Book 2 in the Hank Thompson trilogy finds our anti-hero down in Mexico kicking back on the beach until bad things start to happen and the body count starts to rise as he returns to the US. Fans of Charlie Huston will appreciate but newcomers may need to beware. Personally I probably liked it slightly more than the debut in the series as the narrative was probably slightly more linear and some of the other characters definitely added to the piece. ( )

This is the second book in the Hank Thompson trilogy. Great book. Crazed, edge-of-your-seat action! ( )

Follow-up to Caught Stealing. This is where the train went off the tracks. I didn't like it at all, and would not recommend it. Maybe it's a guy's book. Read it if murder, mayhem and run-on paragraphs are your thing. ( )

Six Bad Things is Charlie Huston's follow-up to his 2004 novel, Caught Stealing. The main character, Hank Thompson is back. In CS, Hank got mixed up with some bad people, wound up killing some of them to survive and had to abandon his life to go on the run with the 4.5 million dollars that was the source of all the trouble. Six Bad Things picks up a several years later with Charlie hiding out in Mexico. But when a Russian gangster on vacation recognizes Charlie and threatens his parents, Charlie has to emerge from hiding to protect them. What follows is a lot of mayhem, delivered in Huston's unflinching style at a speed that makes your head spin. I've said it before; Huston is in a league of his own when it comes to writing crime novels. He never cuts Hank a break and continually twists the plot keeping you involved and guessing. I can't wait to read the next book, A Dangerous Man. ( )

This is the sequel to Caught Stealing, and the second in what's said in the next book to be a trilogy. I'm not sure what it says about me that I love Hank Thompson, the protagonist of these books. Hank has done bad things. Many of them involving ending people's lives. In the first book, he ended up in deep trouble after helping a casual friend, not knowing the guy had ripped off mobsters to the tune of millions. In this book, Hank has been living in Mexico, trying to maintain a low profile given his notoriety in the US. But of course, in this noir realm, things don't work out and Hank is forced to return to the States to protect his parents.

More people die, some by Hank's hand. Some deserve death, others don't, and given how dark Hank has become and his weaknesses (addictions), I shouldn't like him, but I do. His narration is as sprightly as it was in the first book, he's surrounded by another fun and funky cast of characters, and his situation is as dire as the first. In order to survive in a violent world, Hank has to be as violent or more so.

Huston has a strong grasp of character and develops Hank without a false note as the reader watches Hank gradually change into something he doesn't like while remaining sympathetic. After all, given his situation, with people trying to kill him from every direction, who could blame him for being a survivor willing to do whatever it takes, to stay alive and keep his parents safe. ( )