Read: "Beast Within" by James Daniels

Read: The Beast Within: Dead Man #7, James Daniels, 2011, (find ISBN on your own).

Matt Cahill is now in Michigan and back in wooded country.  Cahill leaves a grocery store and rescues some hot Russian chick from three violent skinheads.  Cahill and Russian flee on Cahill's motorcycle.  Cahill is in town to speak to an author who wrote about the Dark and seeing rotting people.

Hot Russian Chick is married to the author who is a white supremacist.  Supremacist's compound is old ski lodge surrounded by double electric fence.  Hot Russian Chick is mail order bride.  Hot Russian Chick brought her two brothers with her.  White Supremacist is nutbag.  Nutbag had an "Army" of armed nitwits who largely rejected his leadership when he brought back the darker skinned Russkie. 

Army Rejects are preparing to attack the compound.  Cahill discovers monster sized brother of Hot Russian Chick is actually a bear in human form that she married back in Kamchatka.  During attack Cahill does shooting and axing.  Cahill survives.  Cahill escapes aftermath.  Hot Russian Chick is nude on bear's back.  Cahill says good luck to another survivor on his way back to town. Cahill spreads literacy via Mack Bolan.

Comments:
1.  Gratuitous Mack Bolan.
2.  No Hot Russian Chick sex but Cahill lusts for her.
3.  To me this felt very 1980s with armed separatists, guns, adventure, Bolanisticness.
4.  One of my favorites in the series.

Read: "Kill The All" by Harry Shannon

Read: Kill Them All: Dead Man #6 Harry Shannon, 2011, (ISBN is in the book but not the Amazon website).

Matt Cahill is on the side of the road, again, in the Nevada desert when he hears a call for help.  A couple kids were exploring an abandoned mine and one is stuck.  Cahill grabs a rope from a nearby meth dealer and rescues the kid.  A cop car pulls up.  Local sheriff is the dad.  Dad takes kids and Cahill back to their small town.  Word spreads of the rescue and everyone in town, about 50 of them, are very grateful.

Cahill just wants to skip town, as usual, and continue his hunt for Mr. Dark, as usual.  Cahill protects a bar waitress from some slugs.  Waitress gives Cahill a ride back out to the desert because Cahill wants to inspect the mine as part of his search for Dark.

Cahill kidnapped.  Cahill's abductors are the guys from two books back, mercenaries hired by the wealthy benefactors of the hospital that was prodding and poking Cahill to figure out why he was still alive.  Head mercenary tells Cahill that the the benefactors are paying the mercenaries to draw Cahill's blood, all of Cahill's blood, for research.  Cahill's body will then be cremated.

Cahill rescued by waitress and a couple others including sheriff.  Sheriff and company get Cahill back to town.  There was an explanation for why the mercenaries were not captured but I forgot what.  Now the vicious, highly trained killers are coming to town for Cahill.  Cahill and company prep the town and have a final shootout.  Cahill leaves town on a horse.

Comments:
1. No sex for Cahill.
2.  Plenty of death.
3.  Ax action, as usual.
4.  Desert heat.
5.  Isolated town without help.  Cahill expected to lead everyone.

Listened: "The Devil All the Time" by Donald Ray Pollock

Listened: The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock, 2011, overdrive.com download.

Damn good.  Damn dirty.  Deceptively dense.

I read Knockemstiff a while ago.  Since I was never getting around to reading this I snagged the audio when I saw it.  Pollock has not suffered a sophomore slump.  This is billed as a novel, and is, but is more a collection of themed stories with interlocking characters.  Since I listened to this I cannot easily recall character names.  Bear with me.

There are three foci.  Arvin, born in Knockemstiff and orphaned as a 12-year-old.  The corrupt Bad Guy Sheriff.  Sheriff's Slutty Sister and Fat Husband who are serial killers during the summer.

Arvin is orphaned when his mother dies of cancer and father commits suicide.  Arvin moves to West Virginia with his paternal grandmother.  Slutty Sister takes up with Fat Husband because he is nice to her.  They kill a hitchhiker for his cash and then take it on as a hobby.  Fat Husband offers Slutty Sister to the hitchers while Fat Husband takes photos.  After Slutty Sister and the hitcher have sex the Fat Husband photographs the subsequent torture and murder of the hitchers.

