MAN-SLAUGHTER (Key West Nocturnes Series) [Kindle Edition]

Mike Dennis (Author)

Book Description

"Mike Dennis is a modern master of noir."
MAX ALLAN COLLINS, author of Road To Perdition

It’s hot in the Florida Keys in August. For Teddy Myles, it’s even hotter as he tries to outrun both the law and his partners in crime. He flees to Key West to set up a new identity and an escape to the Caribbean. But he meets up with Gail, a sexy local, who has other things in mind for him.

Soon, he finds himself trapped into pulling one more job, this one for over a million. His former partners are tracking him, the cops are onto him, and a hurricane is coming.

Time is running out, but will it be on his side?

MAN-SLAUGHTER is the third gripping novel in Mike Dennis' Key West Nocturnes Series, designed to reveal Key West as a true noir city.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mike Dennis is a modern master of noir."
MAX ALLAN COLLINS, author of Road To Perdition
 
"This hot-blooded noir will keep you flipping the pages all the way to the darkly twisted ending."
JONATHAN WOODS, author of A Death In Mexico

About the Author

After thirty years as a professional musician (piano), Mike Dennis left Key West and moved to Las Vegas to become a professional poker player. He turned to writing when his first novel,The Take, was picked up by a publisher in 2009. 
 
His second book, Setup On Front Street, was the first in the Key West Nocturnes Series, a set of standalone noir novels. These books will lift the veil on Key West and reveal it as a true noir city, on a par with Los Angeles, New Orleans, or Miami.
 
The Ghosts Of Havana is the second book in that set. The third, Man-Slaughter, is now available. The fourth, The Guns Of Miami, is coming in 2013.

In December, 2010, Mike moved back to Key West, where he enjoys year-round island living.
 
JEFFERY DEAVER, author of Carte Blanche (007 James Bond) has said of The Ghosts Of Havana, "Dennis nails both noir tone and thriller plotting perfectly!"
 
MAX ALLAN COLLINS, author of Road To Perdition and over seventy other novels, has said, "Mike Dennis is the modern master of noir."
 
VICKI HENDRICKS, author of Cruel Poetry, has said, "Dennis writes true noir." 

Product Details

• File Size: 317 KB
• Print Length: 307 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1475074727
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Mike Dennis (May 2, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00803FEBE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,606 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot-blooded Noir May 6, 2012

By Jonathan Woods

Format:Kindle Edition

First Gerald's ripe corpse in the trunk of Teddy's getaway ride rolls over onto the bags of loot. Who wants to use cash that smells like a cadaver? Then the air conditioning in the flashy red Taurus Teddy boosts to replace the getaway car goes on the fritz. It's summertime in beautiful downtown Florida and things are getting a little dicey for Teddy, as he heads for the Florida Keys with a load of cash ripped off from his fellow gang members. Then Teddy meets Gail, an exotic dancer in a Key West club and a gun moll wannabe, and things really start to head south. This hot-blooded noir will keep you flipping the pages all the way to the darkly twisted ending. You'll love it as much as I did.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Mike Dennis does it again! June 2, 2012

By POIA

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Man, this guy just seems to hit the ball out of the park with his "Key West Nocturnes Series". This book grabs you like a bulldog and hangs on until there is nothing left. A fast paced thriller with a believable plot, excellent character building and enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat, I recommend this book wholeheartedly. If not for a few errors and omissions, it would be a five star read but as it stands, I give it a solid 4 1/2 stars.

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent story February 22, 2013

By K. Nixon

Format:Paperback

Teddy Myles is on the run, from the law and his partners in crime. He’s just stolen $700,000 and killed a man. To escape the country he needs a new identity. There’s a man in Key West who can help him, but it’ll take three weeks to be ready. Teddy happens across local girl Gail who’s soon getting him involved in trouble he doesn’t want or need. And there’s a hurricane coming…

Man-Slaughter is a decent story and a real page-turner. The opening scene, where Teddy boosts a car taking the money from a robbery and leaving behind a corpse is strong and creates interest. That his two other partners in crime, Sam and Rosalie, are trying to track him down to get their money back also helps the tension. The sense of place is very good, Key West in particular and the ancillary characters present.

