Charlie Huston is a Sadomasochist

In a period of 365 days, Charlie Huston will have published three books-- crazy. Who does that these days?

With his next hitting in less than a month, I realized I needed to get caught up with the pulp noir writer's work. I'd read "Caught Stealing" a few months back (see here), and just finished "Six Bad Things," the second in the series. His next, the final part of the trilogy and entitled "A Dangerous Man", comes out September 19.

While I seem to be suffering from book ADD lately, this taut effort -- which begins in Mexico and then crosses back over the border -- proves he is no fluke. Hank Thomspon, now a wanted man on the lam, with a string of murders to his name (the majority of which he did commit), fears for his family after several factors come into play. And it helps spin the series into a whole new direction for the third book. Well done, Huston, in pulling this pivot off rather believably.

While I said before he was comprable to a Shane Black effort, I'm going to amend that to saying he is also very Elmore Leonard-like, in how he is able to craft intriguing, zany characters and has a gift for dialogue. This book is also a little less gritty than his first, but not by much.

Definitely a good read. And, Huston, take a vacation-- c'mon now, you're making too many writers look like slackers.