Authors - The Irresponsible Reader

Rattlesnake Rodeo

by Nick Kolakowski
Series: A Boise Longpig Hunting Club Noir, #2

eARC, 162 pg.
Down & Out Books, 2020

Read: September 8, 2020

In 2018, I read my first book by Nick Kolokowski, Boise Longpig Hunting Club, which is pretty much everything you think it is from the title. In the two years and change since then, I’ve read five other books by Kolokowski—well, six now. That alone should be an indication of what I think about his stuff.

What’s Rattlesnake Rodeo About?

This is the sequel to Boise Longpig Hunting Club, taking up minutes after it. Spoilerly talk about BLHC—bounty hunter, Jake; his sister, Frankie (a gun smuggler); and ex-wife/fiancé, Janine (who has nothing to do with criminals); are kidnapped by a group of super-wealthy people, and set loose in an Idaho forest while they’re being hunted. Jake and Frankie are a lot more resourceful than anyone expected—and Janine has depth that no one expected—and they end up killing all the hunters.

We rejoin them in this book headed back to Boise. They have a number of emotions and thoughts running through their minds at this time—as they should—the most prominent of them is: how are we going to get away with this? There’s no way that they didn’t leave all sorts of DNA, fingerprints and other sorts of evidence behind that’ll make forensic techs happy. And there will be scores of techs, investigators, agents and what have you at the crime scene—very rich, very important people died up there and someone is going to have to pay for that. Oh, and Frankie wants fries. You work up an appetite fighting for your life.

Karen

They quickly learn about one person who not only has links to the Longpig Hunters, evidence about Jake and Frankie’s involvement, and a reputation to make people quake in their boots. Like Prince, Madonna, or Hawk (to bring it back to crime fiction), she’s known by one name: Karen.

Quick aside: I wonder if in early drafts, she was called something like Margo or Helen, but given, well, all of 2020, Kolakowski decided to go back and change it. Or did he have enough foresight months ago to go with that?

Back to the book: Karen offers them a deal, they do one incredibly horrible task for her, or she ruins the lives and reputations of Jake, Frankie, and Janine. They have no choice…they have to find an Option C.

Gunfights, treachery, and (obviously) rattlesnakes ensue.

Frankie and Her Troops

In almost every novel I’d normally read, Frankie and her employees would be the targets of the protagonist, not their ally. But I’ve gotta say, for a bunch of gun-running criminals, benefiting from the miseries of others (and being a means to innocents being killed at the hands of their customers), they’re a lot of fun. There’s a fun sense of camaraderie and some good banter among them. They’re a pretty effective squad, too. Kolakowski could write a pretty entertaining series featuring these guys. And not just because they’re led by a man who always wears a rubber gorilla mask.

Which is fitting, considering how cool their boss is. Spenser has Hawk, Kenzie and Gennaro have Bubba, Elvis Cole has Joe Pike, Walt Longmire has Henry Standing Bear, Joe Pickett has Nate Romanowski, Sunny Randall has Spike, and Jake has Frankie. The “not-bound by the same laws and ethics that the series protagonist is” so that the protagonist can keep his/her nose clean and still get the job done. They’ll cut the corners, they’ll take and make the shots that no one else will, they’ll be the ones to use lethal force when their friend just can’t bring themselves to do it—and they won’t feel guilt (at least not enough to interfere with their ability to get things done).

Frankie is, as far as I know, the only female lethal sidekick, in crime fiction. Through grit, determination, skill, and panache—Frankie is what ultimately keeps her brother and sister-in-law breathing. It’s just fun to see a female in this role, particularly one that fits. I could never see Sunny Randall go toe-to-toe with some of the dudes she needs to without Spike (or Jesse, or Richie, or Richie’s family)—but I can see Frankie (like Lori Anderson or Charlie Fox) do it without blinking.

The Setting

I’ve talked a little about this in the other book, but it’s fun for me to see the region I’ve lived my whole life in depicted so well in these pages. I enjoy anyone finding a way to bring a crime novel to life outside of Boston, NYC, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami or LA—Elmore Leonard, Jason Miller, Craig Johnson, C. J. Box, Darynda Jones, and G. M. Ford have/continue to do a good job of that, but there needs to be more*. Kolakowski brings my corner of the world into that fold (Jayne Faith did it in Urban Fantasy, and Wesley Chu set a Tao book near where the climax of this novel took place). It’s nice not having to use my imagination much when picturing a scene, at the same time—if I’d never been anywhere near this place, Kolakowski depicts it well enough that someone from Michigan, Mississippi, or New Mexico would have no problem seeing what he’s going for.

