TOM LEINS - THE GOOD BOOK: FAIRY TALES FOR HARD MEN (2020)

 

Synopsis/blurb....

Testament, Florida is the town where the American dream bottomed out. A town that was bled dry and kicked into the weeds by venal men with bad intentions. A town so insignificant that it no longer appears on any map.

During the 1980s, however, it was home to the Testament Wrestling Alliance, the chaotic wrestling promotion that made stars of Gringo Starr, ‘Voodoo’ Ray Blanchette and the Jazz Butcher. The man who made it happen was promoter Frank ‘Fingerf*ck’ Flanagan, who ruled his territory with an iron fist. A tough man willing to make tough decisions, Flanagan’s personal road to hell is paved with dead wrestlers.

The Good Book is an interlinked, 21-story collection that takes place between 1980 and 1999. These stories are grubby, hardboiled tales that explore the lives of desperate men—men who can’t leave their rivalries in the ring. In Testament, every action has a reaction and every feud ends in carnage. If someone else wins, you lose.

Last of my December reads and a day spent in the company of some of Tom Leins' short stories is always rewarding. 2020's reading ended on a dirty high.

There's a certain inimicable style to Leins prose which marks it out as an acquired taste. Here all our stories are centred around wrestling ..... graphic, violent, bloody, and filled with damaged protagonists, some of whom we meet more than once.

For the benefit of my OCD, we have..... 

Chicks Dig Scars

The Curtain Jecker

Hellbelly

The Sunset Flip

Fairy Tales for Hard Men

The Big Blow-Off

The Last Dog & Pony Show

The Cold Vein

Other People's Pussy

The Glory Hole

Meat Whiplash

Truckload of Trouble

Goat Sucker

Gusher

Beauty & Ruin

Bloater

The Signature Move

Black Sheets of Rain

Guatemala Kill-Pit

The Stooge

Real Americans

   

We encounter .....muscle vests, scars, drunks, pimps, kickbacks, bouts, strip clubs, cocaine binges, knuckle-dusters, Big Dick's bar, a fake Rolex, a double-wide, hooker jeans, a white power rally, a meat king, pancakes, chemical toilets, a knife attack, toupees, sweaty thighs, burnt food and urine..... and that's as far as page 7 takes us.

I suppose a cover to cover one sitting reading probably isn't the best way to enjoy the book, as there's no real let up in intensity throughout. Perhaps after a while I was somewhat anaesthetised to the power of his descriptions. A more leisurely look - two or three a day over the course of a week, might have been a better way to go. I do have the option of revisiting the book at a later date and doing just that. It's a keeper.

4.5 from 5

I've still got some catching up to do on this author's work. He's one of a select band of author's whose new books have to be acquired as soon as they drop.

Meat Bubbles and Other Stories  and Skull Meat have been enjoyed before. 

Read - December, 2020

Published - 2020

Page count - 152

Source - review copy from publisher (cheers Chris)

Format - paperback