BONSAI

 

BONSAI

By Sandy Nicolson

Available @ Amazon

294 pgs

 

It’s the mid-1970s and on the outskirts of Salinas, California, sets an old gas station that long ago ran out of gas. Owned and operated by a South Korean immigrant known as Bonsai, the place remains open due Bonsai’s skills as a mechanic. He can pretty much fix any broken down engine built before the 90s and not attached to some kind of computer. The station also runs a small convenience store with the usual assortment of dry goods and soda for the luckless driver who wanders off the interstate in the middle of the night.

The mystery attached to the place is Bonsai’s daughter, Lily who’s origin is unknown by any of the locals.  

One day Bonsai ran the garage with his uncle, the previous owner. Then his uncled died and for a while it was only Bonsai. And then there was Bonsai and a precious, beautiful baby girl he said was his daughter, Lily. End of story, or as much as he would ever reveal to anyone. Even Lily.

The fact that he loved her more than anything in the world and did his best to provide for her, to keep her safe and happy, could not diminish her need to know about her mother. Still, Bonsai was as stubborn as his daughter. Finally, Lily left for college, became a lawyer and went to work for a prestige firm in San Francisco. Thus establishing her own life, she had nothing further to do with the stoic, impenetrable wall that was her father.

For a first novel, writer Sandy Nicolson displays and uncanny gift for memorable characters and unusual circumstances. Though none of the players in the story of Bonsai and Lily is what one would call exceptional, they remain absolutely fascinating. The riddle that has haunted them for thirty years slowly begins to unravel as the book moves to its climax and the answers to mystery are both beautiful and tragic. People, even imperfect people, can sometimes find love. If they are wise, they will hold on and never let go. Bravo, Sandy Nicolson, “Bonsai” as a truly wonderful surprise.

INTO THE NIGHT

 

INTO THE NIGHT

By Cornell Woolrich & Lawrence Block

Hard Case Crime

240 pgs.

 

Madeline is an introspective young woman caught in the depths of depression. Toying with a loaded revolver, she contemplates taking her life. Then, when setting the gun down on a desk causes it to fire accidentally, the bullet goes out the window and hits an innocent bystander. In shock, Madeline rushes to the fallen body of the young woman she has shot and cradles her tenderly as she dies.  

Fleeing the scene before the police arrive, Madeline then becomes obsessed with learning more about dead woman name Starr. With facts gathered surreptitiously from Starr’s mother, she discovers that Starr had once been happily. Then she’d suffered a broken heart due to some unspeakable act of her husband. Finding notes left behind by the deceased, Madeline comes to the conclusion that Starr had wanted to murder the man and decides in her twisted sense of obligation to fulfill Starr’s wish. But first she has to return to the city and find her target. 

Thus begins a grim, suspenseful odyssey original conceived by writer Cornell Woolrich, a master of the genre. When he died before the story could be completed, the manuscript collected dust for several decades until crime writer Lawrence Block agreed to take on the task of finishing it. That he does so brilliantly is evidence in the grim, noire styling that is uniform throughout the prose. The myriad characters Madeline encounters along her path to murder are all dour, soulless people caught up in a rat race they have personally chosen for themselves. The world “Into the Night” inhibits is one of hopelessness and ruin with death the only decent escape. It is a place both Cornell and Block are all too familiar with.

BUSTED BOOTLEG

 

BUSTED BOOTLEG

A Red Jackal Mystery

By Jonathan W. Sweet

A Brick Pickle Pulp

152 pgs

 

Of all the New Pulp avengers now battling from various publishers, one of our personal favorites is Jonathan W. Sweet’s Red Jackal. It is as if Sweet mixed up old classic pulp heroes with comic characters. Where as the Jackal is a whole lot like both Bruce Wayne, aka, Batman and Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet. He’s actually Blake Randolph, a big city publisher and handsome man-about-town. Whereas his crime fighting methods are based on ancient Egyptian skills he learned while traveling abroad.

In this adventure, Red Jackal takes on several Minnesota based criminal gangs who are trying to fix college football games. As ever aided by his brother, Daniel, his chauffeur Geoffrey and police Lt. MacDaniels, Randolph has his hands full in this face paced actioner. Kudos to writer Sweet, who, although his main characters are fictitious, sets them against real Minnesota history, to include famous criminal personas.

In all a really fun read that is packaged along with a bonus short story at the back, “The Hell Bus.” We also what to give a worth shout out to the folks responsible for this entry interior illustrations. They were quite effective in adding to the drama.

LEVON'S PREY

 

LEVON’S PREY

Levon Cade Book # 10

By Chuck Dixon

Rough Edge Press

164 pgs

 

This being the tenth of twelve books, we can with a sigh announce that we are finally getting caught up with Chuck Dixon’s fantastic series. In “Levon’s Prey,” he learns almost too late that his destroying a child sex slave ring has somehow been connected to him by a corrupt politician. A seedy lowlife investigator hunts down Cade’s family and threatens their lives. Having no other recourse, Levon, after saving a friend caught in the crossfire of his personal battles, goes hunting after the hunters. It’s a typical Dixon twist and the book, like all other Levon Cade thrillers, is packed with action.