* I don’t pretend that’s an exhaustive list, still feel free to add others I should get to know.

So, what did I think about Rattlesnake Rodeo?

You could feel the dread coming off of Jake and Frankie as they thought about the police and (probably) feds coming for them after surviving the last novel, you could feel their hatred (for Karen) and revulsion for their task for her, and you could sense the chaos, smell the smoke, and taste the air from the big scenes at the end of the novel. There are significant portions of this novel you experience as much as you read. You’ve gotta love that.

There was one death that totally caught me unprepared and left me stunned. The violence felt a little more grounded than the genre demands, but Kolakowski knows when to loosen the reins and let things go a little over the top. Which is just fun.

At the same time, there’s a great sense of enjoyment to this novel—to the characters, what they do, and how they go about it. It’s the kind of action novel that gets your fists pumping as much as anything else.

Just the fact that the novel starts with the trio worried about all the evidence they left behind made this a winner—how many characters in novels worry about that sort of thing? Add in the characters—from the oddity of Monkey Man, to the implausibly competent Frankie, to the quiet strength of Janine, to the terror that is Karen—and the great balance of tones, and you’ll see why Kolakowski is my favorite US indie Crime Novelist.

I strongly recommend Rattlesnake Rodeo, whether or not you read BLHC first, it’s a fun ride.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion, I appreciate the opportunity.

4 Stars

Happy Birthday, Archie!

By HCNewton

On October 23, 2020

In Calendar Items, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin, News/Misc., Rex Stout

My annual tribute to one of my favorite fictional characters (if not my all-time favorite). I’ve got to do an overhaul to this soon, but it is slightly updated and tweaked from last year.

On Oct. 23* in Chillicothe, Ohio, Archie Goodwin entered this world—no doubt with a smile for the pretty nurses—and American detective literature was never the same. He’s the narrator (and, I’d argue protagonist) of the questionably named Nero Wolfe mysteries. While the eccentric and overweight genius might be what brings people to the series, it’s Archie’s wit, attitude, and snappy narrative voice that brings people’s back.

* About 34 years ago, no matter what year it is that you read this.

Since I was in Middle School, if I was suffering a slump of any kind (reading, emotional, physical), time with Archie Goodwin could get me out of it. There were a few years that when I got sick, I’d grab a Nero Wolfe novel to help me get through it (along with the Vitamin C and Chicken Noodle soup), and you can’t tell me it didn’t work. Noted critic Jacques Barzun says it well:

If he had done nothing more than to create Archie Goodwin, Rex Stout would deserve the gratitude of whatever assessors watch over the prosperity of American literature. For surely Archie is one of the folk heroes in which the modern American temper can see itself transfigured. Archie is the lineal descendant of Huck Finn.

While Archie’s about as far from a teetotaler as you can get, to commemorate his birthday, I’m toasting him in one of the ways I think he’d appreciate most—by raising a glass of milk in his honor.

Who was Archie? Archie summed up his life like this:

Born in Ohio. Public high school, pretty good at geometry and football, graduated with honor but no honors. Went to college two weeks, decided it was childish, came to New York and got a job guarding a pier, shot and killed two men and was fired, was recommended to Nero Wolfe for a chore he wanted done, did it, was offered a full-time job by Mr. Wolfe, took it, still have it.” (Fourth of July Picnic)

Long may he keep it. Just what was he employed by Wolfe to do? In The Black Mountain he answers the statement, “I thought you was a private eye” with:

I don’t like the way you say it, but I am. Also, I am an accountant, an amanuensis, and a cocklebur. Eight to five you never heard the word amanuensis and you never saw a cocklebur.

In The Red Box, he says

I know pretty well what my field is. Aside from my primary function as the thorn in the seat of Wolfe’s chair to keep him from going to sleep and waking up only for meals, I’m chiefly cut out for two things: to jump and grab something before the other guy can get his paws on it, and to collect pieces of the puzzle for Wolfe to work on.

