Go Down Hard by Craig Faustus Buck

372 Pages
Publisher: Brash Books
Release Date: May 5, 2015

Fiction, Murder, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Violence, Porn, Kidnapping

Nob Brown, an ex-cop and now a freelance writer, wants to do a piece on the death of a singer, Lana Strain. Although this happened 20 years ago, he believes if he digs deep enough, he will uncover new information. What he does not realize is by poking around and asking questions, he is putting his life in danger.

There is violence, porn, and kidnapping. The book has a steady pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the first person point of view. I appreciated the note by the author at the beginning of the book of his improper use of punctuation.

An intense breathless ride. I enjoyed the characters and the manner in which this author tells a story.
Many thanks to Brash Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

GO DOWN HARD - Craig Faustus Buck

GOOD WRITING - 3 stars

Plot - 3.5 stars - When Nob receives a copy of the cold police report of the murder of one of his old-time musical favorites, he gets aggressively involved in investigating her death for a story he wants to write. Soon it becomes much more complicated than he originally expected.

Writing - 3 stars - There were some amusing turns of phrases that made me smile, but the story moved forward at a relatively slow pace, interspersed with a few interesting scenes. Things bogged down from time to time as Nob gathered details about the potential crimes. And I frequently had to go back to reread a previous scene to remind myself about what was happening.

Characters - 2.5 stars - Nob bothers me from because of his lack of ambition. His ex-wife and his mother share their disappointment in his life choices, and I have to admit I felt the same way. He seemed happy enough to struggle through life despite the fact that he was pretty intelligent and good at detective work. I suspect he's meant to be likeable, but I found him frustrating more often than not. My favorite character was Gloria--his f-buddy and a local cop. She's tough and in-your-face, and you know where you stand with her.

Title - 3.5 stars - The title reference comes from one of Lana's songs. Which is appropriate because Lana often used her songs to provide a clue or message about what was going on in her life.

Cover - 4 stars - The cover looks great, with a bright color and the silhouette of a singer, directing us to the subject of the story (even though she's already dead when the story begins).

Overall - 3 stars - This book was fine, I certainly didn't actively dislike it. But I had reservations about Nob, the main character. And I didn't have a particularly high opinion of Lana, the dead main character, as she lived the tough life of a rock star. Ginger and Sophia were also not very likeable. The whole book was very put-downable, and it took me way longer to read than warranted. It got a little complicated with organized crime involved to muddy the waters. I guess that was the problem--Buck decided to create several red herrings, and I thought it got a little complicated keeping track of all the loose ends. All that being said, it was a fairly satisfying ending, but I'll admit I was happy to wind things up. It all dragged out a little too long.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Nob Brown is a divorced, disillusioned thirty-something ex-cop turned bottom-feeding tabloid writer. His best friend and occasional lover, Gloria Lopes, is an LAPD detective who needs an Excel spreadsheet to chart her sex life. When Gloria slips Nob the confidential file on the unsolved twenty-year-old murder of a legendary rock-and-roll goddess, Nob hopes to solve the crime and propel himself out of the tabloids and into a lucrative book deal. But he pokes into the wrong holes and unearths rotting secrets that give rise to fresh corpses. As the cold case comes to a fast boil, Nob is forced to battle for his own survival.

Sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll...and Russian thugs, murder and a load of humour.

That pretty much sums up this very good Los Angeles noir-mystery novel where solving a crime has never been more fun to read about.

Nob is an excellent MC and is ably assisted by a support cast such as Melody and Gloria. The dialogue between them all was fresh and exciting, loaded with zippy one-liners and big doses of throwback to classic detective stories.

If you are looking for something a little fun, a little feisty and more than just a little fantastic, then this could be the mystery novel for you!


Paul
ARH

GREAT debut novel & very memorable characters. Can't wait for Buck's next book!