Only two more for this happy reviewer to get to. And of course we’re all keeping tabs on the new Levon Cade movie that just went into actual production. Oh yeah, for Levon and his legion of fans, things are really, really good.

DEATH COMES TOO LATE

 

DEATH COMES TOO LATE

By Charles Ardai

Hard Case Crime

399 pgs

 

What we have here is a collection of crime short stories by writer/editor Charles Ardai. Twenty in all and each is a gem. Though somewhat depressing in large part, there is no denying Ardai’s writing chops. He knows how to spin a tale. How to hook the reader and pull along all the way to the place where the trapdoor opens up beneath him. And there are a good deal of these O’Henry type moment in this grand collection. 

There is plenty of suspense, pathos, humor and tragedy all woven together in this cornucopia of what we call life. Ironically our two favorite tales are the end pieces. “The Home Front” is a story about life in the US during World War Two and the last yarn “The Investigation of Things” is a dandy little murder mystery that takes place in a Chinese monastery. All in all, “Death Comes Too Late” is a really nice package you’ll want to unwrap again and again.

WYATT & THE DUKE

 

WYATT & THE DUKE

By Patrick Cirillo

A Story Killer Publication

298 pgs

 

There’s a story around Hollywood that one day a reporter asked actor John Wayne about how he learned his “hero” way of walking that was distinctive in all his western movies. The Duke supposed replied, “I learned it from Wyatt Earp.” It is with such oft told vignettes that Hollywood veteran Patrick Cirillo weaves this particular story.

 

The facts are these. Marion Morrison, a former football star, dropped out of college and went to work as a stunt man for Republic Pictures. It is said he was hired by the first big cowboy start of the Silver Screen, Tom Mix and then subsequently met the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp. Earp at the time was well into his 70s and occasionally asked to consult on western themed pictures. As whether Duke, Morrison’s nickname, and Earp became more then just acquaintances is the stuff from which grandiose “what if” yarns are woven.

In Carillo’s scenario, Duke is recruited by a popular Hollywood director to start in a bio-pic of Wyatt Earp. Earp is then hired to tutor the naïve, greenhorn actor on how to portray him in the film. At first their relationship is anything but affable. The senior Earp sees the college dropout as a wet-behind-the-ears wannabe whose only assets are his rugged good looks and ready fists when it comes to fight. While Duke, constantly berated by Earp, begins to see his hero as nothing but a cantankerous old man devoid any genuine kindness.

When a beautiful Hollywood actress with whom Duke is romantically involved, dies of a drug overdose, he suspects foul play. Soon, with Earp’s help, they discover the supplier was a former lover scorned the lady’s rejection. They also learn he’s one of several brothers all working under the guidance of their criminal father. To take on this crooked, brutal clan, the two will have to put aside their differences and learn to work as a team…or die trying.

“Wyatt & The Duke” is one of the books that comes along all too rarely and is a pure delight. So much so, this reader found himself wondering how such a real adventure might have gone.

THROUGH THE WILD GATE

 

THROUGH THE WILD GATE

By Dale Cozort

Chisel & Stone Publishing

198 pgs

 

Science fiction writer Dale Cozort has a flair for writing alternate time-line adventures and cross-dimensional platforms. In this novel, he offers up a world where very rich men discovered strange gates that lead to an alternate Earth still existing in prehistoric times. They call it the Wild and it is populated by sabertooth tigers, giant bears, things called dire wolves and of course massive furry mastodons. Oh, and early humans barely above ape evolution called Magi inhabit this savage world.  

Now armed with both the knowledge and whereabouts of these “gates” these wealthy men form a Council of the richest families. Each family lays claim to a gate and proceeds to establish a compound on the other world in the Wild. Among these families is the Thornburgs led by patriarch Robert Thornburg who, in a reckless moment of fancy, fathers a daughter with a Magi servant girl. The resulting half-breed child is a girl he names Robinette. Then, despite the hue and cry of other members of the Council and his own children, twins Tom and Leah, Thornburg decided to keep Robinette and raise her here in our world. He soon learns she is not only massively strong, she also possesses a geniur I.Q. and quickly earns a college degree in physics. All the while Tom and Leah  would love nothing better than to have her disappear. 

Ultimately Robinette is drugged, kidnapped and dropped tied and bound in the Wild where she is expected to die. She does not. Rather she manages to survive and sneak back into our world via a gate and is discovered by former Private Investigator, Eric Carter, now employed by father in a security role. Carter has affections for Robinette and upon learning of what happened to her, puts his neck on the line by hiding her from the Council, and her own family. Their job, to solve the mystery of who is trying to sabotage the Thornburgs and steal their power position.

Cozort’s book is a fun read with lots of fascinating characters. None more so than Robinette and the world of the Gates. What lies through them is something to ponder. He almost makes it look attractive. If you like way-out sci-fi, look no further than “Through The Wild Gate.” It’s a hell of a ride.