One Man's Opinion: FACTORY TOWN by JON BASSOFF

 Factory Town by Jon Bassoff

‘This here is a town of sin, a town of sadness, a town of hatred. Every dam person is guilty of something.’

I’m sure we all think about what the moment before death will be like from time-to-time. I’m hoping that when it’s my turn, my body will be pumped full of natural hormones and chemicals designed to take as much fear, pain and anxiety from the process as possible.

For the man who walks into a stranger’s house at the beginning of Factory Town, his journey into oblivion most certainly isn’t a pleasant experience. At three minutes to twelve, he puts a bullet in to his brain. The time is important as it is the device Bassoff uses to help us settle in to what is about to happen and the book takes a huge leap into a new space.

We meet Russell Carver. Essentially he’s in a living hell. He’s landed in Factory Town charged with the duty of finding a girl whom he believes is in imminent danger. All he has to go on to help find her is a small picture printed from the computer.

As he goes about his search, he walks down one dead end after another.

Wherever he turns, he arrives in a place populated by the grotesque. The town is described vividly, as are the characters, and the sense of darkness and depravity is really powerfully created. It's a bit like the Old Testament, only without God.

The dream-like quality to the piece is superbly crafted. It allows for unusual events to take place and for sudden shifts in time and place. The people populating Factory Town are often those who are familiar to Carver from his life. His school friend, Charlie, pops up to give him a helping hand of sorts. With friends like Charlie, Carver certainly doesn’t need any enemies, but unfortunately that’s something he’s not in control of.

Like any dream, however, it always feels real and entirely plausible when you’re in it, which only adds to the nightmare.

Carver limps from one unpleasant experience to another. He finds that there are no children in Factory Town. He comes to understand that The Cowboy is a sinister figure who controls the area. He witnesses the slow corrosion of the population and infrastructure caused by the factory that is the centre of it all:

‘Strange things are happening, he said. It’s all because of the factory. All the chemicals leaking into the town’s hippocampus.’

According to the townsfolk, there are no children in the town. No children shall be born there by decree. Carver is confused by this when he meets the torchbearer of hope in the town. He’s a young boy who dresses as a super-hero called The Annihilator. With his plastic swords he’s out to sort the world out, no matter how powerful the forces of evil are.

As the book progresses, it becomes clear that recurring themes are pulling Carver in one direction, which leads him to the truths of his own life. By the end of the read, we can understand a little about that life and about the pain and sorrow that abusive relationships can cause and how such abuse can be passed on from one generation to the next like a family heirloom.

 

'You need to let go of my wrist. You don't want to end up like your father, do you?'

There’s so much to like about this book. It’s relentless in its portrayal of the broken. It has a real raw power in the structure of sentences and worlds. There’s a gripping need to follow this man on his journey and as his quest unfolds and the need to understand becomes ever more pressing.  I also thoroughly enjoyed Bassoff’s trademark style of ignoring speech marks as punctuation; this allows a flow and power to conversation that is hard to find.

Factory Town is a work of real weight. It has the impact and a hold that comes with all great books. It’s also sticking around in my head weeks after reading, which says a lot. It says more that those recollections still make me shudder.

Tremendous.

One Man's Opinion: DEVIL IN THE DETAIL by ED JAMES

 

 

Given the weight of what is going to happen tomorrow here in Scotland, it seems to me to be a good time to offer my dystopian short Sleeps With The Fishes for free today.

It also seems like an apt time to celebrate a smart piece of Scottish writing, so here goes.

In Devil In The Detail, Scott Cullen returns to work after the traumas of the Schoolbook case and is quickly back in the middle of the action when the body of a young girl with Additional Support Needs is discovered by a dog walker in the middle of East Lothian.

It’s not long before Cullen realises he’s in some kind of police hell.

Bain is leading the investigation and goes about it with a familiar recklessness and a determination to fit reality into his model of the crime at any costs. Bain’s attitude rubs up the local police in the wrong way and the atmosphere becomes charged.

As if this weren’t enough, Cullen is dealing with the starchy attitudes of the county’s upper-middle classes. He also finds himself involved with a small-but-expanding religious sect which has a leader who practically defines sinister. It also turns out that his leading suspect for the murder can’t be found, not matter how much effort the police make.

