Tequila Sunrise

Rating:
Summary: Getting Hardboiled in "Tequila Sunrise" by Michael Bracken
Review: Having read and enjoyed very much the novel, "Deadly Campaign" by this author, I have been looking forward to reading this book for quite some time. But, getting my hands on a copy wasn't easy for a number of reasons. Finally, I got one and I wasn't disappointed in this hard hitting anthology featuring private Investigator Nathaniel Rose.

The 103-page book is made up of seven complex stories involving Nathaniel Rose and a recurring cast of characters over a significant period of time. In almost every case, the women are sexy, the violence is hard hitting, and Rose gets the crook by any means necessary.

The book opens with the story "Partners" where Rose is nearly killed when his Mustang explodes. He survives and with little idea who wanted him dead, starts looking.

"Fair Warning" follows and is a case involving a missing husband, fast food, and a tantalizing wife.

"Heartbreak Hotel" comes next in the book as well as in the book arc in terms of character development and time, and involves a missing fiancée. Simply making photocopies can get one killed it seems.

"Lucky Seven" is another aptly named story. In this case, seven witnesses can all detail for court how they saw a man kill his wife and her lover. The client just needs to know how good the case is, which on the surface, seems simple enough.

"Even Roses Bleed" revolves around a beautiful woman and her need to have her husband dead. Word on the street is Nathaniel Rose would fit the bill nicely, in more ways than one.

Strippers have always been a hallmark in detective fiction but rarely used to such good effect in "Tequila Sunrise and the Horse."

But after all, for any P.I. the cases are "Only Business." Something to remember in the sometimes stormy waters of love.

With an overall story arc linking the stories in this anthology and providing character development, this book is a very good read and more complex than many novels. The writing style is terse and hard hitting and usually in dialogue form. At the same time, scene descriptions come alive for the reader who will quickly become lost in the murky world of "Bullets, Booze and Broads."


Book Facts

Tequila Sunrise
Hardboiled P.I Nathaniel Rose: Bullets, Booze and Broads
By Michael Bracken
www.crimefcitionwriter.com
Wildside Press
www.wildsidepress.com
2000
ISBN # 1-58715-252-5
Large Trade Paperback



Rating:
Summary: Excellent Collection of Private Eye Tales
Review: I've been writing Nathaniel Rose stories for ten years and finally have the chance to see the first seven stories together in one place. If you enjoy hardboiled Private Eyes, you'll enjoy reading about Nathaniel Rose.

Rating:
Summary: "Tequilla Sunrise": Strong Stuff
Review: Michael Bracken's "Tequilla Sunrise" is a wonderful trip into the hardboiled world. It's a place where strippers are named Lime Ricky and Tequilla Sunrise, where friends become enemies, enimies become allies, and clients become lovers before the sun sets.

This collection of seven stories (six previously published)follows PI Nathaniel Rose down the mean streets of St. Louis. The collection starts with a bang (literally) in "Partners," and continues nonstop through some of the best noir detective tales in years.

Bracken manages to create a fresh, unique character in Rose, while keeping true to the traditional hardboiled private eye story. Any of these stories could have come right from the pages of Black Mask. If you love classic noir stories, you owe it to yourself to read this collection.

Rating:
Summary: Unapologetic Hard Boiled Entertaiment
Review: Nathaniel Rose evokes shades of Mike Hammer and Parker with some unique textures of his own. The stories were entertaining original fiction, written with honor threaded throughout the tough action and dialogue.
The reader is left wanting more tales from this almost anti-hero.
In a genre overly criticized for its wanton violence and sexuality, it's refreshing to see Michael Bracken stare the critics down for the sake of a story done right.
Bracken's work can stand alongside Mickey Spillane, Richard Stark, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos and Ed McBain as the most entertaining writing of its genre.
Having read four other Bracken books (All White Girls, Bad Girls, Psi Cops as well as Tequila Sunrise), the feeling is that Bracken will make a major breakthrough into mainstream entertainment.
Hopefully,his Nathaniel Rose creation will follow him there, because crime fiction needs a breath of fresh air.

