May, from her husband Wallace, who has found out that the child she is carrying belongs to another man. Pearce declines to tackle Wallace, but later changes his mind when his dog disappears and Wallace is the prime suspect.
Hard Man starts out pretty tame, but once it get going it builds momentum until it goes off the rails. In that way, it resembles a Jacobean drama and, like those dramas, its greatest weakness is its unrestrained violence. At this story’s heart is an abrupt turn that rivals the final chapters of Jim Thompson’s The Getaway for sheer ugliness. The sudden shift in tone and direction is unsettling, and the act of violence that triggers it cries out for more explanation. It is not giving away too much to say that Wallace is the perpetrator, and that, while he does seem like a hard man, he never comes off as being the sort of stone crazy lunatic who is capable of doing what he does. Guthrie shifts point of view, offering the reader glimpse into the heads of each character, but the glimpses afforded into Wallace’s mindset are not enough to fully explain his actions. The more terrible an act of violence the more context it requires, and Guthrie should have let the reader spend more time with Wallace.
While one character’s motives may fall short, Guthrie’s storytelling abilities are in full effect. Unlike his second novel, Kiss Her Goodbye, there is no whodunit element, and the plot barrels along at a breakneck pace, especially for the final third of the book, where there is enough violence and dark humor to satisfy every crime fiction fan. Once Guthrie hits his stride it's over. There's no going back.
The sadism in this story will be disconcerting to all, and may be a deal breaker for those with more sensitive constitutions, but Hard Man is like a gory car crash. You look at the carnage. You look away, filled with horror. Then you look again. You can’t help it.

Crucifixion Convergence

I was kind of stunned when I saw this today. I read Allan Guthrie's Hard Man a couple of weeks ago, and (Stop reading here if you don't want to learn a plot point of Guthrie's new novel.)


it also prominently features a crucifixion. What are the odds that two prominent UK crime writers would both use a two-thousand year old method of execution in novels that are coming out at the same time? Was there some real crime they were both drawing from for inspiration, or is it an instance of hard-boiled minds thinking alike? I'll be curious to see how Bruen handles it, because I've been wrestling with that particular incident in Guthrie's book. It was an unsettling plot development and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand I was repulsed, and felt like the act needed more explanation, but at the same time I couldn't quit reading. I'm very curious to hear what Guthrie has to say about it, and will be first in line to listen to his interview at Behind the Black Mask, when it is posted tommorrow.

More News and Links than you can shake a stick at

Things have been piling up this week, so let's jump right in...

New Reading Material
International Thriller Writers new Web zine is out, including this article by Tim Maleeny author of Stealing the Dragon.


A new Thug Lit is available.

And here's a piece from the Virginian-Pilot on Hard Case Crime. (Hat tip to Tim Lockhart on the Rara-Avis mailing list)

New Publishers

New UK imprint Ocean House Press is releasing two books by David Callinan. They seem a little far-fetched for my taste, but I wish them luck with their new venture.

Akashic books has launched a new imprint, Hotel St. George Press. It's not going to be crime focused, but The Session, their initial offering, promises detectives, missing organs and a new religion. The protagonists are described as Keatonesque. Presumably they mean Buster, not Alex P. or Michael.

New News

Allan Guthrie has announced titles and publication dates for some new novels:

Kill Clock (a novella) Sept. 2007, UK. (There is no U.S. release date yet. Hopefully, someone will pick it up)

Savage Night Oct. 2007, UK; June 2008, US

Slammer April 2008, UK, June 2009, US

Also, Ray Banks' Donkey Punch, which is getting a May release in the UK will be getting a Fall 2008 release in the States.

Allan Guthrie's been busy

Allan Guthrie's been busy this weekend. He posted this article about Dan Marlowe, on his Noir Zine, and said it's a sign of things to come. That's good to hear, since the site was last updated in January of last year. Of course, Guthrie's got an excuse for not updating the site. He's got four books coming out in the next year, at least in the UK. I know Hard Man will make the jump across the Atlantic, but I'm curious to know what the other projects are and if and when they'll be making it to America. I'm sure all will be revealed in due time.
I've got my ARC of Hard Man and one of my goals for this week is to sit down and read it. I'm definitely going to review it, but I'm not sure when it will appear here. It's coming out in April in the UK with Polygon, which is an independent publisher, but it's being published by Harcourt in the States in June. That's plenty of time for me to write a review and try to find a place for it. I'm in a position where I can freelance again, so I think I might give it a shot. Wish me luck.