In Too Many Women, he’s a bit more concise and describes himself as the:

heart, liver, lungs and gizzard of the private detective business of Nero Wolfe, Wolfe being merely the brains

In Black Orchids, he reacts to an insult:

…her cheap crack about me being a ten-cent Clark Gable, which was ridiculous. He simpers, to begin with, and to end with no one can say I resemble a movie actor, and if they did it would be more apt to be Gary Cooper than Clark Gable.

Over at The Thrilling Detective, he’s described this way:

If Goodwin hadn’t gone to work for Wolfe, he’d certainly have his own agency by now (and temporarily does, in one novel). Far more of the traditional eye, Goodwin is a tough, handsome guy with a photographic memory, a .32 under his well-tailored suit (and sometimes an extra .38 in his overcoat pocket), and a well-developed appreciation for the ladies. And, in the opinion of more than a few cops, officials and stuffed-shirt executives, a mouth that ought to be nailed shut permanently. (Wolfe isn’t immune either – part of Goodwin’s job, as he sees it, is needling the fat man into taking cases, if only to make sure the bills get covered.) He’s not the deductive genius that Wolfe is, but a smart and tenacious op with a good right hook, and a decent and personable man. Most of all, in his narration of the books, he’s a helluva storyteller; it’s his view of the world, and his interaction with Wolfe, that keeps us coming back for each new mystery.

The Archie Goodwin FAQ is less succicnt but does a good job of laying out the facts.

I’m not the only Archie fan out there:

Someone pointed me at this post, The Wit and Wisdom of Archie Goodwin. There’s some really good stuff here that I was tempted to steal, instead, I’ll just point you at it.
Robert Crais himself when writing an introduction to a Before Midnight reprint, devoted it to paying tribute to Archie—one of the few pieces of anything written that I can say I agree with jot and tittle.

In case you’re wondering if this post was simply an excuse to go through some collections of Archie Goodwin quotations, you wouldn’t be totally wrong…he’s one of the fictional characters I like spending time with most in this world—he’s the literary equivalent of comfort food. So just a couple more great lines I’ve quoted here before:

I would appreciate it if they would call a halt on all their devoted efforts to find a way to abolish war or eliminate disease or run trains with atoms or extend the span of human life to a couple of centuries, and everybody concentrate for a while on how to wake me up in the morning without my resenting it. It may be that a bevy of beautiful maidens in pure silk yellow very sheer gowns, barefooted, singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” and scattering rose petals over me would do the trick, but I’d have to try it.

I looked at the wall clock. It said two minutes to four. I looked at my wrist watch. It said one minute to four. In spite of the discrepancy, it seemed safe to conclude that it would soon be four o’clock.

Description:I shook my head. “You’re flattering me, Inspector. I don’t arouse passions like that. It’s my intellect women like. I inspire them to read good books, but I doubt if I could inspire even Lizzie Borden to murder.”

She turned back to me, graceful as a big cat, and stood there straight and proud, not quite smiling, her warm dark eyes as curious as if she had never seen a man before. I knew damn well I ought to say something, but what? The only thing to say was ‘Will you marry me?’ but that wouldn’t do because the idea of her washing dishes or darning socks was preposterous.

“Indeed,” I said. That was Nero Wolfe’s word, and I never used it except in moments of stress, and it severely annoyed me when I caught myself using it, because when I look in a mirror I prefer to see me as is, with no skin grafted from anybody else’s hide, even Nero Wolfe’s.

If you like Anglo-Saxon, I belched. If you fancy Latin, I eructed. No matter which, I had known that Wolfe and Inspector Cramer would have to put up with it that evening, because that is always a part of my reaction to sauerkraut. I don’t glory in it or go for a record, but neither do I fight it back. I want to be liked just for myself.

When a hippopotamus is peevish it’s a lot of peeve.

It was nothing new for Wolfe to take steps, either on his own, or with one or more of the operatives we used, without burdening my mind with it. His stated reason was that I worked better if I thought it all depended on me. His actual reason was that he loved to have a curtain go up revealing him balancing a live seal on his nose.

