Synopsis/blurb……
When Jay Desmarteaux
steps out of from prison after serving twenty-five years for murdering a
vicious school bully, he tries to follow his convict mentor’s advice: the best
revenge is living well.
But questions gnaw at
his gut: Where have his folks disappeared to? Why do old friends want him gone?
And who wants him dead?
Teaming with his high
school sweetheart turned legal Valkyrie, a hulking body shop bodybuilder, and a
razor-wielding gentleman’s club house mother, Jay will unravel a tangle of
deception all the way back to the bayous where he was born. With an iron-fisted
police chief on his tail and a ruthless mob captain at his throat, he’ll need
his wits, his fists, and his father’s trusty Vietnam war hatchet to hack his
way through a toxic jungle of New Jersey corruption that makes the gator-filled
swamps of home feel like the shallow end of the kiddie pool.
Praise for BAD BOY
BOOGIE …
“Thomas Pluck has
launched himself into the rare category of…must read novels…must re-read…must
tell all and sundry about. It is that fine, that compelling. Just tremendous.”
—Ken Bruen, author of the Shamus and Macavity Award-winning Jack Taylor
mysteries
“Thomas Pluck’s Bad
Boy Boogie is a vivid dose of New Jersey noir with heart, soul and muscle.”
—Wallace Stroby, author of the Crissa Stone series
“My first Thomas
Pluck novel won’t be my last. Bad Boy Boogie is a superb, taut, little thriller
that hits all the right notes and sustains its central conceits to the very
last page.” —Adrian McKinty, author of the Sean Duffy trilogies
Not one for the faint-hearted here. Grim and gritty and violent
throughout, populated by a cast of characters you probably wouldn’t find sat
next to you at Sunday service.
Our novel traverses 25 years and more, digging back into Jay
Desmarteaux’s rescue from a horrific and abusive parent in Louisiana. Mama Angeline and Papa
Andre are his saviours. We enjoy some of his friendships as a boy growing up in
Nutley and the early stirrings of teenage love with Ramona. There’s a tension
and conflict present in this period as Jay and his friends clash frequently
with a rival gang of bullies.
The storyline doesn’t follow chronologically, we dip in and
out of the past discovering a bit more about Jay and the events that have just seen
him freed from Rayway prison after being sentenced as a teenager for the
killing of Joey Bello. We suffer with him in prison - through conflicts with other inmates and the staff, as well as some moments of solace, with some solid bonds created. Twenty five years is a long time, but Bello’s father,
now the mayor and the rest of the community don’t want Jay back in the
vicinity.
Jay is fuelled by a sense of injustice. His victim was a
bully and a rapist, but his friends remained silent at his trial, afraid and
threatened, one of them complicit in the stitch-up. Jay lost his freedom and
his family and he isn’t about to let himself get bounced out of Nutley. If he
leaves and heads back to Louisiana it’s going to be on his terms.
Childhood abuse, growing up as a boy - far from carefree, prison life and freedom, a rekindled romance with Ramona - a woman with a
few secrets and issues of her own, a renewed friendship with Tony – one of his
childhood friends and now his employer, a lot of pressure from the cops, crossing swords with former friends and enemies, a kind-hearted
cabbie, a reacquainting with some ex-Rayway inmates, nightclub shenanigans, a search for his missing
Mama and Papa, conflict with a crime family, and a helluva a lot more to boot.
Pluck packs everything, bar the kitchen sink into this dirty
tale of one man and his unwillingness to be further fucked with. Jay
Desmarteaux had my sympathy, but not always my admiration in this one.
Admirable qualities he may possess, but a period of incarceration, heaped on
top of earlier horrific abuse has damaged him. He doesn’t always make sensible
or rational decisions but it’s an interesting ride watching the path they take
him.
4.5 from 5
I read a collection of his short stories – Get Plucked a month or so ago. Thoughts
on them are here.
Read in March 2017
Published – 2017
Page count – 352
Source – Net Galley thanks to publisher Down and Out Books
Format - Kindle
Hey! Nutley isn't far from here! Who'dathunk it was so full of violence an' an' an' noirish-like stuff when the most excitement we ever get is Friday Night Karaoke with Pasta Pot Luck at the Elks' Club?
ReplyDeleteApparently it was an-okay place until you rocked up in the vicinity!
DeleteSounds like a power-packed story, Col. Admittedly, not one for me. But it sounds as though the setting works for it, and it's an interesting premise.
ReplyDeleteMargot, yes - more my thing than yours I think.
DeleteThis is probably way too violent and gritty for me, but I can see that it has its good points.
ReplyDeleteProbably and definitely.
DeleteCol, 352 pages is a lot of grit and violence though I'm sure the writer has the reader by the eyeballs.
ReplyDeletePrashant - it was the longest book I read last month. It
Deletehad all the essential elements for me - grit and violence being two or them!
You know what I'm going to say don't you? Glad you enjoyed it but not for me...
ReplyDeleteYou can lead a horse to water.......I tried!
DeleteCol – You got me at “not for the faint-hearted.” This is my kind of story. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteElgin - well worth checking out, I think this one might be agreeable for you.
Delete