Blood and Mascara - Colin Krainin
Rating: 2/5
Pub Date: 5/9/24
Pages: 291

Thoughts: I could not get into this book no matter how hard I tried. It was overly confusing, and I found myself putting it aside and reading something else on more occasions than others. It just wasn't for me - and I decided to stop instead of finish it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pulplit for this copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a really good book. I enjoyed it and read it in one day! I would definitely recommend this book!

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review
I started off really enjoying this books because of the writing and setting
However I had some pacing issues because it went from 0 to 100 really quick and we were getting various pov's which made it hard for me to follow along and I started to get a bit lost on the story, nonetheless, this is a fairly short book and very bingeble if your looking for a distinct mistery

I could not get into this book. Others may be able to I just couldn’t seem to grasp it. I tried to read it a few times and could not get further than the first two chapters.

Blood and Mascara
By Colin Krainin

This is a very strange book. I confess that I was having a hard time trying to figure out what it was about. I have a rule that I give a book 100 pages – if it hasn't engaged me by then, I give up. I was almost at that point with this one, when I suddenly found myself wanting to read on. I needed to find out just what it was really about.

The main character is a PI named Calvin "Bronze" Goldberg. He is no longer young, yet he can't seem to get over his juvenile hang-ups about relationships with women. He also has a large alcohol problem, which has cost him his job as a journalist. Not a particularly interesting or likeable guy. But through flashbacks, we come to recognize some of the pivotal moments in his life that have made him the way he is.

There are a number of murders in this book. Some happen in the now, some are years old. And some – as hard as it is to believe – are related. The gory details are in full view here. If you are a sensitive reader, this might not be a book for you. But eventually, all the pieces come together, and leave the reader with the satisfaction that all the loose ends are tied up and there is hope for Bronze. And maybe for all of us.

What a fascinating new noir. Bronze is every bit the flawed PI of a protagonist and Krainin mixes violence and flowery monologues like SUNSET BOULEVARD. Another review said this book should be wearing a fedora and yes. And/or lying in a fountain; and I mean that in the best way. I appreciated being forced to slow down and soak up all the depth laid out in what could have been just a gritty crime book.

So suspenseful as it unfolds with twists and shocking (often violent) developments that keep you guessing what is next for these characters.

2.5 stars.

The premise of the novel and the cover drew me in but it kind of fell short? I had high expectations and I was a bit disappointed by it at the end.

It definitely felt slow at points and that can become quite boring with mystery books quick, however, I enjoyed the characters quite a bit. It also did achieve that old noir feeling but I just don’t think it was for me.

This book was good, but the beginning was really confusing for me. The bounce around between the different characters POV could have been more smooth. But all in all, I enjoyed it and I ended up loving the end of the book.

Grateful to NetGalley for the gift of an ARC for honest review.

This is a dense read; it's a slow start. The depth and detail of the character development is reminiscent of classic literary works, while the plot line reminds of a 1940's style noir (all with a sprinkling of 2020's era psychological awareness). The premise and plot can be engaging, but it takes quite a while to get there.
The reader has to commit to intentional reading (not backyard or bed-time reading!) as the narrative, to be fully enjoyed, requires some meticulous attention (the level of which I generally reserve for academic pursuits). The author is clearly a talented wordsmith.
I'm glad to have read it, and recognise this isn't as closely aligned with my present reading preferences as I would have liked.

Bronze takes photos of cheating partners. His current client is higher up on society’s food chain when suddenly a body connected to the photos ends up dead. Soon after Bronze is in the hitman’s crosshairs as well.

I rarely talk about language in my reviews, but when I do it always seems to be regarding crime noirs. Maybe they have a language all of their own that immediately entices the reader or I just got lucky with Colin Krainin’s Blood and Mascara. I was immediately sucked in.

The author teases the reader with what is coming ahead with tidbits laced into what is happening now. This has never worked for me, but it really works here. It builds the suspense up in a story that already has a lot of action. The story is constantly on the move. We get multiple viewpoints so the plot moves along rapidly. It is kind of like watching a season of 24 where one person is researching and you get to see what another character is doing because it’s going to be important.