The majority of the story focuses upon developments in the case and Cullen’s drive to solve what is soon to become a double murder. As it unfolds, the dark and sordid elements of the case are brought sharply into focus. Underneath all of this is a whodunit that is very well put together. There’s plenty of theorising to be done and the outcome is likely to remain tantalisingly out of reach until the final pages no matter how familiar you are with the genre.

One Man's Opinion: DARE ME by MEGAN ABBOTT

What a brilliant book Dare Me is.

It tells the story of a cheerleading team that are taken over by a new coach who wants to do things a little differently to her predecessor. Among the first things Coach French does is to remove the role of captain from the all-powerful Beth. In doing so, she sets in motion a complex chain of events that will see the cheerleaders’ pyramid tumble like a house of cards in the wind.

Beth’s a dangerous young lady. She has the ability to find out anything she wants about anyone in her town and has the malice to use the information she’s gathered for her own ends. (“Beth with her clenched jaw, about to unsnap. It reminds me of something I learned once in biology: a crocodile’s teeth are constantly replaced. Their whole life, they never stop growing new teeth”).

It doesn’t take long for Beth to uncover something on Coach, her latest enemy. Coach is having an affair with a young recruiting soldier. Beth sets out to use her knowledge of the affair in a way that generals ply their cunning and tactical awareness on the battlefield.

Caught in between the sparring of Beth and Coach is the narrator, Addy. Addy hears things from both sides and it really messes with her head. This confusion is amplified hugely when Addy becomes trapped in the middle of a murder investigation where the two queens on the block play her like a pawn in a game of chess.

Addy’s a brilliant narrator. She articulates the deepest of her feelings with wonderful frankness. Her voice is almost poetic, being full of rhythms that serve to perfectly create and then echo the mood of a moment. The sentences have a wonderful quality to them. They seem fragile and delicate and reflect something of the way in which Addy perceives herself. It’s a wonder that from these building blocks, Megan Abbott has created a work that is full to the brim with menace and that such sentences have been placed together in such a way that the story is always riveting.

This novel works on so many levels. It delves into the lives of a cheerleading team and explores some of the dynamics, drive and relationships within the group in a fascinating way. If offers a window into a world of texting and social networking that plays on some of the worst fears I hold for my children. It peels off layers of teenage life to expose the translucent hopes and anxieties of the young. It’s a brilliant example of successful plotting and narration.

My only query about anything in the book, and it’s a tiny thing, is the use of a prologue. It’s a scene taken from the middle of the book and it does firmly establish the story’s compass as pointing towards the dark and sinister. To my mind, this wasn’t necessary as the power of the actual opening would have done the job perfectly for me.

Dare Me is written with such a strong narration, the present tense of which adds to the sense of rawness and sense of being exposed, that I fear the author must have needed a spell of therapy afterwards to recover from the trauma of the experience.

I’ll loop back to the beginning. Dare Me is a brilliant book that I believe with enrich any reader’s collection. Not to be missed.

One Man's Opinion: WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON by GERRARD BRENNAN / JACK TUNNEY

You do know that you can pre-order a copy of Gerard Brennan’s new novel, Undercover: A Cormac Kelly Thriller don’t you? That it’s published by Blasted Heath and that it’s cheaper now at 89p / $1.41 than when it’s released at the end of this month?

Good. That’s OK then.

Of course, if you didn’t, you might want to know about some of his other books. Here’s one I really loved over the summer.

Welcome to the Octagon (Fight Card MMA) is a neat little addition to the Fight Card series. It opens with a fight between the narrator, Mickey, and Psycho Sid. It’s a brutal affair from the depths of the unlicensed and anything goes MMA.

Winning the fight should bring pleasure to Mickey, but instead it only brings him grief. He’s kicked out of his gym by Eddie Smith who has high hopes for his star fighter Barry ‘Boom Boom’ Boyd.

Mickey turns to a new manager who promises he can get him onto the BJJ wrestling cards. The thing about the new manager is that he’s as likely to pull a fast one as certainly as his name (Swifty) suggests.

