Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Jake

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I love reading! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Jake's Quick Questions interview.)

Jake's Reviews:

Cult Fandom

Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg

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I knew going in this wouldn’t be a conventional mystery novel but I was still impressed at how well William Hjortsberg followed the traditional tenets of what constitute a hard boiled novel. For about 90% of the book, this reads like a decent PI tale. And though I found the cult aspects to be boring and the reveal to be predictable, I still enjoyed the writing. This is a book that wastes no space. There are 48 chapters and each one exists to move the […]

Dreams, They Will Come and They Will Go

The Brass Rainbow by Dennis Lynds/Michael Collins

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My Kindle Unlimited subscription expires this week, which is kind of disappointing because that’s how  I’ve discovered Dennis Lynds’ (aka Michael Collins’) Dan Fortune series. These books are so much fun. And because they never found new life the way many old school pulp writers did through Black Lizard or Mysterious Press, they’re difficult to find in stores. I can get ’em from the library but it’s not the same as having another series to hunt for in used book palaces. At any rate, this […]

Gangster Gangster

Legs by William Kennedy

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In my mid-20s, with far less patience than I currently possess, I tried reading EL Doctorow’s acclaimed novel Billy Bathgate. As I should have known, it was too dry, too literary for my taste. I want to revisit it soon as I’m sure my sentiment towards it now would be different. Nevertheless, I don’t understand how anyone can write a Prohibition era novel, even one with literary aspersions, and not have fun with it. Legs is the book I wish Billy Bathgate was back in my 20s. It’s literary […]

Lights on in Hell’s Kitchen

The Westies by TJ English

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I read The Westies years ago. When The Departed came out, I had a fixation for anything to with the Irish Mob and randomly found this in my local Borders (RIP). I remember it being interesting at the time but I wasn’t into it as I was tales of Whitey Bulger and Boston, who I thought had a more compelling story. So it sat in the recesses of my mind for years. On another organized crime kick, I decided to re-read it. Even though I didn’t retain much of what […]

Taxi!

The Asphalt Warrior by Gary Reilly

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Found out about this one in a social media reading group I’m in. A fan of the series referred to it as “slacker-noir”, in the vein of The Big Lebowski and Inherent Vice. While it has no tonal similarities to those, I appreciated the reference. Because I really like and relate to the lead character, a Denver taxi driver who thumbed his nose at “real world” corporate and academic jobs in order to do as little work as possible. Nowadays, I’ve got a job and people to support […]

That New Author…Read

Act of Fear by Dennis Lynds/Michael Collins

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Ask any compulsive reader what one of their great thrills is and I would hazard to guess many would say “discovering a new author” lands before “discovering a good book.” For when you discover a new author, you discover the possibility of many good books. I picked this one up on a recommendation from Ross Macdonald. Macdonald’s Lew Archer series is my all-time favorite mystery series. He called this one of the most unique crime novels he’s ever read. Hearing such laudatory words from the master himself, […]



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