Hook and Shoot

September 10, 2012
Near the start of Brown’s knock-down drag-out second adventure featuring Las Vegas MMA fighter Woodshed “Woody” Wallace (after 2011’s Suckerpunch), Woody’s manager, Banzai Eddie Takanori, tells Woody that, in order to pay off a serious debt to the yakuza, he’s agreed to match Woody against their fighter, Zombi, who holds Olympic gold medals in judo. Before Woody and Eddie can get to the fight at the Golden Pantheon Arena, they have to survive repeated efforts to kill Eddie—which tells Woody he doesn’t know the whole story. The colorful cast includes Mr. Burch, Eddie’s British driver and a former SAS member; Vanessa Brandenberg, whose sordid history adds a plot complication; and brothers Vince and Robbie Snarl, “catch wrestlers” who teach Woody some painful tricks. The tough, snappy dialogue may be only serviceable, but Brown offers some terrific fight scenes, notably the climactic showdown on the mat with Zombi. Agent: Margaret O’Connor, Innisfree Literary.

November 15, 2012
This two-fisted follow-up to 2011's Sucker Punch finds mixed-martial-arts fighter Aaron Woodshed Wallace in a bit of a predicament: he won his fight against Junior Burbanka contest nobody expected, or really wanted, him to winand now Eddie Takanori, who's supposed to be Woody's promoter, won't return his calls. Then, out of the blue, Eddie shows up, looking seriously the worse for wear, with an offer of a fight against Zombi, a Japanese MMA fighter who happens to work for some people to whom Eddie owes a lot of money. If Woody loses the fight, Eddie loses his company, but if he wins, Woody could lose something a whole lot more valuable. Like Sucker Punch, this is a well-constructed story with a likable narrator (Woody is developing quite the offbeat sense of humor, too) and plenty of behind-the-scenes action for MMA fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)