I like the cover to this book. I think there is a real maniacal feel to it. I was very surprised to read a “review” on Amazon. In it somebody says that they will not read the book because it has a feminist propaganda cover. OK. I think somebody misunderstands feminism a bit. Yes it is feminist because it shows that women can be insane killers as well. Yes take that feminists we can’t have you murdering people too. On a serious note David Cranmer is a feminist because he doesn’t give two hoots about the gender of an author, only the quality of their writing. There are stories in this anthology that were written by women but as usual they are just good pulp stories and I really couldn’t pick any out as being by either a man or a woman. They are just good pulp.
This is called Hardboiled for a reason. These stories are right up in your face spitting vile curses until you run away screaming. There are no wasted words, no preamble, no fuss, just plain and simple character driven stories. If you are a Cash Laramie fan there is an interesting little story for you set when Cash is a little bit older, but for me the story I was looking forward to the most was Wayne D. Dundee’s Joe Hannibal story and it didn’t disappoint. None of these stories disappointed. They were all good stories. If I had one criticism it would be that I preferred the first Hardboiled collection slightly more but this is still a fun read. When you consider the ridiculously low price this really is a true pulp book. You could buy both Hardboiled books for less than your Skinny Mocha Choca Latte Americano thingie. You’d get a lot more enjoyment out of these books too.
Tony's Thoughts 