Six Bad Things

May 23, 2005
More than fulfilling the promise of Huston's 2004 debut, Caught Stealing
, this remarkably assured hard-boiled caper has rapid-fire pacing, dead-on dialogue and a beleaguered protagonist who just can't get a break. Former minor league baseball player Hank Thompson barely escaped with his life at the end of Caught
, making off with $4 million of the Russian mafia's money. Several years later, he's running a breakfast place in the Yucatan, down the shore from his secluded hut. When a Russian bounty hunter shows up asking questions, Hank Fed-Exes his bankroll to a friend in Las Vegas and sneaks north across the border. When not trying to kill him, two surf bum criminals convince him they're allies; as the book reaches its climax, Hank finds himself dodging a memorable cast of lowlifes, would-be mobsters and scammers. Huston takes care with Hank, making him funny and sympathetic (even as he reminds us that he has killed six people in New York), and giving even cardboard situations and slight exchanges charge. (One of the surfers on a pair of boots: "Kind of metallish for my taste, but fuck it, we're incognito, right?") This second installment of a planned trilogy will leave readers anxious for more. Agent, Simon Lipskar at Writers House
. 5-city author tour
.

July 15, 2005
You may have known someone like Hank Thompson in school: cordial, accommodating, talented, prone to erratic behavior, and already well on his way either to the state house or the big house. Hank's story resumes where Huston's well-received "Caught Stealing" ended. The subject of "The Man Who Got Away", a tell-all biography that puts him at least a peg or two above the riffraff featured on "Cops", Hank is now on the lam in Mexico. He's sitting uneasily on $4.5 million, with lit cigarettes in both ears (long story), feeling paranoid about everyone he meets. It's taking everything he can muster just to retain his precarious aplomb. Then things really start to sour -people around him tend to end up dead or wishing they were. Hank, a rather endearing slacker who just can't say no to trouble, will entertain fans of straight-ahead, no-holds-barred action. Suitable for most public libraries. -Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2005
After 2004's exhilarating " Caught Stealing--"in which a regular schmo emerges from a bloody war between bad NYPD cops and Russian mobsters with $4.5 million in stolen cash, all because he agreed to watch a shady neighbor's cat--it's understandable that Hank Thompson just wants to fade away. Cat still in tow, Hank has built a beach hut in Mexico and finally stopped boozing. But his contact in the States warns him the heat's back on, and a young Russian backpacker shows up full of questions. Hank's ready to buy some peace, until threats against his family force him to make a desperate dash for California. There, he plunges into a kaleidoscope of violence spun by Mexican smugglers, Russian toughs, corporate thugs, Vegas drug dealers, and cops of every stripe. Even the guy who sells Hank a used car recognizes him from TV and tries to mete out some lucrative vigilante justice. Imagine " The Blues Brothers" as directed by Sam Peckinpah. But Hank demonstrates an almost-supernatural knack for survival, and one can't help but root for him even as he brings mayhem into the lives of family and friends. In this second entry of a promised trilogy, Huston also engineers one of the most dramatic protagonist personality changes ever seen in series crime fiction. Is he sure he wants to drop Hank after only three chapters?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)