Run

February 28, 2000
Relentlessly paced, this chase novel impressively captures the frantic energy and emotional panic experienced by an East Coast gunrunner forced to flee both his own gang and the law. Written in rough, gritty street vernacular, the story covers about 24 hours in the life of 40-something Burdon Lane, who is part of a large group of criminals transporting a shipment of guns from Washington, D.C., to New York City. Just as the deal is about to go down in a Manhattan tenement, bedlam erupts. As Lane takes cover, his own people start shooting each other, the gun merchants begin killing their own and men dressed in police uniforms but not acting like police mysteriously show up. Meanwhile, somebody assassinates a prominent civil rights leader marching in a parade nearby. When the shooting stops, Lane finds himself in possession of the $2 million intended for the purchase of the guns. He has no idea, however, what has just happened. All he knows is that he must run. Winter sets a torrid tempo for his electric narrative as the plot unfolds. Using cars, trains and his own feet, Lane escapes death time and time again as he makes his way back home to confront his boss about whether the gun deal was merely a diversion in a larger scheme, orchestrated by larger powers, to kill the black political leader. Winter, a noted horror critic and anthologist, has written a memorable debut novel. His otherwise fine outing bogs down only at the end, during a protracted, bloody battle that, for its impact, relies on violence rather than on cunning plot dexterity. BOMC and QPB selections.

February 1, 2000
D.C. attorney Winter's first novel is a boring and exceedingly violent short story that seems to have been stretched out to novel length. Narrator Burden Lane, a gun-runner, goes with his best friend and several others on what is supposed to be a routine gun deal. In actuality, though, Lane has been set up in an assassination plot. He goes on the run, not knowing who to trust as he tries to stay alive. Winter's rambling writing style makes it difficult to get involved in the story right away, and his vague descriptions don't help. Even if Quentin Tarrentino and John Woo made a movie together the result wouldn't have come closer to the level of gratuitous violence in this novel. Run far away from Run. Not recommended.-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

March 15, 2000
"There's a feeling every time a major deal goes down. . . .It's nothing but this cold thing that sleigh-rides up your spine. A gremlin born down somewhere in your butt just shoots into the back of your brain and sits there, whispering for you to run like a whippet and not to stop running till tomorrow." The breakneck pace of that sentence, spoken by gun runner Burdon Lane, is more than matched by the action in this high-speed caper novel. Lane and his fellow gun dealers are on the run, transporting fire power from D.C. to New York, but it quickly turns out there are runs within runs--bad guys stinging other, the government trying to sting the bad guys, and Lane trying to stay unstung. The pace is unremitting, the language jumps off the page like freshly ignited dynamite, and the story . . . well, the story involves a lot of guys shooting guns at each other. If the smell of cordite becomes a bit oppressive by the end, it's still a terrific first novel by a writer of real promise. ((Reviewed March 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)