Customer Reviews

Gun Monkeys

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Charlie Swift is one of old Stan's gun monkeys. He is killer, protector, enforcer for Stan, the head of the Orlando crime syndicate. When Miami crime boss, Beggar Johnson, decides that Stan has grown too old to milk Orlando crime for all its worth, a territorial battle begins. When Stan disappears and the rest of the gun monkeys are killed off or turned to the dark[er] side, Swift has to go it alone to fend off Beggar's goons, renegade FBI agents and others. The body count mounts chapter by chapter, and as ruthless a killer as Swift is, the reader begins to root for him due to his loyalty to his boss, family and new girl friend, as well as his sheer skill as a "detective" and vengeful killer.

This is indeed a noir novel of the first ilk. It's a fast, exciting, easy read and holds the reader's interest until the inevitable showdown between Swift and Mercury (his counterpart as Beggar Johnson's head gun monkey).

If you are squeamish about descriptions of bloody violence or about raw language, stay away from this one. Otherwise, it's a really entertaining romp of a pulp novel.

This guy Vic Gischler knows how to write prose that makes you keep reading, even when his main character's a professional killer. Let's say instead, especially when he's a professional killer. Charlie Swift is loyal to his boss, Stan, his mother, and his younger brother Danny and, as well, to his taxidermist girlfriend Marcie who also happens to be the widow of a guy Charlie had to put on ice.

Seems like Charlie's boss goes missing. Seems like other guys in Charlie's crew are getting wasted, as in permanently. Seems like another guy, Beggar Johnson, wants to take over Stan's turf. Charlie manages to miss getting wiped out himself and goes after the guys who killed his compadre Bob. He's got friends--Lou the New Guy and Jimmy the Fix principally. And he's got his wits. Which are pretty sharp judging by the story here.

OK, here's some sacrilege. Gischler claims to have read a lot of John McDonald and been heavily influenced by him, but for my money, he writes better than McDonald who in my opinion a lot of the time is hard to get through--clunky prose that's dated now. But VG's writing is smooth as silk and tough as shoe leather with powder burns.

Nice job.

Gischler hasn't written detective fiction here, but criminal fiction. This is the kind of book neo-noir fans like, with its muscular prose, language of the day, and unadulterated violence. Charlie Swift is so tough he's not ashamed to take care of his mother or be loyal to his boss. So he lives out of a suitcase and works out of a tin box trailer called the Monkey Cage, Charlie's got a bulging safe deposit box and he owes it all to one man: Stan the Man.

The opening sentence: "I turned the Chrysler onto the Florida Turnpike with Rollo Kramer's headless body in the trunk, and all the time I'm thinking I should've put some plastic down."

Charlie Swift, gun monkey, speaking.

The first sentence of "Gun Monkeys" is a perfect distillation of everything I'm always looking for in a crime novel: grisly, curt and most of all laugh-out-loud funny, without ever lapsing into cuteness. I've been recommending it to everyone I know who cares about this kind of book.

You just can't get good help these days, even when the job is something simple like whacking a midlevel hood named Rollo Kramer. Given his druthers, chief gun monkey Charlie Swift would never have picked the inept Blade Sanchez to accompany him on the job. But Charlie's boss Stan told Charlie to take Blade along as a favor to Miami crimeboss Beggar Johnson, and since
Charlie owes Stan for "every nickel hidden in [Charlie's] safe deposit box", Charlie doesn't see that he has much of a choice.

So begins "Gun Monkeys", Victor Gischler's instant noir classic from Uglytown Press. Charlie's day starts off bad and gets steadily worse as someone decides to make a move on the aging Stan's territory, a business decision that involves whacking most of Charlie's crew. The only bright spot
in the day is Charlie's budding relationship with Rollo's widow Marcie. The widow Kramer is a tough, foxy redhead with an eye for Charlie and a talent for taxidermy. The latter trait has the fortunate effect of making her less squeamish around dead bodies, which is a good thing, considering.

Charlie's attempts to find out what happened to Stan, even the score, and incidentally take care of his Mom and his kid brother, make for a great read. If you're a fan of the dark humor of "The Sopranos" or the tough talk of Richard Stark's "Parker" books, you'll love "Gun Monkeys."

One of the most impressive debuts I've ever read, Gun Monkeys is a return to the two-fisted days of Mickey Spillaine and Richard Stark, with an important twist-it's funny as hell.

The tone of the book is summed up in the very first line: "I turned the Chrysler onto the Florida Turnpike with Rollo Kramer's headless body in the trunk, and all the time I'm thinking I should've put some plastic down."

If you believe, like I do, that this line is the perfect way to start a book, then buy Gun Monkeys right now. It's noir on nitrous oxide, and will keep you guessing, and laughing, from page one to the slam-bang finale.

