ANONYMOUS-9 - HARD BITE (2012)

Blurb..........

The hit-and-run driver took everything — his wife, child and legs.

Now a paraplegic, Dean Drayhart unleashes payback on suspected hit-and-runners in Los Angeles with helper-monkey Sid as his deadly assistant.

Dean's gentle, doting nurse, Marcie, knows nothing about what he's up to. When Sid tears out the throat of a Mexican Mafia member, she gets kidnapped in order to force Dean's surrender.

Armed with nothing but his wits, Sid, and a sympathetic streetwalker named Cinda, Dean manipulates drug-cartel carnales and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in a David-against-Goliath plot that twists and turns to a heart-pounding showdown.

Hard Bite is outlandish in every way -- a crazed noir excursion into an unprecedented heart of darkness. From the opening line on, it challenges and confronts, attacks and confounds. Violent and sometimes funny, always entertaining."
— T. Jefferson Parker, three-time Edgar Award winner, author of The Jaguar and The Border Lords

I would hazard a guess that I’m unlikely to read about a stranger couple this year than paraplegic Dean and assassin monkey Sid, unless of course Anonymous-9 cranks out another weird blend of pulp-ish noir prose a bit sharp-ish.

Anon-9 has given us a serial killer with a conscience, and a whole host of other engaging, likeable characters, as well as a few Mafiosi of the Mexican variety that you’d do well to steer clear of.

A fast-paced mix of violence, some low-down dirty sex and a bit of animal cruelty, as well as a whole streak of vengeance dished out mainly with a moral compass, but one that eventually stalls.       

Enjoyable?

Yes.

Would I want to read more from Anon-9?

Yes, probably not so much about Sid in future. What could you do with him in a follow-up that he hasn’t already done? Can you teach an old simian - new tricks?

I’d prefer something with Doug and Leone, the two cops that worked the crimes for the LASD. I’m sure Anon-9’s twisted imagination could get some miles from these two.  Especially if the author decided to test the strength of Doug’s commitment to his family with some interplay with Claire the new medical examiner.

I’m looking forward to the author’s next offering.

4 from 5.

I was sent an advanced kindle copy of this from the Publisher Blasted Heath.