Arizona Kiss [Hardcover]

Ray Ring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1991

A young firebrand journalist is lured into an investigation into local corruption in a small desert town in Arizona, where he becomes involved in a bewildering maze of violence, kinky sex, vicious dogs and murder. By the author of "Telluride Smile" and "Peregrine Dream"

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ring ( Telluride Smile ) dedicates this steamy, pitiless, tough-as-whipcord thriller about a modern Circe who uses sex to enslave a loser and turn him into a murdering swine to James M. Cain, who might have been proud to have written it himself. Macky is a photographer for a Tucson newspaper who believes that the only purpose of journalism is to nail someone, by fair means or foul. He enjoys swilling tequila, parachuting off a 600-foot rock and getting much too close to his source, the temptress who calls herself Alice Malone. Suggesting a way to nail Leo Harker, a retired law-and-order judge who raises fighting pit bulls, Alice makes it possible for Macky to photograph the judge indulging in his bloody illegal sport. But that's not enough: Alice soon blackmails Macky into helping her kill the judge, whom she accuses of torturing her and degrading her sexually. The graphic descriptions of dogs fighting to the death, of Alice's sadomasochistic tendencies and of the horrible method used to dispose of the judge are not for the squeamish. Still, so long as we don't have to meet these nasty folks in person, Ring raising Cain is a rousing experience.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In a riveting tale of suspense and adven ture, Judge Leo Harker and Russell Macky, an investigative reporter for the Tucson News Gazette , face off in a dispute over illegal dog fighting in Arizona. Only one person recognizes the full power and determination of the two men. For motives of her own, she baits and goads them as deliberately as pit bull trainers condition their dogs. And, as pit bulls fight to the death, so these two men continue their conflict until only one is still alive. The battle is enthralling: the characters attack, regroup, and attack again, re sponding to the killer instinct called to the surface by outside forces. In this, his third novel, Ring ( Telluride Smile; Peregrine Dream) draws inspiration from the dark side of human nature and mental dysfunction to create an unflattering but vivid image of the underbelly of Arizona society and culture that will not be easily forgot ten.
- Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale Lib.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (May 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316746568
• ISBN-13: 978-0316746564
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars This was very good!, May 11, 2009

By 

Stephan Hoppe "shoppe" (Peterborough, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arizona Kiss (Hardcover)

Though I consider myself a voracious reader, Arizona Kiss is the first book I've ever read in what I would characterize as the "noir" style of writing. It's kind of dark, kind of gritty, but the story really grabbed me from beginning to end.
The fact that I found this book so interesting is even more remarkable because I found it in the discard bin of my local (Chapters) book superstore and the cover art is really terrible. So I started it figuring I wouldn't get more than 5 pages in.
It's depressing really. The author, Ray Ring writes this great book, but because of the way the book industry works - his book ends up ignored in the remainder bin with barely a presence of Amazon. I wonder how many other great books have a similar fate?

4.0 out of 5 stars This was very good!, May 11, 2009

By 

Stephan Hoppe "shoppe" (Peterborough, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Though I consider myself a voracious reader, Arizona Kiss is the first book I've ever read in what I would characterize as the "noir" style of writing. It's kind of dark, kind of gritty, but the story really grabbed me from beginning to end.
The fact that I found this book so interesting is even more remarkable because I found it in the discard bin of my local (Chapters) book superstore and the cover art is really terrible. So I started it figuring I wouldn't get more than 5 pages in.
It's depressing really. The author, Ray Ring writes this great book, but because of the way the book industry works - his book ends up ignored in the remainder bin with barely a presence of Amazon. I wonder how many other great books have a similar fate?

5.0 out of 5 stars Betrayal and Lust, June 3, 2004

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arizona Kiss (Hardcover)

This south-western noir thriller tells of a plot to expose a former pillar of the community as a brutal criminal. It's told from the point of view of Macky, a photojournalist living in Tucson, Arizona. Macky is the kind of man prepared to go the extra mile in order to get the story.

Before hitting us with the main story, we open with an example of how far Macky will go to get his story when he impersonates a miner. He plunges into the depths of the earth to take photos of the dangerous working conditions that a major mining company allows its employees to work. Effectively we are told that here is a guy who is prepared to go to any lengths to get a good story. The fact that he unearths a major scandal proves that he can deliver.

But it's the opening couple of sentences that set the hook in my mouth with expectation of an interesting story:
"I didn't set out to kill anyone. All I wanted was a good story, which is all a journalist ever wants, but I should have seen it was going bad."

This is the kind of opening that prompts all sorts of questions in me. Obviously someone dies, but who and how? How was Macky involved? How did it go bad? Was Macky affected by the death?

The good story that Macky refers to in the quoted opening sentence involves a retired judge who has a passion for dog fighting. That's right, dog fighting...as in putting two pit bulls in a ring and letting them have at it in a fight to the death. Highly illegal and just the sort of juicy stuff that has Macky salivating at the prospect of revealing.

Macky's source is the judge's former girlfriend, Alice Malone, who has been abused by the judge and is looking for a chance to get her revenge. She has come to Macky after seeing his earlier mining expose and wants the judge to receive the same sort of treatment as the mining company.

What follows is a sordid affair between Macky and Malone as he falls under her spell, allowing himself to be manipulated, both by the graphic scenes he witnesses at a dog fight and by her stories of abuse at the hands of the judge. She becomes the ultimate temptress, whipping Macky up into such moral outrage that he is open to the suggestion that perhaps destroying the judge with words and pictures may not be going far enough.

ARIZONA KISS is an emotionally harrowing story set in a bleak (and somewhat despised by Macky) land. It's a story of betrayal and survival, and like most noir stories, leaves you feeling a little uncomfortable at the end. It contains scenes of tremendous violence, both canine and human which some people may find disturbing.