Wild Horses

This book has the wonderful, excellently-crafted combination of humor, thrills, adventure, and pure chills that I love in a good read! Fast-paced and exciting, I'd recommend this book highly to anyone wanting a rollercoaster ride as opposed to a stroll in the park.

It's so good, I just want to be a missionary for this book. One is somewhat intimidated by the in-depth comments/reviews by other customers for this book, but one doesn't want to let that get in the way. Fact is, no matter how poorly or well I say it, this is still a registry of positive response for the novel that has touched me in all the right places, a humorous thriller with delight and death playing next door neighbors. I'm now read 56% of Brian Hodge's novels, and 100% of his short story collections - the man is a certifiable genius storyteller, so well does he spin a tale that we simply don't want to stop reading. Most hightest recommendation.

I can't say enough good things about this book! Action, humor, deeply affecting characters... I found myself identifying with multiple characters, some at odds with each other... It was just such great fun to read, with the fun being balanced with the occasional shock or gut punch that keeps it from being too light. Just like life, there's a little of everything here.

Hodge has been a favorite of mine for a year or so--ever since I got hold of some of his "horror" novels (The Darker Saints, Prototype, and Nightlife). But here, with a character-driven "crime" book, he goes even beyond the storytelling talent he displayed in those books. Allison is one of the most endearing and sympathetic female characters to come along in a while. I couldn't put the book down because I was rooting for her so hard. The most interesting thing, however, is the way that Hodge makes all of the other characters--Boyd Dobbins (aka Peter Wackermann), Gunther, and even Madeline--sympathetic, even though they are devious, deviant, slimy folks. Hodge likes both saints and sinners. There's something to like about these people beyond their "bad guy" personas. All of Hodge's characters--Doug Powell, Krystal, Thomas St. John--are so real, so vivid, that this book puts him at the top of the "crime" list with Elmore Leonard and "Big" Jim Thompson. But it's more than a crime novel, it's a novel about life, gambling, a big sum of money, Crystal Drano, and just moving on.

WILD HORSES is unlike anything Brian Hodge has written before; a comedy with his most well-developed characters inside a landscape of Las Vegas and The South. Beautifully written, razor-sharp dialogue, one-liners and even some of that Good Tome Hodge philosphical leanings and you have a book that will hit you on a multitude of levels; at once making you cry, laugh, squirm and, most importantly, think and care for these people...at least some of them. WILD HORSES is a winner and, with any justice, will make Brian Hodge a household name and bestseller. Those interested in the free Brian Hodge newsletter, AS ABOVE, SO BELOW email me at [email protected] Paul