What let the story down slightly for me was the introduction of the other two key players. Teddy meets Skip almost immediately when he stops to eat. He manipulates Teddy into a lift down to Key West. I wasn’t sure I saw the point of Skip and seemingly neither does the author given the fashion in which he exits. He’s almost there for the sake of it and I wonder whether the story would be any less without him.

Then there’s Gail. Teddy meets her outside a garage where he’s trying to get the stolen car repaired. Next thing Teddy is driving her around town, going to the club she works in and eventually is embroiled against his will in another robbery. The element that puzzled me was that Teddy has a very large sum of money in his possession, yes the author creates a situation whereby Teddy is waiting for some fake ID to be created which takes three weeks (and is the reason he goes to Key West), yes he starts to like Gail, but I didn’t feel this was sufficiently compelling vs. the risk he was taking. Gail herself is an odd character as is their relationship. She literally slaps him around and he takes it. Each to their own, I guess.

It was also a pity that it took so long for Sam and Rosalie to physically appear – not until chapter twelve, over a third of the way in. Although this did step up the intrigue, perhaps them arriving sooner and interspersed through the early part of the book, rather than in one block later on, may have worked too. Rosalie is a particularly tough woman and I would have liked to have seen more of her. It’s a relatively short book at just shy of 50,000 words so there could have been room for further development.

There is a lot of internal dialogue – Teddy’s mind essentially doing the talking, often disagreeing with the decisions his conscious self was making. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn’t.

Finally there is a hurricane thrown in at the point of climax, it felt one step too far in the way it was used and the ending was an ‘oh’ for me. I felt somewhat deflated, however that’s simply a personal view on the way everything was tied up. Others may think it perfect.

Despite the above reservations Man-Slaughter kept me turning the pages and it’s well worth a try.

**Originally reviewed for Books and Pals blog. May have received free review copy.**

More About the Author

After thirty years as a professional musician (piano), Mike Dennis left Key West and moved to Las Vegas in 2006 to become a professional poker player, but turned to writing when his first novel was published.

SETUP ON FRONT STREET is now available in ebook and paperback. It's the first in the Key West Nocturnes series of noir novels which lift the veil on Key West, revealing it as a true noir city, on a par with Los Angeles, New Orleans, or Miami. The next book in the series, THE GHOSTS OF HAVANA, is currently available in ebook and paperback. The third book, MAN-SLAUGHTER, is also available in ebook and paperback. The fourth book, THE GUNS OF MIAMI, will be coming in 2013.

Mike has also begun the Jack Barnett / Las Vegas series, about a reluctant ex-private investigator in Sin City USA. The first two entries in that series, both novelettes called TEMPTATION TOWN and HARD CASH, are now available in ebook and paperback. The third installment, a full novel called THE DOWNTOWN DEAL, is now available in both print and digital.

In addition, Mike has had short stories published in Powder Burn Flash, A Twist Of Noir, Mysterical e, Slow Trains, and the 2009 Wizards Of Words Anthology.

In December 2010, Mike moved back to Key West, where he enjoys year-round island living.

Other titles by Mike Dennis:

THE TAKE / A novel of human desperation, the ebook and paperback are now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, Fictionwise, and All Romance.

BLOODSTAINS ON THE WALL / A collection of three short stories from the dark side, the ebook and paperback are now available on Amazon.

CADILLAC'S COMIN' / A hard tale of a one-hit wonder in the early days of rock & roll, the novel is now available in ebook and paperback on Amazon.

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE EYES / Las Vegas noir short story shows Sin City USA at its darkest. Ebook now available on Amazon.

THE SESSION / A harrowing short story of a man who can't quite grab the brass ring.