Six Bad Things

There is probably the literary equivalent of the "chick flick." This isn't it. Hank Thompson seems like your average beach bum. An American ex-pat whiling away his days on Mexico's Yucatan coast - sun, surf, a beach bungalow, passive owner of an open-air beach bar dive. But as the story unfolds, we learn he is also a man with a history. A dangerous man living off a pile - a big pile - of cash that its rightful thieves want back. When a Russian backpacker unwittingly blows Hank's Mexican cover, he heads back across the border to protect his family and resume his briefly interrupted trail of mayhem. With this backdrop, author Charlie Huston takes us on an extraordinary odyssey of evasion and murder unparalleled in pop fiction. Huston's lean and uneven, slightly nonlinear style is surprisingly effective. With shades of Boston Teran's sinister "God is a Bullet", or of Cormac McCarthy were he a Californian beach dude writing on while on Quaaludes, this is simply not your average thriller. Drugs, hookers, psychotic surfers, Las Vegas at its seamiest, the flat out depths of despair in society - this is "Six Bad Things". Addictive, engaging, powerful fiction. But like I said, it's not for everyone. For the rest, there's always "The Ya Ya Sisterhood".

Charlie Huston has done it again. This is a strong self confident follow up to his stunning first novel "Caught Stealing." From the beaches of Yucatan to the back roads of Cali and all the way to the heart of the beast Las Vegas. This is one cranked up rode hard full bore mother of a novel. One word of cation, don't start reading SIX BAD THINGS if you have anything else on the plate. It will take your life and make you forget little things like going to work, or the kids soccer game or that medication you had to pick up for your invalid father in law. Yes it is more addictive than crack. But it's also a hell of a lot more fun.

When I read Charlie Huston's CAUGHT STEALING I fell hard for Hank Thompson. What girl wouldn't! He's good to his folks, faithful to his friends and willing to sit your cat. So when I opened SIX BAD THINGS, I wondered, can a guy who had endured so much punishment survive more horrors with his human goodness in tact? That's what is so great about SIX BAD THINGS. By the end Hank had descended into hell, and yet I'd still risk being alone with him. Hurry up, Huston! Where's Book Three? L. Smith

I love it when I find an author that thrills and excites me when I read their work. You know the one-your pulse quickens when you turn to page one and maintains until you finish the story. I hate it when I have to wait for the next installment of scintillating adventures. Charlie Huston is someone I've discovered, and I can't wait to read more and will follow his career with my hard-earned cash. Six Bad Things is the second book of a trilogy. Former minor league baseball player Hank Thompson has a problem. He figured he'd be safe living the good life in Mexico with the $4 million he stole from the Russian Mafia just before leaving New York. Wrong! Now three years later a chatty Russian backpacker (who is actually a bounty hunter) is asking dangerous questions and Hank figures he'd best head back north. The lives of his family might well depend on it. On the way to taking care of business Hank will face a passel of bad guys who want to interrupt his trip. Nothing is easy for Hank. I haven't read Caught Stealing yet, but you'd better believe I'll have it in my hands shortly. Then I'm going to settle in for what is probably going to be an entertaining ride, if it's anything like Six Bad Things. If you like your suspense hard-boiled and don't mind violence, run, don't walk, to the bookstore. This book is fast-paced, exciting, believable and occasionally funny. Huston is a grand storyteller; you'll slip into the plot and buy into the "if this happened to me-well, that's just what I would do" mentality.

For those of you, like me, who were afflicted with the mindless zombie Brain-Crave of "MORE!" at the finish of Huston's incredible debut, "Caught Stealing", you can now withdraw your withered arms from the narrow slats of that boarded-up bookstore you've been hassling for the last twelve months, and dig into another slab of prime Crime. Hank Thompson, one of contemporary fiction's most violent victims of circumstance, finds that Mexico isn't quite the peaceful haven he's been relying on since he first fled the impromptu New York chain of violence he was forced to commit after agreeing to watch his neighbor's cat. His perfect beach existence is suddenly capsized by a chatty Russian backpacker and now Hank must walk back into the very center of the storm he left behind. His family's lives depend on it. Huston's second novel has more than made good on the surly promise of the first and leaves a bloody I.O.U. for the mayhem that is yet to come. Huston's blistering sense of plot and pacing, as well as his astonishing eye for character, makes this book a must-have. If you've already read him, you know what I mean. If you haven't, I honestly don't know what the hell you're waiting for. As mean and funny and satisfying as seeing your best friend take a line drive right in the nuts. It just doesn't get any better than this.