Pay Here [Paperback]

Charles Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2007

Decades in the desert have made reporter Michael Callan hard as a sun-bleached skull. But mutilated migrants and his ex-flame keep causing Callan trouble ... even if they're six feet under. Mix an innocent beauty with a savage one, add an assembly of killers, thugs, and a surgeon. Stir vigorously, and you've got a bloody cocktail-lethal for an Irishman who doesn't drink. This is the first novel by Charles Kelly, an award-winning reporter for the Arizona Republic. His in-depth knowledge of criminals, reporters and the issue of illegal immigration across the Arizona-Mexico border are all perfect fodder for this shocking crime fiction debut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Kelly's poetic first novel, Phoenix Scribe reporter Michael Callan stands at the grave of Rhea Montero, a woman he once loved who he suspects ran a crime syndicate he's investigating. A friend from Rhea's childhood, the naïve Daly Marcus, can't believe Rhea could have been a crook. Together Callan and Marcus seek the truth as murder erupts around them and they're drawn into a web of human trafficking and darker crimes. Kelly, a longtime reporter for the Arizona Republic, excels in capturing the local scene, the high desert and Phoenix itself, with such intriguing neighborhoods as the gangbanger purlieus of the West Valley, where I once heard a driver chastised because his booming car radio was drowning out a gunfight. His alter ego Callan, a legalized Irish national with a dicey past, shows potential as a series hero, but the revelations he unearths will be overly familiar to most mystery readers. (Nov.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Point Blank (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809572443
• ISBN-13: 978-0809572441
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,384,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic noir that draws you in!, June 13, 2007

By 

Liz at reviewedbyliz.com "Because life is too... (Cedar Springs, Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pay Here (Paperback)

Noir mysteries are the tragedies of the genre. The main character is usually a man with a mysterious past, marred by violence and memories of lost love, both of which still haunt him. This jaded character is brought out of his self-absorption by a mission, and during the course of the mission, he meets an innocent. The tension in the story is less about solving a mystery than the contrast between the world-weary and naive characters and the foreshadowing of a tragic ending. The reader is glued to the pages in the hope that the ending won't be as tragic as the author is hinting. Because you would really like for everyone to live happily ever after, but you just know it isn't going to happen. I am pleased to say that in PAY HERE, Kelly takes the standard noir formula and does an excellent job with it.

PAY HERE starts with a funeral. Our innocent, Daly Marcus, arrives in Arizona to meet up with her old friend, Rhea Montero, only to discover that Rhea died the day before. A shaken Daly makes her way to the funeral, where she meets our tragic hero Michael Callan. It quickly becomes clear to Daly that Callan isn't asking questions about Rhea because he is a fellow mourner, but because he is an investigative reporter and he is trying to pump her for information about Rhea's shady dealings for his planned newspaper story.

In Callan, an Irish reporter transplanted to Phoenix, Arizona, Kelly has created a man who possesses both beautiful words and a heritage of violence - the almost poetic description of the world around him emphasizes the despair he carries within him. Callan is a man who does what he needs to in order to survive, but he still recognizes innocence and longs for what he might have been if his life had been different. He tries to protect the naïve Daly when, without realizing it, she sets off a lethal chain reaction. Callan is both worried about her safety and pleased that events are moving his story forward. The question is, when the bodies start piling up, will Callan protect Daly or use her as bait to draw out the big fish?

PAY HERE is a short book with a simple, but well-executed plot. And Kelly displays his talent for description and dialog by not belaboring it. With one or two powerful lines he gives intriguing glimpses into Callan's past or character and draws the reader deeper into the story. There are several one-liners that are just gutwrenching. Those are my favorite parts of PAY HERE - you'll know them when you get there.

Favorite character? Callan. Did I guess it? Yes. This one you read for the writing. Will I read another? Yes. The classic noir story, the concise writing, the modern setting, and the timely plot all make PAY HERE an interesting and very good read. Frankly, he sucked me in and I am not usually a noir fan.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard currency, August 8, 2007

By 

V. D. Wortman (Santa Monica) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pay Here (Paperback)

Recipe: Combine one battered, embittered hero with one naïve young woman and an earnest, experienced cop; season with a blend of totally bad apples, a frighteningly contemporary twist of evil, and bake under a blazing Arizona sun. If it sounds like noir in the desert, you got it right. Veteran investigative reporter Charles Kelly pays tribute to the hard-boiled dick tradition of the Hammett/Chandler school with his own interpretation of the genre, in this case an emotionally bruised investigative reporter who wants only to nail the crooks and write the story, no matter what the price. He almost pays it, of course, along with the ninny-ette, who follows him around and nearly foils his best efforts at every turn because of an almost saintly belief in the essential goodness of man - or in this case, woman. You know, of course, that there is redemption of a sort and that it all turns out okay in the end, but what the hell; you've been down this road before and you know that it's bumpy and pot-holed, curvy, full of fallen debris and other dangers. But it's why you take the ride. So enjoy it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Arizona noir, July 30, 2007

By 

On the edge in DC - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pay Here (Paperback)

The question is, can one write noir in the blinding Arizona sun. Charles Kelly pulled it off. Sun and heat notwithstanding PAY HERE is a dark and chilly tale of modern America on the edge. A strip-joint captain, a defrocked lawyer, and an entrepreneurial sawbones are among the marginales with whom Arizona reporter Michael Callan butts heads, that is, when he's not ducking bullets. Callan has to figure out who, what, and why when the subjects of his story are shooting back and his editor is trying to dump him. The pay off comes . . . . I think you'll have to buy the book.

Dan