It helps a lot, with two people as much together as he and I were, if they understand each other. He understood that I was too strong-minded to add another word unless he told me to, and I understood that he was too pigheaded to tell me to.

I always belong wherever I am.

The Nicotine Chronicles edited by Lee Child is a thing I read

By HCNewton

On October 21, 2020

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Lee Child

The Nicotine Chronicles

edited by Lee Child

Paperback, 271 pg.
Akashic Books, 2020

Read: September 26-October 19, 2020

I’ve tried to stop smoking.

I know it’s important not to smoke. In fact, it’s stupid to smoke. I smoke, but I try not to smoke. Every time I light a cigarette I think, I should not be doing this.

I want a better life. But it’s an uphill battle, it is an uphill battle because I try to do the right thing, but I don’t do the right thing. And…I smoke anyway.

Fuck it, I don’t smoke that much. The chances that something really bad will happen to me as a consequence of my smoking habit are slim. In fact, the chances that something else might happen to me for other reasons are far greater. Something will happen to me, though.

Sooner or later. That’s guaranteed.

What’s The Nicotine Chronicles

This is an anthology of stories centered around nicotine—users, their delivery system of choice, and how it shapes their thinking/lives. (you can read an excerpt from Child’s Introduction here to flesh this out a bit). There’s one or two that discuss cigars, vaping only shows up once, the rest of these focus on cigarettes (oh, I can think of one mention of a pipe, too). If you care about things like that.

Some of these sixteen stories would fit under the “Crime Fiction” umbrella, one is sort of speculative fiction, and the rest would be “General Fiction.” Not all wax rhapsodically about nicotine or tobacco—in fact, it’s usually portrayed as a pretty negative habit/substance—actually, I think it’s a positive thing only once (and not directly). So even non-/anti-smokers can read this without having to put up with a celebration of smoking or anything.

The Names I Knew

On the whole, these authors were new to me, with four exceptions.

So, I knew Eric Bogosian from miscellaneous roles, and I wasn’t surprised to see that he writes a little. His essay/monologue/first-person rant, “Smoking Jesus,” starts with the paragraphs I started this post with. It’s the best thing in this collection. Sadly, it’s only 4 pages of it. That just isn’t right.

I was surprised to see that Michael Imperioli writes, but I’m glad he does. His contribution was one of the better and more imaginative pieces.

Lee Child and Joyce Carol Oates, are names, of course, that I recognized because I’ve walked into a bookstore/library at least once in the last twenty years. Child’s story wasn’t the kind of thing that fans would expect, but was pretty decent. I appreciated what Oates was doing, but it felt a little…obvious? Unnecessary? Clichéd?

The Names that were New to Me

That leaves 12 names I’m pretty sure I’ve never run across before. None of them moved me to seek out other work of theirs, but there were only two that I actively disliked. I’d be open to reading things from all of them were I to stumble across them.

So, what did I think about The Nicotine Chronicles?

I craved a cigarette right then like I was missing not some foreign chemical but a part of my own, soul, and from each cell of my throat and my lungs, I thanked the universe that I had one.

Every story was well-written, well-executed. I’m not going to complain about the technical aspects—top-notch work, really. But the overwhelming majority of these left me cold. And even with the ones I felt most positive about I could only muster mild interest over.

I have no real animus about this, but no real reason to recommend it. It’s just something I read.

2 Stars

Pub Day Repost: Kitty’s Mix-Tape by Carrie Vaughn: One More Trip to Kitty’s World in this Collection

By HCNewton

On October 16, 2020

In Carrie Vaughn, Fiction, Kitty Norville, Urban Fantasy

Kitty’s Mix-Tape

by Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville

eARC, 288 pg.
Tachyon Publications, 2020

Read: September 12-14, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Kitty’s Mix-Tape?

That’s an easy question: this is the second collection of short stories (previously published) set in the world of Kitty Norville, the werewolf turned talk radio star. We get a lot of stories featuring Kitty and/or her friends and allies (and one foe), and we get some stories that just happen to take place in the same reality even if they really don’t have any cross-over with the series.

There’s an introduction by Emma Bull that by itself would make a great review of this book (and maybe the series). Really, writing anything else after reading Bull seems superfluous.