There are many other characters throughout: The horse faced, orphan, foster sister of Arvin.  Arvin's father Willard. The preacher who screws teenage parishioners.

Reviewers for this kind of novel often write about "impact" and "characterization" and "voice".  What reviewers should point out is that Devil All the Time is unlike a lot of other novels because it is actually interesting.  So many of the characters are vile.  They are all flawed.  They are all struggling with something and most are losing the fight.

Comments:

1. I think the narrator, Mark Bramhall, did quite well.  A couple weeks ago Anthony Neil Smith hosted a post by Laura Benedict.  Benedict wrote she was mortified by the thick southern accent put on by the narrator for one of her novels.  Bramhall does that here.  But, this is set in the '50s and '60s before, as Benedict wrote, "omnipresent television has...smoothed out southern accents."
2.  German Luger love.
3.  Beat-up, rustbucket car love.
4.  Rural Southern Ohio love.
5.  Rough and violent sexual practices.
6.  Amoral and immoral behavior by many.  Love is a rare commodity or one that drives aberrant behavior.
7.  Knockemstiff did not make it into Google street view.  I expect Knockem looks like every other small town.

Finished: "Blood Mesa: Dead Man #5" by James Reasoner

Finished: Blood Mesa: Dead Man #5 by James Reasoner, 2011, 9781612187648.

What's that? Your producing a series of novellas with different writers for each entry? Well, you may as well hire James Reasoner, he writes well in any genre.

Cahill is on the side of a rural highway after hitching a ride in New Mexico. The heat is beating down and he is intrigued by a nearby mesa. He starts walking. He finds a broken down truck. The gal and guy on the truck are archaeologists doing a dig on the same mesa. Gal scientist is hot. Dude scientist has rotting face of evil. Cahill fixes the truck and is hired to take place of driver/mechanic who just quit.

They arrive at dig. Cahill gets heebee-jeebees at one of the three dig sites. Cahill knows something is wrong. Cahill knows trouble is coming. Human bones with human tooth and gnaw marks are found. Cahill is even more uneasy and queasy. Cahill witnesses drama between jilted guy, ex-girlfriend and new boyfriend.

Cahill at the heebee-jeebee site when an altar is unearthed. Altar drives diggers deep down to dramatic derangement and destruction. Mad diggers start killing and eating others. Cahill teams up with non-crazies. Cahill and wounded non-crazy destroy the altar with dynamite. Cahill hits the road.

Comments:

1. Reasoner zips right through the story on this one. He keeps the action going quick.

2. No sex.

3. Ax violence love.

4. Loneliness of Cahill love.

5. Mr. Dark's invisible and ancient presence love.

Done: "The Dead Woman: Dead Man #4" by David McAfee

Done: The Dead Woman: Dead Man #4 by David McAfee, 2011, 9781612187631.

Spoilers lie ahead.

Matt Cahill gets off a bus in another small town, Crawford, TN, population 5400. Cahill learns a seral killer has been active for several years. Cahill is low on cash, checks the local paper, sees an ad for a local antique shop. Cahill walks in, meets Abbey the hot chick owner and is hired. Cahill also meets the angry and estranged husband of the owner whose name is Dale. Dale is a local cop and tells Abbey a pal of hers is the latest victim.

Cahill and Abbey hit if off. Abbey is a sexual dynamo. Dale is angry. Cahill sees a guy touched by evil. Cahill follows guy and stops a murder. Abbey admits to Dale that she too can see the evil on people. More things happen. Dale is still hot for Abbey and jealous of Cahill.

Dale announces in a crowded restaurant that Cahill killed (events form first book). Cahill's name is now mud. Mud decides to leave town. Mud goes to Abbey's shop needing to have her give back his duffel and Ax. Mud discovers Abbey is the serial killer. Mud calls Dale for help. Dale and Mud get to Abbey's remote cabin. Dale is shot. Cops show up. Abbey murders a couple of them. Mud hits the bricks.

