Money Shot

The cover and the title... well... they'd normally make me move on without reading the book. Except, this is an original novel published by Hard Case Crime who are famous for their retro covers. This cover was an Anthony Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original and Best Cover Art (2009) and the novel was a Barry Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original (2009)and an Edgar Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original (2009) and besides, I was reading the ebook version so no-one was ever going to see the cover... except you guys of course.

In Money Shot Christa Faust has produced a Hard-boiled crime novel that is very different from the typical macho gumshoe flexing his muscles and firing his gun as he wise-cracks his way to catching the bad show more guy.

The book opens with our heroine Angel Dare, naked and bound hand and foot in the trunk of a car in a remote lot. She's been left for dead but she's still breathing. A fact that the man who tried to kill her will come to regret.

Angel is a strong woman who has survived being in front of the cameras in the porn industry and gone on to carve a place for herself managing the new generation of talent performing in porn films and gentlemen's clubs through her Daring Angels agency. She knows the challenges that women working in the porn industry face and she does her best to keep her Angels safe while helping everyone to make money, She was satisfied with her business and her life. Until her life was blown up when a close friend betrayed her to ruthless men ready to torture, rape and kill to get what they want.

And that's just the first couple of chapters.

This is not a comfortable or cosy book. It's an unflinching look at some terrible people doing some nasty things. This is a story of a woman coming to understand that her old life is gone, that her friends are either dead or have betrayed her or both and deciding that none of that is going to stop her from killing the men who did this to her.

This isn't the kind of thriller where you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what clever twist is going to allow the heroine to escape in the nick of time. It's the kind of thriller where bad things happening lead to worse things happening until everything is in ruins. It's a story that focuses on trauma and its consequences rather than on complex plots.

What kept me wading through the soulless sex, the vicious violence, the grimly plausible exploitation and the constant bloodshed was Angel Dare herself. She felt very real to me and what happened to her was truly awful. What she did about it wasn't any better. The price she paid for it may even have been worse but I could see it happen.

She's a smart, tough, occasionally witty woman who has survived things that might have broken other people. Christa Faust has given her a unique and relatable voice that kept me moving forward as the plot got darker and darker. Angel often said or thought things that made me smile, like her view on shopping malls:

"I hate malls. They're like strip clubs for women. All tease and sparkle and the empty promise that if you just drop enough cash, somehow you’ll be fulfilled."

The second and, I think last, Angel Dare book is called Choke Hold. I'll be adding it to my TBR list shortly. show less

Fast, brutal, and mostly satisfying, this tale of an ex-porn star's battle against ruthless traffickers of Eastern European girls has a fascinating, realistic background in Southern California's porn industry, with a side trip to Las Vegas. The writing is quite good except for a few awkward passages and one or two plot twists that don't really ring true. Nevertheless, the strength of the story will leave you wanting more.

Pulp fiction is back. Count me in. There’s a great little publisher, that I discovered here on LT, maybe through RidgewayGirl, called Hard Case Crimes, and they publish new (read modern-day) hard-boiled, noir-ish books, lovely and pulpy as well as some earlier novels from pulp’s heyday, and Money Shot is one of their offerings. Oh, and the covers!) Angel Dare is an ex-porn star who runs her own agency for video girls (cuz, hey, it’s better to have your sex sold by a woman than some brutish male person, or whatever). Anyway, Angel gets beaten to a bloody (pulp) and left for dead. After she claws her way back to the world she discovers she’s been framed for a friend’s murder. Well, you know what happens next, and it was fun and show more engaging. Angel’s pretty awesome. Not for the easily offended, obviously. show less

This is the second book I’ve read from publisher Hard Case Crime. The first was a Michael Crichton number by the name of ‘Odds On’ (writing under the pen name of John Lange) which, sadly I didn’t enjoy (paid $11.95 plus tax for a paperback copy of that fucker at Barnes & Noble. I feel like a sucker.) Look—I don’t know about you—but I like a page turner and that book wasn’t—undaunted I made myself check another tome from the Hard Case Crime oeuvre since I kind of like their throwback covers, because in the PC world we live in these days; some of those covers are a breath of fresh smog.