Kitty & the Gang

I’m going to have a hard time keeping myself from talking too much about the stories featuring Kitty and her friends—Kitty and Ben going to her 10-year high school reunion was the perfect way to start off this book. Quick, fun, and a great way back into this world.

“It’s Still the Same Old Story,” could’ve fit into The Immortal Conquistador that I talked about a few months back—except it didn’t fit into the story arc of that one. But for those who wonder what Rick was up to in the early part of the twentieth century, this will give you a good idea. This is possibly my favorite thing focusing on Rick to date.

On the eve of their wedding in Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand Ben disappears off on his own for a while, Vaughn finally lets us know what he was up to at the time. I’d forgotten all about that until I read this story, but I remember wondering then (as I was supposed to) what he’d been up to—it’s nice to have that answered.

There was a dynamite story about Detective Jessi Harden of Denver PD investigating a murder with a supernatural angle that doesn’t involve any of the series regulars. This would be the basis of a great follow-up series if Vaughn was in the mood for something. Hardin tackling “woo woo” crimes (I think that’s what the New Orleans PD calls them in the Yellowrock books) would be compelling as all get out.

One more that I want to mention is called “Kitty Learns the Ropes.” In this story, Kitty meets a professional athlete who happens to be a werewolf. Does that give him an unfair advantage? Should he disclose his situation to the world? Can’t this guy who never asked to be supernatural just live is life?

I’m going on too long, so I’ll summarize a few other standouts: there’s a fun little story with Odysseus Grant, and some cute bits with Kitty and her pack dealing with the Super Blood Moon and the like, and a showdown with some Federal Agents.

The Songs

Vaughn includes a list of songs that embody the various stories for her, which she did for the novels, too. I think if you consider this list as a track list for a mixtape, you’d end up with something that Rob Fleming (in any incarnation) would look upon with scorn. If you take them as pieces to go with the stories, it’s a lot of fun, and adds a nice little dimension to them.

I will admit that I didn’t listen to them as I read—I think it would work though. They’re also a good tool to use to ruminate on the stories a bit.

So, what did I think about Kitty’s Mix-Tape?

There wasn’t a dud in the bunch, which is rare for a short story compilation—sure, I liked the ones about Kitty and her friends best, because that’s what I came to the collection for. But I liked them all.

The back cover promises that this is “the final installment” of the series, but Vaugn talks about staying tuned because it’s great to have a pre-existing world to write stories in. If the blurb is right, I’m glad I got a little more time in this world, but I’m hoping that staying tuned will pay off.

This may not be a great introduction to the werewolf DJ named Kitty, but it might work as one just fine, it’s certainly a good tour of the world. But it’s definitely the kind of thing that Kitty’s readers should come for. It’s one of the best collections I’ve read this year—and maybe for a good chunk of last year, too. Give it a whirl.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Tachyon Publications via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Pub Day Repost: Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter Does a Favor for a Friend and Ends Up Regretting It

By HCNewton

On October 13, 2020

In Andy Carpenter, David Rosenfelt, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Silent Bite

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #22

eARC, 304 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2020

Read: September 16-18, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Wow. Andy Carpenter #22. That’s hard to believe. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I started reading these (I think back in the single digits). But all-in-all, it’s been a fun ride. How’s this one stack up?

What’s Silent Bite About?

When Andy and his family return from a holiday cruise (a novella describing that in more detail than we got here would quickly become a fan favorite, no doubt), he’s got a bunch of messages from Willie Miller. A friend, and former cellmate, of Willie’s has been arrested for murder. Both Willie and his friend, Tony Birch, want Andy to take the case and clear him. Andy wants nothing to do with a problematic looking case*, but Willie’s a friend—and Andy’s son, Ricky, has pointed out that Willie does stuff for Andy all the time. Also, Tony has a dog that’s miserable without him around.

* or any case, really.

The murder victim is one of the witnesses against Birch for the manslaughter charge that put him in prison with Willie years ago. At the trial, Tony threatened to kill him (and a few others) for turning on him, after years in a gang together. But upon his release from prison, years before this new murder, Tony had turned his life around—he owned and operated a fairly successful auto repair garage, and had no interest in criminal activity again. So why seek vengeance now?

And why be as utterly stupid with the murder weapon as the prosecution wants people to believe?

