Money Shot (Angel Dare)

Hard Case Crime has been issuing simply wonderful noir novels, both new one and reprints of the classics, over the last several years. Christa Faust's MONEY SHOT is tuned just right, scene after scene, and in the overall arc of character and plot. Don't pass this one up!

MONEY SHOT is captured my attention so completely that, while reading it on my lunch hour one day, I didn't hear my food order called out and the cook actually had to come over to my table to get my attention. Within the first few pages, I developed a fondness for Angel Dare and truly cared what happened to her. I was angry when she found out about [data embargo] and felt her grief over [data embargo]. I was also sad when [data embargo] and totally caught off guard by [data embargo]. My apologies for the vague review, but giving spoilers for this novel really would be doing the reader a great disservice. Check out MONEY SHOT for yourself. It's an affordable little paperback that packs one hell of a wallop.

If you had ever thought that women couldn't write hard-boiled fiction, Christa Faust will quickly prove you wrong. Her new book Money Shot shows she is not only a good female crime writer, she is just a good writer period. The narrator and heroine of Money Shot is Angel Dare, a retired porn actress who is now moderately successful as an agent for other women in her former field. Approaching forty and lamenting it, she is talked into making one last movie with up-and-coming star Jesse Black, who's personally requested her. She arrives at the set only to find out it's all a trap: Jesse and her movie director friend Sam have lured her here at the request of some mobster who's looking for a lost briefcase filled with cash. When Angel can't come up with the necessary answers, they leave her to Jesse who shoots her and leaves her for dead in the back of an abandoned car. Fortunately, Jesse is not that great in the killing department and Angel survives, only to find she is accused of Sam's murder. As a wounded fugitive, she has few options, but she does have a friend in her company's security guy, Lalo Malloy. As an ex-cop, Malloy is resourceful enough, and he hides her. The two then try to clear Angel, find the briefcase, and most importantly for her, get revenge for the abuse she suffered. Besides the fact that Faust has a nice writing style, she also doesn't fall into many of the cliches of the genre, leading to twists and a conclusion that are unexpected but good. She also provides a deeper look into the porn industry than you might typically find in a crime story about the field; I also personally enjoyed her use of my native San Fernando Valley as a setting (as also noted in the movie Boogie Nights, the Valley is the porn film production capital). Money Shot is a thoroughly enjoyable little thriller and Christa Faust is a name to keep a look out for.