Six Bad Things: A Novel: Hank Thompson Trilogy, Book 2
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Product Description
Hank Thompson is living off the map in Mexico with a bagful of cash that the Russian mafia wants back and many, many secrets. So when a Russian backpacker shows up in town asking questions, Hank tries to play it cool. But he knows the jig is up when the backpacker mentions the money . . . and the family Hank left behind. Suddenly Hank’s in a desperate race to get to his parents in California before anyone can harm them. Along the way he’ll face Federales and Border Patrol, mafiosi and vigilantes, extortionists and drug dealers, and a couple of psychotic surf bums with an ax to grind. From the golden beaches of the Yucatán to the seedy strip clubs of Vegas, Charlie Huston opens a door to the squalid underworld of crime and corruption–and invites the reader to live it in the extreme.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is just so good! I adored 'Caught Stealing' the first novel in the Hank Thompson trilogy and if you haven't read that first, you must as this book will not make sense unless you have. You might also like to send for 'A Dangerous Man', part 3 of the Hank Thompson trilogy as, trust me, if you don't, say goodbye to your nails while you wait for Amazon to deliver the completion of this riveting trilogy.
When we last met Hank he narrowly escaped with his life, his cat and millions of dollars. You didn't really think he was going to get away clean, did you? Men who lose millions tend to be pretty miffed about it and so Hank, initially paranoid but soon with very good reason to be, has to run for his life again, scattering mayhem in his wake as deeply nasty people close in. And talk about twists and turns! What a gut-punch of an ending. This is a writer who doesn't sell out to popular opinion but respects the integrity of the story he has started. If you want a 'hollywood ending' don't even bother with Huston. this is a writer with courage who tells the story as it should be told; fast and mean and real and who respects his readers enough to know they understand the world can be a cruel place.
Some people find Huston's idiosyncratic writing style annoying. I love it. i think it adds an immediacy and realism to the story and find it helps the pages whip by faster. He has an incredible ear for dialogue and writes just like people speak with all the 'erms' and 'you know, likes' and it lends a cinematic quality to the story.
Someone please shove this under the nose of Scorcese or Tarantino...it would make a superb film. Oh, and please note, NOT just a book for the boys...some of us girls would rather stab forks in our own eyes than read romantic fiction....
When we last met Hank he narrowly escaped with his life, his cat and millions of dollars. You didn't really think he was going to get away clean, did you? Men who lose millions tend to be pretty miffed about it and so Hank, initially paranoid but soon with very good reason to be, has to run for his life again, scattering mayhem in his wake as deeply nasty people close in. And talk about twists and turns! What a gut-punch of an ending. This is a writer who doesn't sell out to popular opinion but respects the integrity of the story he has started. If you want a 'hollywood ending' don't even bother with Huston. this is a writer with courage who tells the story as it should be told; fast and mean and real and who respects his readers enough to know they understand the world can be a cruel place.
Some people find Huston's idiosyncratic writing style annoying. I love it. i think it adds an immediacy and realism to the story and find it helps the pages whip by faster. He has an incredible ear for dialogue and writes just like people speak with all the 'erms' and 'you know, likes' and it lends a cinematic quality to the story.
Someone please shove this under the nose of Scorcese or Tarantino...it would make a superb film. Oh, and please note, NOT just a book for the boys...some of us girls would rather stab forks in our own eyes than read romantic fiction....
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Poor Hank. After the explosive final chapter of Caught Stealing, Hank and Bud have found a little bit of peace. But they still just won't leave him alone.
A slower start this time breaks us back into the story nicely, and if just a little too much bad luck when Hank buys a car niggles slightly its soon forgotten as the story builds and Hanks allies and enemies become just one big threat as greed blinds all.
I don't want to spoil any bit of this great book but I have to comment on the masterful section where Hank guesses he is being set up by a dealer and in turn sets up his two unwanted cohorts go with him and take the flak. The slow build up to a menacing meet up and the realistic way everyone acts tougher the more scared they get ensues a chaotic and super violent gunfight where Hank does what anyone real would do and just runs for cover. Fantastic writing, I almost had an adrenalin come down when he finally got to safety!
Even better than the first book.
A slower start this time breaks us back into the story nicely, and if just a little too much bad luck when Hank buys a car niggles slightly its soon forgotten as the story builds and Hanks allies and enemies become just one big threat as greed blinds all.
I don't want to spoil any bit of this great book but I have to comment on the masterful section where Hank guesses he is being set up by a dealer and in turn sets up his two unwanted cohorts go with him and take the flak. The slow build up to a menacing meet up and the realistic way everyone acts tougher the more scared they get ensues a chaotic and super violent gunfight where Hank does what anyone real would do and just runs for cover. Fantastic writing, I almost had an adrenalin come down when he finally got to safety!
