Gun Monkeys: A Novel

Charlie Swift is a hit man for the mob, an unrepentant career criminal who views his grisly vocation with detached practicality. As a former Army Ranger, killing is simply what he was trained to do. And killing is what he does, stacking up the corpes across central Florida's seamiest strip malls and strip joints as he tries to extract himself from a rival gang's setup, dodging some less-than-scrupulous G-men while trying to find his gangster boss gone missing. Author Victor Gischler is the real deal; a hip and refreshing 21st Century twist on pulp fiction from the glory days of Hammett, Thompson, Chandler, and Block. While you'll see glimpses of Carl Hiaasen, Dennis Lehane, or Charlie Huston in his writing, Gischler's style is all his own. His cynical brand of black humor rolls unforced across the pages - an easy banter from a world where Kansas is "elevator music with grass" and people can be as dumb as a "bag of door knobs." His abominable menagerie of players - a hierarchy of thugs and mobsters, killers and con men - put in another day at the office with guns blazing and knives slicing - but Gischler offers neither apology nor passes moral judgment. He writes not to preach, simply to entertain. And if you prefer your entertainment hard-boiled, irreverent, brutal, and witty, "Gun Monkeys" sets a new standard for crime fiction. Kick back with this decidedly unPuzo-like saga of life within organized crime, and I can almost guarantee you'll be back for more Gischler in "Suicide Squeeze" and "The Pistol Poets."

One of the most impressive debuts I've ever read, Gun Monkeys is a return to the two-fisted days of Mickey Spillaine and Richard Stark, with an important twist-it's funny as hell.The tone of the book is summed up in the very first line: "I turned the Chrysler onto the Florida Turnpike with Rollo Kramer's headless body in the trunk, and all the time I'm thinking I should've put some plastic down."If you believe, like I do, that this line is the perfect way to start a book, then buy Gun Monkeys right now. It's noir on nitrous oxide, and will keep you guessing, and laughing, from page one to the slam-bang finale.

Gischler hasn't written detective fiction here, but criminal fiction. This is the kind of book neo-noir fans like, with its muscular prose, language of the day, and unadulterated violence. Charlie Swift is so tough he's not ashamed to take care of his mother or be loyal to his boss. So he lives out of a suitcase and works out of a tin box trailer called the Monkey Cage, Charlie's got a bulging safe deposit box and he owes it all to one man: Stan the Man.The opening sentence: "I turned the Chrysler onto the Florida Turnpike with Rollo Kramer's headless body in the trunk, and all the time I'm thinking I should've put some plastic down." Charlie Swift, gun monkey, speaking.

The first sentence of "Gun Monkeys" is a perfect distillation of everything I'm always looking for in a crime novel: grisly, curt and most of all laugh-out-loud funny, without ever lapsing into cuteness. I've been recommending it to everyone I know who cares about this kind of book.

You just can't get good help these days, even when the job is something simple like whacking a midlevel hood named Rollo Kramer. Given his druthers, chief gun monkey Charlie Swift would never have picked the inept Blade Sanchez to accompany him on the job. But Charlie's boss Stan told Charlie to take Blade along as a favor to Miami crimeboss Beggar Johnson, and sinceCharlie owes Stan for "every nickel hidden in [Charlie's] safe deposit box", Charlie doesn't see that he has much of a choice. So begins "Gun Monkeys", Victor Gischler's instant noir classic from Uglytown Press. Charlie's day starts off bad and gets steadily worse as someone decides to make a move on the aging Stan's territory, a business decision that involves whacking most of Charlie's crew. The only bright spotin the day is Charlie's budding relationship with Rollo's widow Marcie. The widow Kramer is a tough, foxy redhead with an eye for Charlie and a talent for taxidermy. The latter trait has the fortunate effect of making her less squeamish around dead bodies, which is a good thing, considering. Charlie's attempts to find out what happened to Stan, even the score, and incidentally take care of his Mom and his kid brother, make for a great read. If you're a fan of the dark humor of "The Sopranos" or the tough talk of Richard Stark's "Parker" books, you'll love "Gun Monkeys."