It seems like every year one of the Edgar committees rescues from obscurity a previously unknown undiscovered work. Many times these works are true gems in the rough uncut state. The nominations tend to bring some prominence to authors most of whom would probably never have been heard from again. For example KJA Wishnia and Margaret Moseley. GUN MONKEYS is that kind of book and Victor Gischler is that kind of author.
Charlie Swift is a thug. He is a hit man for an Orlando gangster named Stan. When the leader of a rival gang wants to move into the territory, he calls for a hit on all of Stan's gang. The result is virtually all of Charlie's friends are killed in the attack. Stan, however, is missing and being the loyal soldier, Charlie devotes his energy into finding Stan and discovering what is going on. The path to the truth will be strewn with the blood of dead bodies.
Victor Gischler is a refreshingly new voice in noir crime fiction. Characters are tough, dialogue is gritty and the violence routine. Most important, he is a helluva good storyteller and his first effort never fails to entertain. The book is not perfect, however. There are several times the story proceeds in an endless fashion and it is quite evident the author didn't know where his characters were taking him. I would think that an editor from a large publisher would have identified and corrected that problem. Nonetheless, Victor Gischler has written an impressive book and one well worthy of Edgar recognition.

Charlie Swift is a hit man for the mob, an unrepentant career criminal who views his grisly vocation with detached practicality. As a former Army Ranger, killing is simply what he was trained to do. And killing is what he does, stacking up the corpes across central Florida's seamiest strip malls and strip joints as he tries to extract himself from a rival gang's setup, dodging some less-than-scrupulous G-men while trying to find his gangster boss gone missing.

Author Victor Gischler is the real deal; a hip and refreshing 21st Century twist on pulp fiction from the glory days of Hammett, Thompson, Chandler, and Block. While you'll see glimpses of Carl Hiaasen, Dennis Lehane, or Charlie Huston in his writing, Gischler's style is all his own. His cynical brand of black humor rolls unforced across the pages - an easy banter from a world where Kansas is "elevator music with grass" and people can be as dumb as a "bag of door knobs." His abominable menagerie of players - a hierarchy of thugs and mobsters, killers and con men - put in another day at the office with guns blazing and knives slicing - but Gischler offers neither apology nor passes moral judgment. He writes not to preach, simply to entertain. And if you prefer your entertainment hard-boiled, irreverent, brutal, and witty, "Gun Monkeys" sets a new standard for crime fiction. Kick back with this decidedly unPuzo-like saga of life within organized crime, and I can almost guarantee you'll be back for more Gischler in "Suicide Squeeze" and "The Pistol Poets."

It's almost impossible to review this book without explaining the whole book itself. This book reads like something by Charlie Huston or Jeff Walters. It's detective noir with a funny bone. Our hero(?) kills more people quicker than the Terminator and with a weird attitude to boot.

All the Hookman wants to do is sit in the monkey cage in the back of the bar and play Monopoly for real money. When he's needed, he will get a call from his boss Stan and go off to break some legs or shoot someone in the head. Except for cleaning his guns he really doesn't have a hobbie, but he loves his mom and his little brother Danny.

When the mob from Miami decides to take over Orlando, they begin by wiping out most of the gun monkeys. It does turn out that one of them is a turncoat (who of course our boy shoots three or four times before killing him). In between running from the hoods from Miami, he also spends time shooting his way out of bar full of crooked Federal agents.

Since he has so much spare time on his hands, he takes time to fall in love with the wife of a hood his murders (but it was by accident).

All in all it's good clean fun or bad dirty mayhem...or good clean mayhem...whatever. Great read.

If you're an action/adventure fan and don't mind a body count reminiscent of a Shakespearean tragedy, and you enjoy a lot of creative and cathartic violence in your reads, then this a great book, a whole lot of fun, and I highly recommend it.

Charlie Swift is an ex-army hitman in the employ of an aging mobster in Orlando, basically content with his station in life, and just getting along like most of the rest of us. That all goes to hell when when the Miami mob wants to take over Orlando and the FBI follows hot on their heels. Violence explodes and Charlie is left directionless, friendless, and in need of some stability, so he sets out, against seemingly suicidal odds, to reorganize the entire situation operating under a quixotic belief in loyalty to his friends and employer.

For a debut novel this was very enjoyable, the pacing excellent, and the plot and characterizations pretty good. It's not that easy to turn a hit-man into a sympathetic character but Gischler manages it well. The writing is deceptively simple, fun to read, moves quickly, and there is a satisfying close. A good all around first effort and lots of bangs, booms, shots, and all sorts of fun guy stuff. If any of this sounds interesting then give this one a whirl and you won't be disappointed.