MostlyFiction Book Reviews » Caper We Love to Read! Wed, 14 May 2014 13:06:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3 HONEY IN HIS MOUTH by Lester Dent /2009/honey-in-his-mouth-by-lester-dent/ /2009/honey-in-his-mouth-by-lester-dent/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:02:52 +0000 /?p=6118 Book Quote:

“Mr. Harsh, the only way I will deal with you is to buy you. I do not care to work with you on any other basis. I buy you or nothing. You are a cheap man, so buying you will not be expensive. Get it straight—I buy you, or I have nothing to do with you.”

Book Review:

Review by Guy Savage (NOV 7, 2009)

In Honey In His Mouth from pulp author Lester Dent, Walter Harsh is a nomadic, small-time grifter who makes a tenuous living selling photographs. Partnering with whichever woman he happens to be involved with, and working under the guise of National Studios of Hollywood, Harsh moves from town-to-town hustling customers to buy more photographs than they’d planned to when they “won” the free 8×10 portraits. It’s a low rent, sleazy operation, but it’s a living. Unfortunately, Harsh ripped off a supplier to the tune of $720 for photographic supplies. So when the supplier spots Harsh in a gas station, he’s out–not just for his money–but revenge too on the “thieving bastard” who took him for an idiot.

The car chase ends with Harsh in hospital with a broken arm. At first Harsh thinks he’s lucky to be alive, but when Harsh’s story doesn’t quite add up, a nosy sheriff begins sniffing for the truth, and Harsh, stuck in hospital recuperating–is worried that he’ll end up in the slammer.

As the net tightens around Harsh, suddenly his luck seems to change. Fellow grifter and accomplice, the avaricious, “well-stacked little trollop” Vera Sue shows up at the hospital along with a man known only as “Brother.” Brother presents Harsh with an offer of an unspecified job for $50,000. Harsh may be desperate, but he’s no fool. Every attempt to question Brother leads to a dead end, but since the sheriff is still pushing for answers, Harsh finds himself blackmailed into going along with Brother’s plans…whatever they may be….

Harsh soon finds himself a “guest” in a sprawling, beachside Florida villa, staring at the safe that contains his $50,000, but this $50,000 is just a chunk of what’s really at stake. The problem is that with a pot worth millions, everyone has their own ideas of who “deserves” the loot and who should get the biggest cut. None of the players trust each other, everyone has a separate and secret game afoot, and many old scores have yet to be settled.

Thrown into this classic noir plot is a womanizing South American dictator who models himself on Mussolini (one of his heroes), a handful of the dictator’s “trusted” advisors who’ve been busy transferring the dictator’s misappropriated funds to American banks, and Miss Muirz, the dictator’s beautiful but pissed-off discarded mistress. This avaricious, vicious blend of characters all appear in Honey In His Mouth–the story of a small time grifter who may very well have hit the big time.

Honey In His Mouth was originally written in 1956–just three years before the book’s author, Lester Dent died. Dent is one of the great pulp fiction writers of the 20th century who is best remembered for his most famous fictional creation, Doc Savage. But while Doc Savage is a larger-than-life fictional hero, Walter Harsh is a morally corrupt, nasty piece of work who rightly belongs between the pages of a noir novel.

This is the first ever publication of Dent’s novel, and once again it’s thanks to the dedication of Hard Case Crime that these lost gems see the light of day. For noir, crime and pulp fans, Hard Case Crime is a great, inexpensive way to discover new and almost-forgotten authors.

AMAZON READER RATING: stars-5-0from 3 readers
PUBLISHER: Hard Case Crime (September 29, 2009)
REVIEWER: Guy Savage
AMAZON PAGE: Honey in His Mouth
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Wikipedia page on Lester Dent
Lester Dent, Doc Savage Novelist
EXTRAS: Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: More Hard Case Crime:

Fake I.D. by Jason Starr

Killing Castro by Lawrence Block

Quarry in the Middle by Max Allan Collins

Bibliography (currently in print only):

]]> /2009/honey-in-his-mouth-by-lester-dent/feed/ 0 CRIMINAL KARMA by Steven M. Thomas /2009/criminal-karma-by-steven-m-thomas/ /2009/criminal-karma-by-steven-m-thomas/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:30:25 +0000 /?p=5877 Book Quote:

“Being a criminal was my karma, and I wasn’t complaining. The hours were flexible, the money was good, and freebooting was way more interesting than swinging a hammer or sitting on a numb ass in front of a computer screen eight hours a day.”

Book Review:

Review by Bonnie Brody (OCT 24, 2009)

If you’re looking for a good caper and heist book, a thriller to boot, this may be just up your alley. Rob and Reggie are two burglars with their eye on a set of large pink diamonds. At first, their plan to steal these diamonds fails and they have to go at it again. With the second try, things really heat up as they become involved with a crooked ashram in Santa Monica, California. Baba Raba, the Guru of this ashram, also has his eyes on the diamond which he expects to get from one of his disciples, Evelyn. Evelyn is a good-looking but sad woman who is searching for her long-lost daughter and grandchild. Baba Raba is stringing Evelyn along with promises of finding her daughter and grandchild if she gives him her diamonds.

Rob and Reggie are both clowns and excellent burglars. In fact, this book would make a good buddy flick. I kept thinking of actors who could play this pair as I read the book – think Bruce Willis and Woody Harrelson or Colin Farrell and Brad Pitt.

As Rob said in order to justify his doings in the burglary business, “The world of business and government were packed like a college student’s Volkswagen with crooked connivers who, unlike me, topped their sundae of sins with the pickled cherry of hypocrisy. I knew I was a bad guy, and tried to be as nice about it as I could. They thought they were good, which gave them license to be ruthless as hell.”

The book is filled with lots of action and turns of event. It quickly becomes evident that Baba Raba is not just a guru, but has his hands in the real estate business and is mixed up with some very non-ashram types. He also hires muscle-bound goons to watch over his ashram, not what one would expect. Rob is an expert in yoga, especially tantric yoga and this gets a lot of play in the book, especially when Baba Raba attempts to use Tantra on his young fledgling female disciples.

There are some interesting characters that appear throughout the book. The one that I found most unique was Ozone Pacific. He is a boy who got his name because he was left on the street by his mother with instructions not to go beyond the cross streets of Ozone and Pacific. He goes by the nickname ‘Oz’. He has been waiting for his mother for six years and has become a regular of the street people of Venice Beach. For the most part, he is taken care of and watched over rather than victimized. Expect to see some of the Venice Beach freaks that you’d expect – – muscle men, mimes, chain saw jugglers and the like. The book is peopled with them and they are all unique and eye-opening.

For a quick-paced action thriller with interesting characters, this may be the next one to put on your reading list.

PUBLISHER:Ballantine Books (July 28, 2009)

AMAZON READER RATING: stars-4-5from 11 readers
REVIEWER: Bonnie Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK? YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Steven M. Thomas
EXTRAS: Excerpt (scroll down)
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: More caper fun:

More Southern California novels:

Bibliography:

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