But then another witness against Tony in the original case turns up dead, and things start looking really bad for him. So it’s up to Andy and his team to save the day.

Zoey, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

I really don’t have much to say about Zoey, Tony’s dog, but I’ve never heard of her breed before—and I don’t feel too bad about that Andy hadn’t seen one before. If your day could use a little lift, take a minute or two to scroll through some pictures online. Cute dogs.*

* That’s a tautology, I realize.

The New Associate

In most of his cases, Andy Carpenter utilizes an associate to do the ugly detailed work, filing motions, looking up pertinent case law, and so on, while Andy goes around visiting people, investigating, getting saved from certain peril by Marcus Clerk, and being snarky and clever in court. He started with Kevin Randall, who owned a laundromat and gave legal advice to those who couldn’t afford it. He eventually moved on and Hike Lynch moved in—largely, I think because Hike is a more entertaining character than Kevin. Well, Hike isn’t around for this one and he suggests Eddie Dowd step in.

Eddie used to play for the Giants, but a knee injury ended that career, so he went to law school. He speaks almost entirely in sports phrases (spike the ball, put me in, pitch in, and so on). It’s fairly ridiculous, but when done right, it’s pretty funny. He’s a nice change from the Eeyore-like character that Hike had been. I’m not sure if he’ll be back, or if Hike will return—I’ll be glad to see him if he is, even if it seems like the joke about his figures of speech will get old. I have faith in Rosenfelt. I’d have thought that Hike’s extreme pessimism or Kevin’s hypochondria would.

So, what did I think about Silent Bite?

I thought the identity of the killer was pretty obvious, but Rosenfelt’s execution of the reveal and of keeping Andy from seeing the solution all along sold me. I can’t be more descriptive of that because I don’t want to tip anything. It was a great conclusion to a really solid legal thriller, that comes with all the canine affection, snappy dialogue, some clever courtroom action, and a solid plot. Pretty much what the doctor ordered.

Once we got The K Team this year, with Muzzled as well, I didn’t figure we’d have a Holiday Andy Carpenter book. Then when I saw this was coming, I worried it wouldn’t live up to the other Holiday books in this series. I kept being wrong about this book—we got it and it wasn’t a let-down. Rosenfelt managed to give us three strong novels in 2020 (hey, look, 2020 didn’t wind up in a disaster on one front!)—that right there, folks, is a sign of a professional.

Whether you’re new to the world of this would-be retired criminal defense lawyer and are in the mood for a witty and sharp legal thriller, or if you’re familiar with Andy and his associates—this will entertain you. You’d do well to give this a shot.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Even More Quick Questions With…Nick Kolakowski

By HCNewton

On October 6, 2020

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

Wow, Nick Kolakowski is back for a fourth go ’round with my questions. I’m a major fan, and really enjoy these. I hope you do, too. Be sure to check out my take on his upcoming novel, Rattlesnake Rodeo earlier today.

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How has 2020 treated Nick Kolakowski the writer—have you been able to work? Are you finding writing time vanishing into doom-scrolling or binging something? Is there a pandemic novel in your near future?

When New York City went into lockdown, I threw myself into writing and editing. It became my coping mechanism, to such a degree that I had to step away a bit a few months later. First I poured my energy into “Lockdown,” a charity anthology of horror and crime stories that I co-edited for Polis Books; proceeds went to support BINC, which is helping booksellers through this weird time. With that completed, I finished work on “Absolute Unit,” a horror novella coming out next year from Crystal Lake Publishing; I’d started writing it last year, well before the pandemic, but it has some uncomfortable echoes with what’s happening now—mass infection is a big theme. By that point, I was pretty fritzed out, so I started trying to balance out the schedule; less writing, more actually getting outside.

How was it coming back from the dystopian-SF/Crime of Maxine Unleashes Doomsday to something very contemporary, very non-SF?

It felt good! With contemporary crime fiction, you don’t have quite the same pressure of world-building as you do with sci-fi and dystopian fiction. That being said, I did struggle with the plot of “Rattlesnake” a bit—for the longest time, I had the first two-thirds written, but couldn’t figure out a way to end it that really came together.

