Tag: Matt Spiller

DETAILS:
Series: Matt Spiller, #2
Publication Date: April 18, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 431 pg.
Read Date: June 4-10, 2024

What’s Bad Actors About?

Matt Spiller, Man Down‘s actor turned cab driver turned vigilante made it to Hollywood. His first feature film is about to drop, he’s on the verge of starring in a premier TV show—all his dreams have come true.

And then his agent from England drops in unannounced—blackmailing Spiller for a significant amount of his earnings.

Then the detective who couldn’t quite put him away in England shows up, wanting to pin the murder of another action star to him.

And a would-be up-and-coming actor starts acting aggressively toward him.

His ex-wife and her new flame are coming to town.

Maybe some of his nightmares are coming true, too.

Spiller being Spiller, there’s really only way way for him to react—and that’s violently.

But before it’s over, there’s going to be a lot more going on than Spiller trying to keep his career and money going on. He’s going to make some powerful enemies and may stop some horrible people from doing some horrible things. But he’s not going to be able to lie down with these pigs and not get dirty himself.

A Manifesto on the Movies

In between the mayhem and hijinks—several people from various backgrounds sound off on the state of movies today. I think they speak for a lot of us when it comes to complaining about violence, spectacle, shallow characters, and more at the cost of story, plot, and craft.

These complaints—coming from Pepper’s characters, and any number of people in the real world—aren’t going to change things. But it’s sure nice to read. Choir members do appreciate being preached to.

From Everyman To . . . ?

So, in Man Down, Matt Spiller was kind of an everyman who found himself in a situation beyond his control and reacted in ways that…well, few everymen would.

In Bad Actors, Spiller is on the verge of a Hollywood career. His first movie is about to be released, and the buzz is pretty strong (particularly after a memorable appearance on a late-night show). He has more money than he knows what to do with.

It’s harder to root for him this time—partially because of his success, but only minimally really. Actually, Spiller doing well after everything he endured is vicariously encouraging. But it’s everything that he does to maintain his new position in life that makes it difficult. Things go up and down—so your estimation of his actions and motivations fluxuate as well (as they may have during Man Down).

This has no effect on the entertainment value of the novel—just your perspective on Spiller.

So, what did I think about Bad Actors?

This is a sequel to Man Down, but there’s also an aspect that makes it more—if you’ve read Pepper’s Veteran Avenue or Man on a Murder Cycle

Do you need to have read Man Down before this? Nope. You learn everything you need to know about Spiller and the rest here. Would it add to the experience? Sure. And I enjoyed Man Down more, so it wouldn’t be the worst idea to pick it up.

As for Bad Actors? It was a heckuva ride. I was less than satisfied with the way that several aspects of the storylines wrapped up—and not merely due to the outlandish nature of them. I still recommend it.

I’m a little unsure how to wrap this up beyond that—so I’m just going to borrow my conclusion from my Man Down post—Bad Actors is a good sequel in that way.

This was a bonkers read—that’s a compliment, in case that wasn’t clear. On the one hand, it’s impossible to predict how Pepper is going to start at Point A and end up anywhere near Point Z, but he does, and when you look back at it, the logic is clear and sound.

I can’t tell you how many times he pulled the rug out from under me (he does the same to Matt almost as often)—sometimes eliciting a laugh, sometimes shock and dismay, sometimes I was so dumbfounded as not to know how to react. [deleted because of the stuff I talked about in the above section]

The humor is dark, the action is frequent and dynamic, with [many] characters that you want to get to know better and see more of. I’m not sure what else to say at this point without giving away everything, so let’s just go with if you’re in the mood for a Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride of a thriller, get your mitts on this one pronto.

3.5 Stars

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Man Down by Mark Pepper: The Wrong Man in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

By HCNewton

On February 24, 2022

In Book Tour, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Man Down

by Mark Pepper

DETAILS:
Series: Matt Spiller, #1
Publisher: Red Dog Press
Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Format: eARC
Length: 428 pages
Read Date: February 21-22, 2022

The Proper Mindset

Do you like movies (or shows) like Fargo,* where regular, everyday folks find themselves in the middle of some sort of large criminal activity? Things go quickly out of control and before they know it, this regular guy is kidnapping people, covering up killings, disposing of bodies, planning heists, and whatnot. If that’s your kind of thing, buckle up, because you’re in for a ride.