He intends to lead Mickey up the garden path and takes the reader along for a real treat in the process.

Mickey’s a great character. He’s a down-to-earth hard man and a single parent. This latter state of affairs means that he’s obliged to keep his anger in check. Not easily done. He’s certainly a guy to root for in spite of his imperfections.

The fight scenes in the book are really well written and are gripping in more ways than one. The sequence of events feels wonderfully real and the outcome is perfectly played out.

It’s very entertaining and has a truly refreshing style. Now go get.  Both of them!

One Man's Opinion: A WIND OF KNIVES by ED KURTZ

There’s a dark feel to this A Wind Of Knives right from the off. The opening offers a strong sense of the world being a tiny pinprick within huge universe, a pinprick where all human activity takes place.

Daniel’s been running a farm in Texas, with only the one ranch hand left as the remainder have either joined up to fight in the civil war or run away to avoid joining up. This hand is Steven Houpe and when we get to meet him, he’s hanging from a Juniper tree as a mutilated corpse. His crime? Sodomy. He’s a strange fruit, to be sure.

The book takes Daniel on his journey to find revenge. On the way he comes across outlaws and rangers, card games and killings, all of which give the story a strong sense of the spirit of the age.

The question as to why Daniel’s need to find revenge is so deep rooted was my main drive to turn the pages. There are also questions relating the involvement of the James brothers and why they have such strong reactions to Houpe’s death. All of these characters have very strong motives  and are prepared to go an awfully long way to find satisfaction.

I really enjoyed this novella. The description is vivid, the sense of detail strong and it has many of the accoutrements that one might expect to find in a Western. The characters have real depth and their potential actions know no boundaries. Best of all for me is 

Daniel’s view of the world, from an internal and external point of view.

When Ed Kurtz deals the cards, he certainly hands out a couple of aces.

One Man's Opinion: THE IRON WILL OF SHOESHINE CATS by HESH KESTIN

Schools are open for business again. I’m back in the classroom and my children are about to begin their routines again.

I’ve had a lovely summer. Among other things, trips to Italy, Ireland and Preston offered a broad range of experience and allowed a good deal of reading time. I’ll have a string of reviews to post when I find my blogging legs again.

There’s been a good deal happening of late.

All Due Respect announced a string of exciting publications for the months ahead and it’s well worth checking out their announcement here. Just to add a little more sweetness to their news, you can still get a free copy of All Due Respect Issue 2 for your kindle. I suspect it’s the last day on this one, so don’t delay.

I’m also chuffed to see that Kate Horsley’s novel which is a sequel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It’s called The Monster’s Wife and I’m expecting find that it’s utterly brilliant. If nothing else, go over and check out the cover. It’s certainly original and I’m still undecided about whether I love or hate the thing.

I managed to read a couple of Gerard Brennan’s titles while I was away. They’re both great reads. It’s great to see that he now has a new one published by the amazing Blasted Heath that’s available for pre-order (I’ve booked my copy). It’s called Undercover: A Cormac Kelly Thriller and you can get yours by following the link. While you’re there, check out another Blasted Heath pre-order from Anonymous-9, a follow up to the excellent Hard Bite called Bite Harder.
As if that wasn't enough, you can also get a free kindle copy of Anthony Neil Smith's 'All The Young Warriors', a real 5 star book that always seems to be topical these days.

Last but not least, you can get yourself a free copy of Beat On The Brat (and other stories) today if you so wish.

And so to the review. My thoughts on The Iron Will Of Shoeshine Cats by Hesh Kestin.

Russell Newhouse is a clever student of literature who earns a little cash working for the Brooklyn Jewish Men’s Society back in 1963. It’s a quiet, occasional job that suits him just fine. Quiet, that is, until the day the gangster Shushan ‘Shoeshine’ Cats enters the hall one day.

Here’s how Russell describes Cats:

‘The figure...was one of those small men native to Brooklyn who appeared to have been boiled down from someone twice the size, the kind who when the doctor tries to give an injection the needle bends...If you cut off his fists he would go after you with the stumps of his arms; cut off his legs and he would wriggle like a snake and bite into your femoral artery until you died and he drowned in the blood. Even the Italian gangsters stayed away.’

