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Seems I’ve backed my way in.

Here’s a snippet of the review:

FUZZY NAVEL
In the beginning were the three murderous members of The Urban Hunting Club: Swanson, Munchel and Pessolano. Conceived by Swanson in righteous anger, TUHC has taken it upon itself to kill perverts. Rob Siders, who attacked Swanson’s beloved wife…
May 15, 2008 — Kirkus Reviews — Konrath, J.A.¹

Here’s the story:

I did some freelance work for J.A. Konrath a couple of years ago. Instead of working for cash, I traded for signed first editions of his books, the ARC for DIRTY MARTINI, a multi-author signed copy of THESE GUNS FOR HIRE, and a slew of mags in which he’s had short stories published.²

He also named a character after me³ in FUZZY NAVEL, his forthcoming Jack Daniels thriller.

Next time I’ll be sure to go in through the front door.

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1. If anyone’s got access to the full review, shoot me an e-mail at rob at 52 novels dot com. I’d love to read the whole thing. [⇑]
2. I’ll also consider a similar arrangement with other authors. Use that e-mail address in the footnote above to contact me. [⇑]
3. All I know is that the character named for me deserves to die. [⇑]

39 Not sure what to call this book. The sequel’s sequel? I’m being a little flip because I don’t know whether I liked this book.

Mark Winegardner wrote another pageturner. But it’s not as if he did it from nothing. The characters from the Universe That Puzo Made are already rich and well known.

It’s as if Winegardner’s writing fan fiction… albeit much, much better fan fiction than what typically gets pooped onto a page. After all, the guy’s no slouch. He was handpicked by Mario Puzo’s family to carry on the series. It’s quite an honor, really.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I didn’t hate this book—it passed the 100-page test with ease.

But I’d never put this one on a list of books to recommend. Read it if you’re committed to the series. Read it if you’re in the mood for something familiar, and you’ve already blazed through the latest thrillers from Patterson, Evanovich, and Finder. If not, skip it and you’ll never miss it.

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38 I picked this book for two reasons:

1. Lots of crime fic readers—Lehane fans a given—recommended it highly.
2. I knew the movie was getting lots of advance buzz, so I wanted to read it before I saw it.

That said, I waited to write this review (which I’m doing on November 11th… the post date says October 17th) because I wanted my opinion of the movie and the book both to stand on their own. I’m not sure why it mattered to me. It just did.

Now, three weeks after the fact, I wish I’d done them together because, quite frankly, the review for the book would’ve been just two words long: LOVED IT!

My prior experience reading Lehane was UNTIL GWEN, a short story complied in the 2005 volume of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES. I loved that, too. (Not a complete Lehane neophyte, I’d also seen the movie version of MYSTIC RIVER.)

So why had I taken so long to drink up more of Lehane’s brilliance? Ignorance? Nah. More like “too many books, not enough time.” We all know how that story goes.

In a way I’m glad I’ve left Lehane off my TBR for so long. I’m late to the party, yes, but I got here when all the good shit happens.

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37 What do you get when you mix a drunk, down-and-out former-PI with a trio of beautiful girls and a murder?

The perfect Ed McBain novel, that’s what.

Well, perfect might be a stretch. Let’s just say it’s a perfect Ed McBain novel from his salad days. By the time THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE was hit the drugstore paperback rack, he’d already published his critically acclaimed book, THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, under his other pseudonym, Evan Hunter. But he still needed a way to pay the rent.

Poof. Ed McBain the crime novelist was born.

To be honest, I’ve read better books from the era—a number of David Dodge’s fine works come to mind—but this one still had everything I look for in the genre: a milquetoast or two, a handful of tough guys, a few fist fights, some large-breasted sweater girls, and one reluctant hero (or anti-hero) with little choice but to solve the murder to clear his name.

Plus, it’s from the fine folks at Hard Case Crime. How could I lose?

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36 ”The road the Hell is paved with good intentions.”

Whoever uttered this famous quote—it wasn’t Samuel Johnson—knew what he was talking about.

Such is the tale of CON ED’s Kip Largo, a wannabe reformed con man who gets pulled back into the game to save his son from the States-side edition of the Russian Mob.

In the span of twenty four hours, Largo—recently out of prison and working at a Silicon Valley dry cleaner—is:

• Tempted with $100,000 by a beautiful woman who wants him to pull a con on her older mega-wealthy, venture capitalist, Italian Mob-connected, casino developer husband.
• Visited by his twenty-something, drifter, ne’er-do-well son… who happens to have a $60,000 gambling debt with the aforementioned Russian Mob.
• Called out of the blue by a former con-game associate (who’s also a high-priced call girl turned porn industry producer/entrepreneur).

Too many coincidences, yes?

You can see where this is going… just like Largo did. Just like I did.

Still, I liked this book. Klein tells an entertaining, fast-paced story while sprinkling in a few backgrounder chapters describing classic cons along with how—and why—they work. (Pay attention to these… they’re there for a reason.)

Beware, though. I couldn’t help but feel this was somewhat of a trunk novel, written some time ago and then recently dusted off by Klein.

The copyright date on this book says 2007, but a good portion of the book hinges on the “sign checks first, ask for a business plan later” ethic so popular during the go go days of the Internet boom.

What I know about VCs and how they operate could fill a thimble, but I’m quite certain they do things considerably different than they did since the bubble burst in 2000.

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