Money Shot by Christa Faust is by far my favorite book and cover, I mean look at it! Let me tell you why I liked this story.

Revenge and show more retribution thy name is Angel Dare.

Gina Moretti a. k. a. Angel Dare is an ex porn star who’s been left for dead in the trunk of a Honda Civic—a fucking Honda Civic, why? Because of some missing money she knows nothing about. So with the help of ex-cop/bodyguard Lalo Molloy (he’s a MexMick; his mother’s Mexican, his dad’s Irish) they embark on a dark and violent journey in search of the responsible party. And thus author Christa Faust rewrites the femme fatale as a feminist porn star pulpy action hero.

Dark, gritty and at times downright nasty (just the way me likes) yet witty, fast-pace and ballsy with lots of action. I couldn’t put it down.

Five out of Five Bullet holes baby.

Next up Angel Dare makes a comeback in ‘Choke Hold.’ Can’t wait to get my hands on that one (hey see what I did there?) show less

Christa Faust’s “Money Shot” is another excellent book in the superb “Hard Case Crime” series and delivers a confident, rollicking fast-paced, hard-boiled tale of revenge set in the LA porn industry. The story features Angel Dare, retired porn actress who now heads up an adult modelling agency. When an old director friend calls her up and persuades her to do one last movie she agrees. But when she arrives on set she discovers things aren’t as they seem and soon finds herself caught up in the mystery of a missing briefcase full of money, people traffickers and vicious, stop-at-nothing east European mobsters. Angel is a survivor, however, and alongside her laconic security man Malloy, she determines to get to the bottom of the show more case – even as the bodies pile up all around them in ever-growing numbers. Christa Faust has been described by Quentin Tarantino as “a Veronica in a world of Betties” and this book beautifully illustrates why – it is a stylish, lurid, quick-witted tale rooted in the best traditions of hard-boiled noir fiction. The story is full of furious energy, which is off set by some clever humour – I particularly liked the names of some of the porn stars: “Heidi Ho” and “Busti Keaton” are superb. The setting within the porn industry is unusual and well handled, with Faust describing industry practices in a matter-of-fact way and avoiding any form of preaching or moralising. In Angel Dare, Faust has also come up with a great female character – Angel is complex, resilient, sexy and powerful all at the same time and I look forward to seeing what happens to her in her next adventure. “Money Shot” is an excellent page-turner and I cannot recommend it highly enough. show less

"Coming back from the dead isn't as easy as they make it seem in the movies."

Hard Case Crimes have been hit or miss with me. Most I find good but not many great. I know there's more out there waiting for me to discover and fall in love with them - I've read about five (sad number).

Angel is a retired porn star who currently keeps afloat by running a company of working women for the entertainment industry. After receiving a phone call from a director she respects and trusts, she agrees to do one last job - but finds out there is a gigantic catch. Now on the run and having escaped death, she must clear her name and get revenge on those who almost put her in the coffin.

The author doesn't hold back with the porn industry business - show more definitely more insight than I'd had before (or wanted.) It's told with no apologies in a matter-of-fact way through memories and a present set visit. I had NO idea men put injections there, yikes.

Usually books like this are told through the point of view of men who run into the classic noirish dame, but in this case it was a woman writer doing a good job telling a story with an experienced woman's point of view. The writing style is awesome and casual, easy to digest and read through quickly.

Characterization is well done too, particularly in the strong and independent personality Angel has. Every once in awhile there's a touch of vulnerability that makes her come across more real. Even the "good guys" in this show realism as they sometimes betray Angel when she and I weren't expecting them too.

It's pure crime and no mystery, a well-done and tense book that's well-structured. It gets a little silly and overreaching in the end with some of the deaths, but it does so while still embracing the pulpy feel these kind of books promise. show less

This was way better than I expected. I don’t read much crime fiction, which I wanted to change so I found a recommendation for this on bookriot. It was well worth it.

Entertaining, full of twists, set against the background of the sleeze of the porn industry, this is an unusual and well-drawn story. Angel Dare goes from a cliché porn star to a hard-boiled tough chick, in a well-written, believable transformation. She gets betrayed, is hunted by both the cops and the bad guys, uncovers a sex slavery operation, and completely loses her previous life. Great ride.