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Note: There are five parts to this report.
Whatever you do - don't miss Part Five - the Big One.
Part Four - Book Report
I have to tell you about this great book I read.
It's called The
Betrayers by my good friend Jimmy Hunt.
I liked it for a whole bunch of reasons.
As you might know, I'm a busy man with shit to do so I don't have time
to read books.
But to get to Carmel, we first had to fly to Denver, then wait an hour.
Then when we got ready to go to San Jose, the sign read Los Angeles
and I'm like ...WTF?
Southwest failed to disclose that there was a detour to LA.
I 've never gone to LA against my will before.
So I had plenty of time and I read this 210 page book in about 3 hours
- is that fast or slow?
Anyway, I love this book!
It's about a homicide detective in St Louis who investigates the machine
gun murder of two cops.
Reading this book was like watching a movie, like say, 48 Hours
or a Diehard movie.
Towards the end, the action was fast and furious and for the first
time in years
I was reading faster and faster to find out what was going to happen.
The best part?
This is the first in a series of books.
Now that I've read Jimmy Hunt's The
Betrayers,
I look forward to reading The
Assailants and Goodbye
Sister Disco.
...
Click
to Order
Click
to Order
I had the best time reading The
Betrayers and it's fun knowing there are
two more books I
get to read by the same author with the same characters.
I like his writing style, too.
Since he's writing about homicide detectives, he uses the language
most
Americans use.
The murder po-lice have to be crusty because they've seen the
worst things ever and it's
his honest, realistic dialog that helps the reader get deeper into
the story.
Oh, and a shot of Chinaco for his non-use of awful cliches.
Nobody's going to say Hunt's writing is "cute."
I f-ing hate cute and Hunt isn't some bullshit writer trying to be funny.
His writing is gritty and tough - just the way I like it.
It's even got a little romance for the ladies.
To get a snitch out of jail, Detective Hastings needs a lawyer and
a legal-hottie shows up.
She's kinda bitchy and cold and Hastings doesn't know how to take her
so he
asks her out for a drink and she loosens up and things move on from
there.
Bonus for me
The action takes place in St Louis - where I grew up.
When he writes, "They found the car near Kingshighway
and Arsenal,"
that's my old neighborhood and that was fun for me but it won''t bother
you non-St Louisans.
The killer even lived in a house less han a mile from my house.
Shirley, I rode ny bike by the killer's house when I was a kid.
Odd thing?
There was no mention of Imo's Pizza or Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.
I thought it was against the law to write about St Louis and not mention
them :)
So I strongly recommend these books. If you like a good murder mystery
that reads like a great movie, then James Patrick Hunt is your kind
of author.
If you're the type who reads action books, instead of those failed
relationship books,
you can't go wrong buying a copy of The
Betrayers.
What others said:
His protagonists are intelligent, self-aware,
and capable of swift, harsh action.
And no one is better at capturing the flirty-but-keep-your-distance
banter between the sexes.
Tracy and Hepburn got nothin’ on this guy.
Plan ahead and clear a shelf for James Patrick Hunt.
He’s the real deal.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Intriguing… His landscape abounds with quirky
characters of all stripes;
some are great company and others can crack
wise and kill at the same time.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Fast, gritty, and convincing. Crime fiction
at its best.”
—Lee Child, author of Bad Luck and Trouble
“Intricate, completely convincing, and scorching
hot, The Betrayers is
reminiscent of the best of Elmore Leonard.…
Yes, it’s that good.”
—George Pelecanos, author of The Night Gardener
“A classic big-city police procedural that
flickers like
a black-and-white movie across the imagination.”
—Denise Hamilton, author of Prisoner of Memory
Click Here for Part Five of the Carmel Trip
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