Born in Galway, Ken Bruen has knocked about the world for more years than probably he would care to remember. Living a lot of life in that time, he is now in the process of distilling it into his fictions. A soul-mate of Jim Thompson's, or maybe of James M. Cain's, he has a cast of characters which rates high on the deadbeat scale. Loners and losers all, they're on a spiral to oblivion, the main trio here - Cooper, Doc and Cassie - being emblematic of the general trend.
Cooper and Doc are small-time criminals, using a front as Repo men to steal cars and use them in their main preoccupation of robbing banks. Enter Cassie, mad, bad but stimulating to know, and the danse macabre hots up from a waltz to a fast foxtrot. As abrupt and definitive as a smack in the eye, this novel is bound to retain your attention over its short length. It is fast-paced, tough and explosive - you may need a calming bromide standing by.