Tagged posts — 52 Novels

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about THE CONCRETE MAZE, by Steven Torres. Yesterday, Steven spent some time Googling himself and found the post.

He was kind and generous enough to make the following offer:

If any of your readers are interested, I’d be happy to mail them out a copy as long as supplies last – which isn’t too long.

If you’re on the fence at all, please consider the following two things:

Here’s what I had to say about THE CONCRETE MAZE:

“It’s absolute noir, with enough hardboiled mixed in to keep everything dissonant and honest. What’s more, Torres’s prose is tight as a gnat’s ass, quite frankly.”

Free books are always good

If you want a copy, just leave me a comment in this post, making sure to use a valid e-mail address when you fill out the form. After a few days, I’ll contact people directly (via the valid e-mail addy) to get mailing addresses. Once I have those I’ll forward the info along to Steven.

Please remember that supplies are limited—and Steven’s offer is first-come, first served. Once the free copies of THE CONCRETE MAZE are gone, they’re gone.

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First things first: I just hooked up with Debra Hamel’s group of Sunday readers/bloggers who post up thoughts and stuff about what they’ve got their noses into.

There’s nothing to it… I figured I’d be reading and writing on Sundays anyhoo. Check it out and sign up. Once you do, Deb adds your RSS feed to the group’s Yahoo Pipe. Then that gets blasted out into the world for all to aggregate.

It’s a nice way to be social and learn about some great reads from people around the globe.

That said, I’ve been working my way through Steven Torres’s latest, THE CONCRETE MAZE. Two words: it’s fan-freaking-tastic. (Yes, the hyphens make it one word!)

A while back, I’d read DEATH IN PRECINCT PUERTO RICO and wasn’t bowled over by it. I liked it, yes. But it wasn’t spectacular.

Enter THE CONCRETE MAZE. It’s absolute noir, with enough hardboiled mixed in to keep everything dissonant and honest. What’s more, Torres’s prose is tight as a gnat’s ass, quite frankly.

I’m a little more than half done with this one and I’m finding—as I did with a number of books I’ve adored—myself wanting to slow down so I don’t finish it too soon. I’m lost in his slice of New York, a bent mixture of drugs and pimps and whores and dealers brought to life with a largely Puerto Rican cast.

As I’d mentioned back in April, Torres is masterful at creating characters who pop off the page, grab you by the arm, and say, “Let’s go for a ride. But, buckle up, because the shit’s gonna get deep.”

This book is dead serious and heartbreaking right from page one. I’ll post more about this book when I write the review.

Meantime, here’s a list of blogs to visit:

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