Rating:
Summary: Old-fashioned,. hardboiled private eye stories
Review: Tequila Sunrise contains seven private eye stories, all great. These stories are faithful to the hardboiled genre, and make no apology for their rough, tough nature.

I knew I was in for a good time when Nathaniel Rose's car blew up on page one of the first story. The excitement and suspense didn't let up until the last page of the last story.

If you like stories of private eyes with codes of honor, willing to do what it takes to find the truth no matter wshat the personal cost, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Tequila Sunrise
Review: Tequila Sunrise proves to be a quick read. Nate Rose takes on seven cases each involving women, and he proves that he will do what ever it takes for them. Michael Bracken weaves the stories together with secondary characters that keep popping up from story to story. All the stories were good and there were even some suprise endings.

Rating:
Summary: Truth in Advertising
Review: The subtitle, "Bullets, Booze and Broads," is a highly accurate summation of this short story collection. There is certainly no mistaking this book for a cozy tea party at the vicarage. In all honesty, I'm much more a cozy fan than a hardboiled fan, and the more graphic sex scenes pushed my "too much information" button. Bracken tells a good story, though, and there is no denying that Nathaniel Rose has a distinctive voice.

All of the stories are set in St. Louis, and as someone who visits St. Louis maybe once every few years, I enjoyed Rose's tour of some of those sites not on the typical tourist itinerary. The city's unique personality comes through very subtly yet effectively, seeming to make the setting a character of its own.

I was particularly impressed with the plot lines, both within each story and in the progression of stories. Bracken's plot twists are fresh and innovative where so many hardboiled stories fall back on the tried and true devices. Bracken even seems to poke fun at some of those hardboiled conventions, like when Rose describes how he and his secretary are caught by surprise when a client actually shows up completely unannounced. The character development as Rose proceeds from "Partners" (first published in 1988) through four stories from the 1995 collection Even Roses Bleed, to the final two stories written for this anthology, also indicate Bracken's concentration on craft. And despite my cozy leanings, I couldn't help but admire Bracken's willingness to shed just about anybody's blood in order to keep the plot coherent.

If you like your fiction brief and noir (and maybe even if you don't) I think you'll find Tequila Sunrise an intoxicating treat.

(adapted from a "Skullduggery" review)

Rating:
Summary: Truth in Advertising
Review: The subtitle, "Bullets, Booze and Broads," is a highly accurate summation of this short story collection. There is certainly no mistaking this book for a cozy tea party at the vicarage. In all honesty, I'm much more a cozy fan than a hardboiled fan, and the more graphic sex scenes pushed my "too much information" button. Bracken tells a good story, though, and there is no denying that Nathaniel Rose has a distinctive voice.

All of the stories are set in St. Louis, and as someone who visits St. Louis maybe once every few years, I enjoyed Rose's tour of some of those sites not on the typical tourist itinerary. The city's unique personality comes through very subtly yet effectively, seeming to make the setting a character of its own.

I was particularly impressed with the plot lines, both within each story and in the progression of stories. Bracken's plot twists are fresh and innovative where so many hardboiled stories fall back on the tried and true devices. Bracken even seems to poke fun at some of those hardboiled conventions, like when Rose describes how he and his secretary are caught by surprise when a client actually shows up completely unannounced. The character development as Rose proceeds from "Partners" (first published in 1988) through four stories from the 1995 collection Even Roses Bleed, to the final two stories written for this anthology, also indicate Bracken's concentration on craft. And despite my cozy leanings, I couldn't help but admire Bracken's willingness to shed just about anybody's blood in order to keep the plot coherent.

If you like your fiction brief and noir (and maybe even if you don't) I think you'll find Tequila Sunrise an intoxicating treat.

(adapted from a "Skullduggery" review)

Rating:
Summary: Tequila Sunrise
Review: This is hardboiled at its best. Hard hitting, fast-paced stories that keep you reading until the end. I can definitely say I'm looking forward to reading more from Michael Bracken.