Even better than the first book.
Format:Paperback
Crime is probably my favorite genre, be it literature or film, and this book came strongly recommended. After letting it gather dust on the shelf for over a year, I finally dove into it and was instantly hooked. The story kicks off with protagonist Hank lounging on a quiet Mexican beach, hiding out from all manner of villains seeking him and the $4.5 million he made off with following a rather violent and complicated weekend in New York three years previously. I loved how the book just launched in without spending too much time explaining the specifics of what had brought Hank to this point. However, after about fifty pages I started to have a sneaking suspicion that this ultraviolent backstory had all been detailed elsewhere. So I checked online and discovered that this is the second book in a trilogy, and that the first (Caught Stealing) follows Hank's journey from nice catsitter to FBI Most Wanted list. Unfortunately, this violates one of my pet peeves, which is reading a series out of order. But already committed to the book, and having absorbed enough of Hank's backstory to make reading Caught Stealing redundant, I read on.
The book is basically one long chase scene, hurtling from Hank's hideaway on the Yucatan Peninsula, to Tijuana, to suburban California, to Vegas. Hank's problem is that the Russian mob has finally tracked him down and threatened the lives of his parents, so he's forced to make a move. A move that involves sending his cash to his one friend back in the U.S. and going back to his parents' house. It's not really clear why (other than sentiment), after being so cautious, careful, and crafty, he would make the colossally stupid move of showing up back home -- but the chase must go on. It's all very Tarantinoesque, or perhaps Pekinpaughesque -- there are Russian mobsters, a corporate blackmailer, a pair of psycho surf burnouts, and a truckload of white trash vigilantes after Hank and his loot. Many of these highly colorful supporting characters will die along the way, as will many of the equally memorable people Hank enlists in his bid to keep his parents safe. It's not just the outsize characters and violence that remind one of Tarantino though, it's also the dialogue, which is snappy and permeated with dark humor (which is also somewhat reminiscent of Elmore Leonard).
Ultimately, one's appreciation of the book will more or less depend on your taste for shoot 'em ups. That, and the extent to which you find Hank a sympathetic enough character to follow in his blood-soaked wake. Hank is enough of an everyman to be likable, but he's also killed in cold blood and caused the deaths of several innocent people. And while he wrestles with this at length, going so far to tattoo hash marks on himself to reflect the number of deaths he's caused, it feels kind of proforma, as if all the agonizing is there to keep him sympathetic to the reader. As entertaining as the lengthy chase is (for those who like such frenetic hijinks), my major problem is that the book shouldn't be a standalone. It ends in limbo, and one really has to read the next book (A Dangerous Man) to finish Hank's story. The trilogy should really have been published a a single longer volume and having it split up among three books feels like profiteering by the publisher (ie. I don't blame the author).
The book is basically one long chase scene, hurtling from Hank's hideaway on the Yucatan Peninsula, to Tijuana, to suburban California, to Vegas. Hank's problem is that the Russian mob has finally tracked him down and threatened the lives of his parents, so he's forced to make a move. A move that involves sending his cash to his one friend back in the U.S. and going back to his parents' house. It's not really clear why (other than sentiment), after being so cautious, careful, and crafty, he would make the colossally stupid move of showing up back home -- but the chase must go on. It's all very Tarantinoesque, or perhaps Pekinpaughesque -- there are Russian mobsters, a corporate blackmailer, a pair of psycho surf burnouts, and a truckload of white trash vigilantes after Hank and his loot. Many of these highly colorful supporting characters will die along the way, as will many of the equally memorable people Hank enlists in his bid to keep his parents safe. It's not just the outsize characters and violence that remind one of Tarantino though, it's also the dialogue, which is snappy and permeated with dark humor (which is also somewhat reminiscent of Elmore Leonard).
Ultimately, one's appreciation of the book will more or less depend on your taste for shoot 'em ups. That, and the extent to which you find Hank a sympathetic enough character to follow in his blood-soaked wake. Hank is enough of an everyman to be likable, but he's also killed in cold blood and caused the deaths of several innocent people. And while he wrestles with this at length, going so far to tattoo hash marks on himself to reflect the number of deaths he's caused, it feels kind of proforma, as if all the agonizing is there to keep him sympathetic to the reader. As entertaining as the lengthy chase is (for those who like such frenetic hijinks), my major problem is that the book shouldn't be a standalone. It ends in limbo, and one really has to read the next book (A Dangerous Man) to finish Hank's story. The trilogy should really have been published a a single longer volume and having it split up among three books feels like profiteering by the publisher (ie. I don't blame the author).
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