THREE STRIKES by Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg
Genre:Crime
Published by: Down & Out Books
Publication Date: September 10th 2018
Number of Pages: 350
ISBN: 978-1-948235-25-9
Pages: 350
Review Copy from: Authors
Edition: eBook
My Rating: 4
Synopsis
I Take Care of Myself in Dreamland
by Ross Klavan
Bartok is horribly scarred. Wounded in the Army, he roams through 1970’s New York, a city of perpetual night, punctuated by crime and populated by streetwalkers, hooker bars, strip clubs, easy drugs and a feeling of doom. There’s one thing on his mind: an experience he had when his Army truck exploded, an experience he calls Red River. More than bliss, more than spiritual. But nothing goes right. Bartok loses his girl, his money, any possibility of support and decides that he’s finished, he’s going to end it but before he does, he’s going out on the town for one last attempt to recapture the incredible experience of Red River. And when he does, he runs into others who see him as an easy mark for dirtier plans…plans that involve murder before suicide.
Bartok’s story is told by a driver for the mob, a guy who’s heard it all and usually keeps his mouth shut because when he begins a trip, it’s almost always one-way.
Jammed
by Tim O’Mara
Aggie’s back. After barely escaping with his life in “Smoked,” Aggie disproves the old adage of “Once burned…” This time around he’s heading from the Midwest to New York City with a sweet shipment of stolen maple syrup. He also has picked up an unwanted-and potentially dangerous-passenger; the fifteen-year-old daughter of his latest boss has hopped on for a free ride to the Big Apple and her on-line boyfriend. When they arrive in NYC, Aggie’s worst fears are realized when the “boyfriend” turns out to be a group of human traffickers. Aggie knew that running one of the world’s most valuable liquids across state lines was skirting the line between safety and danger, but he never knew it could get this sticky.
The Maybrick Affair
by Charles Salzberg
It’s a couple weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor and a young reporter, Jake Harper, who works for a small Connecticut newspaper, is assigned a routine human interest story. A reclusive, elderly woman, has quietly passed away in her small cottage upstate. Anxious for bigger stories, Jake begins his assignment by trying to find out who this woman was and what kind of life she led. As Jake investigates the old woman’s death he finds that years earlier she was tried and convicted of murdering her husband in a well-publicized, lurid trial in London, England. And, after digging further, he, unearths evidence that she might have had a connection to an even more famous British serial killer and that the ramifications of this story might affect America’s entry into the War.
My Thoughts
Three novellas, two ‘new to me” authors and a few hours of escape!
Being novellas, and not wanting to give anything away, other than the synopsis above, each story was unique and captivating.
I enjoyed the writing style and descriptive narrative with each story. So much so, that I felt I was able to create vivid imagery as if it was a movie in my mind.
Each story had enough suspense that it kept me turning the pages.
I had read a book by Charles Salzberg, DEVIL IN THE HOLE, so I knew his story would be enjoyable and now I have 2 new authors that I want to read more of their work.
Definitely, recommend! Three stories that are highly entertaining and gripping!
**Stop by tomorrow for a Guest Post by Charles Salzberg and Excerpt**
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