There is no cliffhanger, but Krainin leaves the story open for a series. The mystery is solved, but there is a road for the characters to move forward on. Bronze is complicated and messy. He comes with a plethora of bad decisions which add colors and flavors to his story. There is a potential love interest if he doesn’t keep fucking it up. (chuckle - this is so Bronze speak…sorry (chuckle).) His gay best friend has been in love with him for decades unbeknownst to Bronze (smh). Plus all of the other secondary characters that add salt to Bronze’s everyday wounds.

Blood and Mascara is a crime noir that will have you flipping the pages to see what happens next.

Colin Krainin captures all of the classic noir mystery characteristics in his Blood and Mascara - dark and pessimistic, deeply flawed characters who are trapped in crime and corruption, violence, and of course - a femme fatale. He drew me in with his cynical self-deprecating internal dialogue of his main characters which often followed a plot event. These contrasts seemed to fulfill the revelation of moral ambiguity against the harsh realities of life. The beginning of the book includes a lot of backstory for each of the characters, but somewhere along the line I stopped caring about them. Perhaps it was my impatient frame-of-mind crying out for whodunnit, or it was the rambling self-reflections of the characters interrupting the series of events which slowed down the pace of the book. Toward the end I just wanted everyone dead. The End. Everybody dead. Nonetheless, I have to applaud the author for his sensory descriptive writing, use of vivid vocabulary, and the ability to delve deep into a character's psyche which is a cut above what we typically find in most of today's fiction. If you love noir works with their bleak grittiness and gory violence along with detailed passages of introspection, then this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Pulpit Paperbacks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

DNF
This is someone's perfect book but sadly that person isn't me.

The writing is well done, it's just not a style that holds my interest. The author is very descriptive, the reader knows the mood of evey person/thing in the room and he also has a tendency to go on deep philosophical tangents.
You get to know each character on a deep intimate level and though rewarding, it was also daunting at times.

I really wanted to get into this book, unfortunately I started to feel a little lost in description and mood setting.


Thank you NetGalley and Pulplit for the opportunity to read this book.

I absolutely loved this book. The constant guessing and way the story progressed had me on the edge of my seat.

While I enjoy mystery novels, I don't think I was the target audience for this book. I did enjoy that the chapters were short, the pace was fast, and the book was a quick read. However, this book was quite clearly written by a man and felt like it was targeted towards men, despite the romance subplot being more of a focus than the actual mystery itself. I could not get into the romance or find myself invested in the characters. The male character was misogynistic with no qualities that caused me to care about him as a flawed character and this was only emphasized for me by the fact that the female character felt very flat and like her main personality trait was being in love with the male character for no reason that I could understand. If you're looking for a quick mystery read with a romance element this might be for you, but I personally couldn't get into it.

Colin Krainin's BLOOD AND MASCARA is one heck of a read. Bronze Goldberg is a former Olympic medalist, a disgraced journalist, a private detective who ekes out an existence following straying spouses . He lives in successful romance novelist's basement apartment in 1997 Washington, DC. Newest case: expose a Washington politician's femme fatale wife, who is involved with several men. When the politician is assassinated and two more murders quickly follow, Bronze knows he will probably next. It's a game. A thrilling game of topsy-turvy cat and mouse. Think NOIR on steroids. A puzzler to the very end. Don't miss this one! Thanks to NetGalley for an advance Kindle copy of BLOOD AND MASCARA.

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Thank you to NetGalley aan the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Blood and Mascara is a dark and gritty noir thriller set in the days when life was simpler... 1997... no cell phones and just old school investigating. But even then, the politicians were still covering up their crimes and getting their cronies to do their dirty work. This is a violent and ugly story, yet the writing is so elegant and full of in-your-face truth. The MC Bronze is tortured by his past but yearns to be unbroken. Likeable yet flawed, he is a MC that feels all the more real. Blood and Mascara doesn't feel like a debut and is about as far away from "Hop-About: The Adventures of Benny the Bunny and Mr. Rabbit" (the author's only other publication on Goodreads) as you can get. There was some hopping about near the end of this book, but you know, and bullet in your kneecap kind of makes that a necessity!

thank you to NetGalley and pulplit for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

I don’t think this book was for me. I spent a lot of time confused as I felt like it was quite disjointed.

Character wise I wish we had more of Bruce he was fab, I also enjoyed reading about Roth and Iris. Bronze definitely had the most character development throughout this book, but I still don’t see him as that likeable.

If you’re into old school detective noir books I would definitely give this book a shot.

Thief blurb drew mw in and I couldn't wait to read this. Very noir feel to the story. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book