Big Maria [Kindle Edition]

If you are squeamish, don't like descriptions of body fluids, or swearing, this book isn't for you.

If you like rollicking adventure yarns with flawed desperadoes, pot-heads, donkeys, seniors on drugs, North American Indians, old lags and drunk soldiers, you'll probably love it.

Stay just on the side of possible, if not entirely plausible, Shaw creates an image of the South which draws you nicely into the viewpoint of his lead characters, mostly forgotten, ignored or reviled bt society. Convinced that they must make their own luck, they set off to find an abandoned gold mine in the middle of a live army range. Chaos, adventure and fun are the result.

A great fun read.

Second novel from Johnny Shaw. Must be honest and say I was really looking forward to another 'Jimmy Veeder' tale to carry on from Shaw's first novel 'Dove Season' which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. However, not to be and Mr Shaw gives us new characters to get involved with, and like 'Dove Season' it is possible to get tied up with the characters that Shaw portrays with all their faults and human weaknesses. No spoilers from me, but again, as with Shaw's first book I must warn potential readers there is an awful lot of bad language, some graphic violence and pretty disgusting scenes involving human bodies in various stages of death and decomposition.

The setting - Arizona's Chocolate Mountains, former gold mining territory, now the biggest artillery and bombing range in the world belonging to the U.S. Military.

The Goal - a shed-load of gold rumored to have been stashed away in a mine named 'Big Maria' over a hundred years ago.

The Home Team (the good guys?):
Harry - living on disability payments and drinking most of it. A disabled drunk!
Frank - has cancer, cardiac problems and a dominating, control freak daughter.
Ricky - younger than the others, a good kid trying to do right for his family. Operative word being 'trying'as half the lawyers in Arizona are trying to crawl up his backside.

The Away Team (the baddies?)
A Hell's Angel type biker with a thriving Meth business.
A soldier, with a very itchy trigger finger, AWOL from Uncle Sam's army and who thinks everyone should play 'Chicken' with him.
The U.S. Army who like to lob huge high explosive shells and bombs into the mountains, keeping everyone on their toes and suitably stressed out dodging the explosions..

The first few pages may turn your stomach a little but after that the slick Johnny Shaw dialogue takes over, snappy, cool with enough cynicism and humor that kept me turning the more than 370 pages until the end. Based on the classic themes of treasure, treachery, gold lust and trying to achieve the impossible I enjoyed it immensely and forgive Shaw for not coming up with Jimmy Veeder part two.

When you have tried all the really crazy ideas, then you start to put the stupid ones into operation! Just the sort of adventure that appeals to a lot of us so give it a read, well worth the time and trouble!

Harry, Ricky, and Frank all have different problems and views of life, Harry drinks, but can't hold it, can't fight and is about to loose his disability insurance.

Ricky is in trouble with the law, after a traffic accident involving a bus load of senior citizens.

And Frank has problems with cancer, heart trouble and growing old. They all have one thing in common, the plan to raid an old mine, filled with ill-gotten gold. The things they have to do to reach there goal, would provide a film producer with a two hour comedy to rival anything ever written.

This is very funny adventure crime thriller, which involves, a treasure map, underwater ghost town, two donkeys, drugs, rogue soldier, a ferocious daughter and full scale war games. All this comes together in a very very good book.
Buy it, read it.