Crimson Hit

Crimson Hit was handed to me by a close friend of mine who just happens to own a book store. "Read it and tell me what you think," she said. She's good at that little trick but what the heck, I get to read a book that's free to me (but she said I had to give it back) and the only stipulation was that I give her my honest opinion of the book. Okay. I can do that. Crimson Hit isn't a big book, only 310 pages in paperback, so it was a quick read. And let me assure that every page was filled with either Dev Shannon's wit or excitement while on the chase for the FTA's that he's after. The writing style is a whole lot like that of Janet Evanovich, the Stephanie Plum series, which I've enjoyed the largest part of those books as well. Burton's keen sense of wit keeps the reader smiling and that's for sure. I would have given this book a 5-star rating had it not been for the fact I get highly upset when a writer, or editor, doesn't know the difference in TO and TOO along with SIT and SET, especially when so little effort TO understand doesn't require TOO much intelligence. Any of those words can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Other than that, I loved this book and look forward to reading Burton's next one.

Bob Burton probably knows the profession of bail fugitive recovery, popularly known as bounty hunting, better than any other guy in America. This book reflects that fact. Check out his credentials on www.crimsonhit.com! The reader is taken on a series of recovery operations along California's Central Coast and Central Valley, Spain, Andorra, and France as well as a quickie side trip to Big Sky Country, Montana. The only thing that strains credibility is how a guy could cover all this ground, balance and prioritize all these targets, and fork over as many $100 bills without being some kind of starkanovite bounty hunter. Well, Dev Shannon is the guy and he also has time for a few romantic interludes(mostly work connected, however). Burton's narrative gives full play to the the array of techniques, equipment, and smarts which are the tools of the modern bail recovery agent's trade today. Although this is a novel, there is ample factual meat on the fiction framework. Those who delight in the technical detail characteristic of Tom Clancey's novels and straight forward not terribly introspective characters created by Elmore Leonard will have their fill in Burton's dramatis personnae. Another Dev Shannon novel, "Bullet Blues" is coming soon to a book store near you. Bob Burton has enough adventures under his belt that he hopefully will be able to keep a stream of Dev Shannon adventures which will provide enough titles for all the colors in the spectrum. Hope we will see more of that svenska flicka, Sonya Johnson, too. Ya, sure, you betcha, pojka min!

I have waited years for a novel like this to come along. If you have missed the lone-wolf PI-type (or Bounty- Hunter in this case) by this book. Will not not go into the plot, because it is a joy to discover what is happening as you turn pages; trust me... This book is the real deal. Buy it. Enjoy joy it, and then say " Hey, Kem was right." And pray that Burton is a fast typist. Kem