Bradley Spinelli

I received this for free from Early Reviewers.
I enjoyed this book. The premise is a P.I. gets involved in a missing person case but it winds up he is the one trying not to get killed. Everyone who interacts with the main character winds up dead and he has to figure out why. It kept me interested to see what would happen next. By the way I really did not care for the history of Guatemala (skimmed through that section). I felt that was not needed in the storyline. I did not guess the ending and was pleasantly surprised.… (more)

I've come to associate Akashic Books (the publisher) with solidly decent Noir, and with The Painted Gun, their track record continues. Bradley Spinelli takes a genre that has been arguably beat to death and infuses new life into it--first, by setting his tale in a somewhat disused time period for detective fiction (the early 90's). Second, by throwing a neat hook at the reader from the get-go (see the book's accompanying back-cover blurb to see what I mean). He adheres to most of the tried and true tropes of the genre while still projecting a voice all his own. Altogether a great read.… (more)