Gunshine State

GUNSHINE STATE I’ve been trying to find the words to describe this novel for over a week now. “Best crime novel I’ve read in the last ten years!” is easy to say but it’s almost too easy to say and I don’t want you to think this is somehow false praise. This is one of the best novels I’ve read in the last decade let alone crime novels. Gunshine State is noir and crime fiction at its best. It has more angles than myriagon smashed with a ball-pined hammer. It’s more hard-boiled than a lit cigarette being crushed out in your eye. It’s a roller coaster ride you’re trying to predict whether it’s going left or right next and it digs a fricking hole. Gunshine State reminded me of being a kid reading a dynamic author for the first time, I could not put it down. From the first two pages, I woke with this book and let it put me to bed, and did not let it out of my sight until I was done. These characters jump off the page and live in your head and you just cannot wait to see what happens to them next. I cannot recommend Andrew Nette’s writing enough and Gunshine State is a perfect place to start. I’m ordering the sequel, Orphan Road, right now. The only caution I have is to read Gunshine State at your peril. I’ve started and put down three books (by authors I like) after reading it because right now all I want, all my brain is craving is, more Andrew Nette prose.