Thursday 15 May 2014

2 BY WALLACE STROBY

Another two from the stacks; this time Wallace Stroby. Stroby is the author of six books in total; a two book series (Harry Rane), a three book series (Crissa Stone) and a standalone novel.


Gone Til November is the standalone and Cold Shot is the first Crissa Stone book. Like Brad Smith last week, his titles cry out to me to be read – The Barbed-Wire Kiss, The Heartbreak Lounge, Kings of Midnight and Shoot the Woman First are his others.








Stroby has won awards for his journalism and has previously been a newspaper editor at The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey. New Jersey is where he hails from and I have provisionally pencilled him in for this state on my US State Reading Challenge; something which is currently a very long work in progress.    
  






His books encompass elements that are appealing to me in my reading……….retired cops, criminals, money, drugs, mobsters, friendships, loyalty, shootings, hitmen, vengeance, card games, robberies, prison, career criminals and rogue cops.





Cold Shot to the Heart


Crissa Stone is a pro. She never works close to home, never works with the same crew, and never rushes a job. Those are the rules her mentor and lover taught her. But now he's up for parole and needs some money to help grease the wheels. There's an illegal card game set for a week from now. The take? As much as seven figures. Desperate, Crissa slaps a plan together. It's robbery, not murder. Then one of her crew shoots a player, a man with connections to hitman Eddie the Saint. Recently released from prison, Eddie could use the work, not to mention all that money.





Gone Til November

It's late at night when Florida sheriff's deputy Sara Cross arrives at the scene of a roadside shooting along a deserted highway. Another deputy, Billy Flynn, her former partner, who also happens to be her former lover, has fatally shot a twenty-two-year-old man during what started out as a routine traffic stop, and she's the first to arrive on the scene. He claims that the man pulled a gun, and that when he didn't respond to Billy's commands to drop it, Billy shot him. Billy is clearly upset, shaken up; Sarah sees the gun in the dead man's hand and the bag of illegal weapons in the trunk of his car and believes Billy's actions were justified.

Up north in New Jersey, Mikey-Mike runs a major drug operation and is tightening his hold on the competition, making a deal with a new supplier. Morgan, a middle-aged enforcer for Mikey who's been in the life too long, would like to make one last score, walk away, and retire for good. Mike asks Morgan to head to Florida to find out what's holding up his new deal, and Morgan sees the job as a possibility for his last big payday.

As more details of the roadside shooting emerge with Sara's investigation, and as Morgan follows the trail Mikey lays out for him, the two storylines begin to merge into a much darker, more menacing scenario than either Morgan or Sara imagined. Sara, in order to protect herself and her son, must follow the truth no matter where it leads.

Acclaimed crime writer Wallace Stroby delivers a gripping novel that is part modern noir, 


10 comments:

  1. They sound right up your street Col, and I do like the idea of what sounds like a strong female protagonist in Crissa Stone. And the Barbed Wire Kiss & The Heartbreak Lounge are titles of genius. As ever, you need to read them first and give us an opinion....

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    1. Moira thanks. I think I'm kind of enjoying the books I'm not reading nearly as much as the ones I am at this moment. I've a few commitments to shake loose of and then I can hopefully give my reading a bit more randomness to it. Stoby's titles are definitely enticing.

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  2. Col - Oh, I've heard of Stroby's journalism but didn't know he'd gone into crime fiction. I'll be interested in what you think of these. They certainly sound like books I have the feeling you'd like.

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    1. Margot, thanks, I think they sound as though they have a tough streak running through them, which as you know is my particular passion.

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  3. Hmmm, well you got me. I've heard of this writer but never read him.Let us know.

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    1. Will do as soon as I get to him - please don't hold your breath as it will be a while! Millar, and Rendell and Pizzolatto are ahead of him (plus others!)

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  4. The author's name is familiar, the books are not. I will wait and see what you think of them. They may be too dark for me.

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    1. There's a lot of sitting on the fence with Mr Stroby, I'll try and move the first up the pile and see if a read-review gets some definites.

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  5. Col, your book reviews often serve as reminders that I should read novels, crime fiction or otherwise, with female protagonists, or even books by women writers. I have taken a turn in that direction. Of these two books, "Cold Shot to the Heart" sounds more interesting.

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    1. I'm trying to increase my percentage of female writers read this year. I'm up on last for now which is good.
      I wouldn't be able to pick between the two Stroby books here, I'll know which is more interesting after reading.

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