Book Review – Her Last Call to Louis Macneice

Author: Ken Bruen
Publisher: Five Star Books
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2005

Cooper had done his time for GBH. Now he was on the outside, he’d set up a legit business with Doc whom he’d met in prison. They called themselves ‘Righteous Repo’ and they even had an accountant. The Repo firm did good business but lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. And it wasn’t anywhere near as exhilarating as the bank jobs they did on the side.

Cooper gets more excitement than he bargained for when Cassie walks into his life. Cassie likes poetry, guns and money, but more importantly she likes Cooper, and nothing and nobody is going to stand in the way of her getting what she wants.

At 124 pages Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice is a short work so this review is going to be a short one as well.

I have a theory about this book. Originally when Ken Bruen submitted the manuscript he had a note written on the top page that said “Crime Fiction Concentrate. 100% Pure. Mix with water – 3:1 ratio.” Then at some point the note fell off and the story was never properly diluted. So what we have here is pure concentrated Bruen and like a strong cleaner it burns your eyes when reading it. There isn’t a single bit of fat to be had in this lean, mean and tough story.

One of the things that I find interesting is the interaction between the characters Cassie and Cooper. Cooper lives a structured life. He is a thinker and a planner; everything has a place and everything in its place. Probably the one thing that he hates the most is an unplanned contingency; something that he cannot control. Enter Cassie (short for Cassandra) the wild card. Her actions are so unpredictable and uncontrollable that I’m not even too sure that SHE knows what she is going to do next. She is a live wire that has taken up permanent residence on the total opposite end of the spectrum as Cooper. Their interactions with each other come across as an Ego vs. Id and Chaos vs. Order debate played out in real time throughout their actions.

This is a very fast paced book that manages a lot of twists and turns in its short page span. The final section of the book is explosive in its finality and breathtaking in its pace. This is vintage Bruen and at almost 10 years old counts as early Bruen. This one shouldn’t be missed.

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