Comments:

1. Defensive ax use.

2. Sex with hot chick.

3. Hot chick also came back from death. Hot chick can see evil in people. Hot chick is evil and pals with Mr. Dark, Mud's nemesis.

4. Hot chick has photos of herself dating back 100 years. Hot chick seems to be immortal. Mud wonders and worries that her life may be his fate.

5. Mysterious bad guys show up at end of book looking for Mud.

Quick Read: "Death in Heaven: Dead Man #3 by William Rabkin and Lee Goldberg

Quick Read: Death in Heaven: Dead Man #3 by William Rabkin and Lee Goldberg, 2011, does this have an ISBN?

Looks like Goldberg and Rabkin wrote this one themselves. The Amazon notes count this as an 87 pager. Goldberg once requested I warn of spoilers. SPOILERS! Watch Out!

Matt Cahill is tooling through the Oregon (or Washington) forest on a Buell Blast and takes the exit for Heaven. Heaven is set far, far back off the interstate. When Matt gets there he is shocked to see a Welcome Home Matt banner across the downtown. The town and residents seem stuck in time with no cars, wood stoves, and everyone dressed in simple work shirts or gingham dresses.

Cahill meets local gal. Local gal is kinda hot. Local gal explains the banner. Local gal offers him a room to stay. Local gal puts moves on Matt. Local gal smells of death. Local gal turns putrid and chases Matt. Matt cuts her in half with his ax.

The woman Matt killed was a demon who ruled the town. Matt is now considered the lawgiver and expected to keep the the town's two warring clans in check. Matt is asked to decide on issues like chicken theft and pig killing. Matt does not want the job. Matt's bike get wrecked when he flees. Matt is stuck miles away from interstate. Matt refuses to act as judge in rape accusation.

Matt's refusal to pass judgment leads to all battle between the two clans. More things happen. Matt convinces local girl to try and settle feud. More violence. Matt shambles his way out of town.

Comments:

1. I finished reading this last night when I was tired and do not remember everything that happened in the end. Maybe all the town residents kill one another.

2. No sex. Matt starts the moves on devil-woman and the smell of death makes him gag.

3. Buell Blast abuse.

Read: "Picket Line" by Breena Wiederhoeft

Read: Picket Line by Breena Wiederhoeft, 2011, 9780983661214.

Comic book novel by former Wisconsinite. Pretty decent.

Beatrice (Bea) graduates college and leaves WI for Northern CA. She has no destination or job. At a gas station she helps a guy, Rex, with really short arms reach a package. He starts talking to her and gives her a business card. Later, when looking for work, Bea calls him up and gets a job.

Bea thinks of Rex as Tyronnosaurus Rex because of his little arms. But, Rex is the epitome of kindness. Rex hires Bea into his lawn care business and treats his employees very well. Bea becomes part of that work family and becomes friends with Rex's daughter, Liz.

Things happen. Liz and her husband Derek are divorcing. Rex's wife is off in Hollywood. A local rich guy inherits land with massive, old growth Redwoods. Rex and company are hired to care for the estate's grounds. Protesters, paid $9 an hour, are blocking the gates to the estate. Local Rich Guy plans to cut down the trees and plant condos instead.

Conflict with protestors. Conflict with Rex who says he's talking to Local Rich Guy to try and save the land. Conflict between Derek and Liz. Conflict with Bea who quits her job and joins protesters. Nearby volcanic mountain turns active. Rex arrested for setting explosion he did not do.

Nearby volcanic mountain erupts. Town evacuates. Rex shows evidence of Local Rich Guy's bribe of judge. Liz and Derek reconcile. Bea decides to stay in town. Everyone lives happily ever after. Except for the people dead from the volcano.

Comments:

1. More happens in the plot with love interests and such.

2. I liked the illustrations but they were simple. By simple I mean Wiederhoeft does not do lots of detail for faces or cars or whatnot. Because of this the panels did not have the variety I prefer. Not as many of the different, neat-o perspectives that comics can provide.

3. I'll have to pay attention to her work because I think it will improve.