Cats is an amazing character. He’s a mobster with a huge heart and a sharp tongue. He lifts Russell (Russy) from his life and takes him into his own world for the period of Cats’ wife’s funeral and beyond.

From that point, Russy tells the story of a short period of time into which an enormous amount is packed.

There's the complicated and fragile eco-system of the various territories of the time. He falls for Cats’ sister, big time. He takes a kicking from some overly-protective Irish brothers. He’s seen as Shoeshine’s protégé and thus becomes the centre of attention for the police and the FBI. There are stories about Korea and there’s plenty of politics, including a line that works right through the assassination of JFK. Before long, Russy’s leading the mob and is appearing on the front-pages of the newspapers.

It’s a dense tale and there were times that it took a little effort to stick with it for me, particularly the sections related to literature – these guys are so well-read it’s humbling.

Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

For me the real strength is in the sharp description and the acidic, quick-fire wit that’s in evidence throughout. It really focuses things and gives a wonderful sense of the people involved, the time and the place. As Russy’s world becomes more absurd, the plot twists around him like a python and it’s not clear until the end just why he’s been chosen for his role or whether he can emerge from all of this unscathed.

A very satisfying and entertaining read.

 

 

Voices Of Battle-Scarred America from The Edinburgh International Book Festival

 

I was lucky enough to get to see a great event at the Edinburgh Book Festival last night.

Willy Vlautin has become a massive favourite of mine of late and as soon as I saw him in the programme, I booked my ticket. He was appearing with Michael Pitre, someone I’d no idea about. The event was entitled Voices Of Battle-Scarred America and that just added to the expectation. The host was to be another new name for me, musician James Yorkston.

The organisers deserve some credit for their combining of these two authors. Vlautin and Pitre share much in common, not least in the themes of their novels which seem to overlap while covering different ranges of territory. They’re both highly engaging, extremely likable and clearly have a talent for telling stories. I think it’s also likely that they’re both measured in their use violence in their work – it’s there and it’s brutal, but because it’s only occasional it has extra power and emotion to it. I say ‘also likely’ because I’ve not read either of the main books being discussed.

Fives And Twenty-Fives is only just out and I’ll definitely be buying a copy. The Free, Vlautin’s latest, I’m saving because I want his voice around when I start writing my next novel; for some reason his work makes me want to be tell stories more than any other I’ve come across and he also has such an easy way with words that he somehow lubricates my thinking and my typing fingers.

Pitre was a marine who served in Iraq. He spoke with sincerity and passion about his experiences in the war and since then as a writer. The guy has a superb tone and depth and he had me riveted to his words. The passage he read out focused on ex-servicemen struggling with life in an ordinary bar. It was visceral while being full of a subtlety which allowed a small incident to tell a huge story.

 

Vlautin was completely brilliant. He has stories coming out of his ears. The Oregon lilt to his voice is utterly charming and his piecing together of tales to form a larger, wonderful tapestry is quite something to behold. The section he read was about a man on the rocks buying doughnuts and it spoke volumes about life. Vlautin described the snippet as ‘a day in the life of a life on the brink’. Perfect. I also loved his philosophy regarding people. That we shouldn’t be so judgemental about folk because we have no idea about the amount of weight they’re carrying around on their backs and in their hearts. I hope a little of that rubs off on me.

The pair complimented each other extremely well. They had enough respect for and knowledge about each-other’s writing that they were able to ask excellent questions that offered revealing answers. They're prepared to talk about an all-too-often neglected subject in regard to war vets and I hope their work opens up some interesting conversations about it.

A little nod to Mr Yorkston, too. It took a while for him to settle and he maybe spoke a little too much at the off, but he soon found the right balance. He’d clearly read the books and had understood them well. By the end he was handling things like an old pro – maybe better than an old pro – and his own gentle humour was a real bonus and helped get the best out of the writers I’m pretty sure.

I don’t get to author events as much as I used to, but this was a reminder of why I should get myself back into gear and check out more. There’s nothing quite like it.