As much as I enjoy Frankie, Jake, and Janine—the character that keeps hanging out in the back of my mind is The Monkey Man. (Shockingly, a criminal always wearing a rubber gorilla mask is memorable!) Where did he come from? Too much time spent listening to The Traveling Wilburys? I’d imagine there’d be a big temptation to go wild with the character, but you kept him fairly low-key and reserved over these two books. How’d you resist?

The Wilburys were the inspiration for the name. And there was a lot of temptation to unleash him in a particularly messy/funny/creative way. What held me back was, of all things, Hannibal Lecter.

Specifically, when I was writing “Rattlesnake,” I was also watching both Hannibal Lector movies, and what I noticed was that Hannibal was a more effective character the less he was shown doing. He’s an incredibly powerful character in “Silence of the Lambs,” but aside from talking, he doesn’t do terribly much beyond his brief escape at the end; his power comes from his reputation. In the sequel, by contrast, he’s doing lots of things, and that drains the mystique from the character; he becomes something of a hammy joke. So that curbed my impulses to do something grand with Monkey Man.

Sometimes I think I resisted that impulse a little too much, though. Someone who dresses like that is no doubt capable of some freaky shit.

Jake’s wife, Janine, is never the focus of these books, but I think she has the most interesting arc over the course of these two novels. Somehow, she and Jake have managed for years to keep her pretty isolated from his world. But in the few days these two books cover, all that’s gone away, and she reacts better than Jake (and probably Janine herself) expects. Why tell that story in the midst of all the action and chaos? Was there a version where she gets overwhelmed by everything and can’t adapt to the circumstances?

Nope! In so many thrillers, there’s this cliché of a civilian character (whether the wife, daughter, husband, etc.) who falls apart completely under stress, and I wanted to steer away from that as hard as I could. Janine’s ability to deal with the situation, I felt, also gave some additional nuance to Jake and Frankie—they’re so tough that they can’t grasp that someone like Janine, who doesn’t have any criminal or combat experience, might be totally adaptable to a hard situation; it’s a huge blind spot that reveals something about their egos.

It’s one thing for authors to make specific geographic references in New York City—most non-New Yorkers have enough of a grasp of that area to mostly understand them. To a lesser extent that’s true of LA, Chicago, Boston, etc. But in Rattlesnake Rodeo, you throw around references to the Boise-area like a native, 97% of which are going to mean nothing to anyone not from around here. Is there a risk in that? Yeah, it’s a very authentic feel, but does the authenticity outweigh the potential alienation of someone from another part of the country/world? Or in the age of a search engine, does that not matter?

I’m not sure there’s a risk in it. This summer, I read S.A. Cosby’s “Blacktop Wasteland” and David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s “Winter Counts,” both excellent thrillers/mysteries that take place in areas not well-trod by most crime fiction (rural Virginia and a Native American reservation, respectively). Both of those books have tons of esoteric detail about those locations, and it adds a lot of nice texture to the narrative. I look at “Rattlesnake” (and “Boise Longpig Hunting Club”) the same way—a substantial portion of the audience is never going to go to Nyssa or any of those towns along the Snake River; they’re never going to swing by Fanci Freez, which has some of the nation’s finest milkshakes; but hopefully all the detail gives them a sense of place.

As usual, I’ve got to ask, what’s coming down the pike? Are you far enough into your next book to talk about it?

“Absolute Unit,” a horror novella told from the perspective of a sentient parasite living inside the body of a corrupt health inspector, is the next one (mid-2021)! Then after that, there’s another novella, “Payback is Forever,” that should come out from Shotgun Honey in late 2021. The latter is my attempt at a classic Chandler-style thriller, although there’s a contemporary twist to it that the audience will hopefully never see coming.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for another great ride with Jake and Frankie!

Rattlesnake Rodeo by Nick Kolakowski: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

By HCNewton

On October 6, 2020

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

Rattlesnake Rodeo

by Nick Kolakowski
Series: A Boise Longpig Hunting Club Noir, #2

eARC, 162 pg.
Down & Out Books, 2020

Read: September 8, 2020

In 2018, I read my first book by Nick Kolokowski, Boise Longpig Hunting Club, which is pretty much everything you think it is from the title. In the two years and change since then, I’ve read five other books by Kolokowski—well, six now. That alone should be an indication of what I think about his stuff.