Kiss Me Deadly

KIRKUS REVIEWS

"The ’20s are still roaring, the rotgut is still flowing, and the Jazz Age is still going full blast in this sequel—join the party, kiddo…The plot does not just thicken, it congeals; but suffice to say, there is murderous mayhem past the 12-mile limit, Irish Republican Army skulduggery, and assorted other violent diversions. Lomax (Midnight Sleeper, 2016) is clearly enjoying himself.

For one thing, his descriptions of the artifacts of the era—cars, fashions—show such a curator’s delight that one suspects that the man feels he was born too late. The scene where Nachman is toying with a hapless, sweating man named John Smith is priceless. And how is this—“TB reached for” the dispatcher’s book, “but the unfinished business of dying reached him first”—for hard-boiled poetry? Or: Shelby “wore a camel hair men’s double-breasted polo coat, and she took all the man out of it.” Yes, the style dances on the edge of parody. Which is what makes it such fun. This volume is just as engaging as Midnight Sleeper, and it’s a good bet that Book 3 will be as well. The author has a great thing going here."