*I had a handful of other titles I was going to invoke, but as soon as I started the sentence, they vanished.

If Fargo ain’t your thing, if Elmore Leonard or Eoin Colfer’s Crime Novels don’t work for you, well, you might want to skip Man Down, unless you’re looking for someone to change your mind about this type of thing.

What’s Man Down About?

Matt Spiller is our Everyman—he’s a taxi driver, he’s a devoted dad, he’s separated from his wife, and his life is about to be turned upside down. And then shaken up, bounced around, chewed up, and spit out.

One Christmas Eve night, after dropping off a fare, he sees a couple of men who look like they’re about to attack her. Without thinking about it, Matt steps in and prevents that—they won’t be harming anyone for a while. This isn’t something he typically does, but the woman he rescued doesn’t know that. Which leads to an interesting business proposition…

Meanwhile, his 16-year-old daughter doesn’t make it home for Christmas—she’s off with her new (older) boyfriend. When she eventually gets home, Matt and his wife are told that she’d been prevented from leaving or calling them. Also, a police officer warns Matt about the boyfriend—his criminal C.V. is truly impressive if you’re the sort who’s impressed by that sort of thing. Matt and his wife are going to have to do something drastic to keep this creep away from their girl. But maybe they go too far…

That’s a thumbnail of the first 12% of the book. There’s no way to summarize the next 88%, even if I was the kind of guy who’d do that. Where those two storylines take Matt and his family can only be read to be believed.

Helen

It’d be easy to give all of your attention to Matt and his antics while reading/talking about this book, but that’d be a mistake. The women in his life really deserve a lot of attention.

His daughter Sophie, a Minions addict, is one of the cutest kids you’ll encounter in print this year. Sammy, the girl with lousy taste in men, is strong, determined, and would probably have found a way out of her trouble on her own, thank you very much. Emma, the fateful fare…okay, I don’t know how to describe her—but man, she’s intriguing (and then some).

But Helen, Matt’s wife (at least for now), is something else. She’s had it up to here with his Depression, his dead-end job, and any number of other failings he has. She still loves him, but she has to do what she can for herself and their daughters. This spills over to how she approaches a boss who’s been harassing her constantly, Sammy’s boyfriend, the repercussions of what happens after Christmas, and everything else to do with Matt. Helen’s the kind of character you’d like to meet in real life, just to hang out and get to know a little bit.

That Reveal

There’s a reveal that’s so big that I want to spend a few paragraphs talking about it. I won’t, don’t worry, but I want to. When you get to it, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll cackle a bit. Then you’ll have to flip through the pages to check a few things to see how Pepper played you. Then you’ll chuckle some more and dive back in to see how this new understanding of everything plays out—and you’ll be eager to do so, because this book that had been a compelling read has become something new, something richer, something more twisted and fun. What you won’t know is that there’s another reveal or two coming, and that you shouldn’t get comfortable.

So, what did I think about Man Down?

This was a bonkers read—that’s a compliment, in case that wasn’t clear. On the one hand, it’s impossible to predict how Pepper is going to start at Point A and end up anywhere near Point Z, but he does, and when you look back at it, the logic is clear and sound.

I can’t tell you how many times he pulled the rug out from under me (he does the same to Matt almost as often)—sometimes eliciting a laugh, sometimes shock and dismay, sometimes I was so dumbfounded as not to know how to react. But there’s a lot more going on than just unpredictability—Matt keeps coming across as a poor guy just trying to do the best he can—and failing with horrible results. But you never stop pulling for him.

The humor is dark, the action is frequent and dynamic, with characters that you want to get to know better and see more of. I’m not sure what else to say at this point without giving away everything, so let’s just go with if you’re in the mood for a Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride of a thriller, get your mitts on this one pronto.

4 Stars

My thanks to Red Dog Press for the invitation to participate in this reveal and the materials (including the novel) they provided. The opinions expressed are mine and honest.