Hoodtown: Expanded Second Edition

I loved this book - every dark, well-turned, beautifully plotted word. Although its byline is "a Lucha-Noir Novel" you don't have to be a fan of Latin American pro wrestling to enjoy this pulp wonder. Hoodtown is a ghetto where "Hoods" (a society where everyone from birth to death wear the lucha libre hoods as their identity) try to live their everyday lives among gangsters, drugs, and crime, just minutes from Angel City where "Skins" live a life of order and plenty. The heart of this book is "X" a retired, 40ish, luchadora (lady wrestler) who is thrown into the investigation of the murders of Hoodtown prostitutes. The women are not only brutalized but their mascaras (masks) are stolen, a crime as heinous as the murders themselves. Although this novel is allegorical, the character of X is beautifully realistic from her frustration that her life isn't how she planned it, to her inability to commit to the passionate trumpet player who adores her. This book is dark, sensuous, and wicked at every turn, and I take my hood off to the very talented Christa Faust who is in a league all her own.

Set in an alternate reality that mixes elements of Lucha Libre, film noir, pornography, and Ralf Ellison's Invisible Man, Hoodtown chronicles the misadventures of X, a fallen middle-aged ruda eking out a living as a speciality dominatrix and leg breaker in the luchadore ghetto of Hoodtown. X has a checkered past, a bad knee, and a serial killer to bring to justice - assuming he doesn't get her first! Written by the talented and versatile Christina Faust, this book contains a dozen quality illustrations by kindred soul Rafael Navarro, author of the excellent Sonambulo graphic novels. The two of them are part of a "luchacentric" circle of writers, artists, and performers headed by publisher and promoter Keith J. Rainville. Essentially the only Sexo y Violencia novel ever written, Hoodtown is a cult genre novel that only about 300 people in the world could ever possibly appreciate. Fortunately, I am one of those 300 people and I dearly love this novel. Faust does an excellent job of creating a believable masked subculture that comes complete with its own language, religion, social mores, and problems. It resembles pre-integration era Southern black culture just enough to be convincing without crossing over the line into exploitation. She also utilizes an old but good storytelling trope that I am particularly fond of: the protagonist is a villain forced into the role of hero against her will. X would much rather be getting laid, drunk, or cracking skulls than solving a mystery; but forces both internally and externally beyond her control force her to do the right thing. A sexy, sweating, blood soaked lucha tour de force.

So, mystery fiction getting you down? Alternate worlds seem like the same old thing? I suggest you take the first exit to _Hoodtown_, and like the masked comabtants in the novel, it will rock your world. Faust's innovative, taut, suspensful and sexy novel is like nothing you have read before. Like Hoodtown itself, it's a rich blend of cultural references from hardboiled noir fiction to the dazzling world of Mexican wrestling. (There's also a pinch or two of hot sex with searingly raw emotion--it brings out the flavor.) . Like the Mexican/Japanese dishes savored by the characters, this mix is exotic and delicious. Faust's heroine X is truly a divine creation--an older woman with A Past who has seen better days, an ex-villan with a violent streak,a tender heart and a bum knee. The plot she unravels combines terror, excitement and human drama in an imagined world that simply hums and crackles with life. I didn't want this novel to end, even when I knew that as in all crime stories, the showdown was inevitable. Here's hoping that this isn't Faust's only visit to Hoodtown; I certainly want to know what other stories are on these streets.

One evening, I took a nice hot bath and cracked open "Hoodtown" with the intent of reading the first two or three chapters. Next thing I know it's two hours later, I've finished the book and my bath is now ice cold. I woke up the next morning very, very sick. For this, I blame Christa Faust. Her book is impossible to put down. There's not enough space to go into plot details (see book description above), but let me tell you that Ms.Faust has created a completely engrossing world of masked heroes, serial killers, midget pimps, savage violence, and rough sex. Once you've finished the book, you'll want to visit Hoodtown to buy some churros, a souvenir mask or some hot masked lovin'. ;)

When I came across this book, I picked it up, thinking it was a cute idea: a masked detective named X, who lives in a city of people whose identity lies in the masks they wear. I was pleasantly surprised to find out my "cute idea" thought was one of the biggest understatements my mind ever told me. This is not just a great book focusing on pro wrestling (more specifically, Lucha Libre, the Mexican Style of Pro Wrestling), this is not just a great crime novel, this is not just just a great fantasy tale; this is a great novel that encompasses all these genres! Christ Faust tells the story of Ms. X, a former luchadora (lady wrestler) who fell from grace in the professional Lucha Libre world, and now resides in Hoodtown, her old stomping grounds. Here she makes a modest living, still as a luchadora, but as a private luchadora, who dishes out hourly sessions to masochistic men who are thrilled to be smacked around by Ms. X. Her new routine is interrupted when masked prostitutes in Hoodtown are found not only murdered, but left unmasked, which is every bit as horrible in itself as death. Ms. X becomes a self taught private eye searching for the killer since the police ---who do not reside in Hoodtown, and like most maskless people in this novel's society, spit upon masked folks as members of the lowest caste--- are nonchalant about finding the murderer. Of all the great things I can say about this story, what floored me most is Christa Faust's ability to create a gritty but sexy heroine in Ms. X, and in quite a way that I've never seen before. X is no glamour girl, but a rubenesque middle-aged woman with aches & battle scars from her former professional life. Rather than turning her into a one-dimensional asexual gritty character, Faust's erotic segments brings out X's raw sexuality in a way the reader will find alluring. It seems like so much erotica is based on glamorous folk with lilywhite skin and flawless bods; Faust does an enviable job of taking a down-to-earth character with flaws, but still painting a sensual figure that will make any man wish that X was a real life woman they could meet in the flesh. For fans of Japanese Womens' wrestling, picture Bull Nakano as a detective!{Sigh!} This is also the best novel I have ever read that is based on professional wrestling. I have read one or two decent wrestling novels, a few mind-numbingly horrid wrestling novels, but this is the first great pro wrestling novel I have encountered.