Customer Reviews

Shooters

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4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

this was a great, easy read. i am a big fan of murder/mystery books, but find that many of them are just to complicated to follow. characters get jumbled up and you spend half your time sayng ok now who's this guy again and what's he got to do with the story. Shooters is a fast paced, gritty novel with a seemingly unfeeling main character born without a heart. However, Lankford has created a multi-dimensional leading man that is not often found in this genre. this is perfect summer beach reading, when all you're looking for is a few hours of enjoyable reading. I'm looking forward to more from this new author.

Remember Faye Dunaway in "The Eyes of Laura Mars"? In Shooters, Nick Gardner's the same kind of fashion photographer, producing cool, edgy, erotic work that's steeped in violence and threat.

Arrogant, talented, promiscuous, Nick is the kind of guy who'd "rather have sex with a complete stranger than kiss a friend with meaning." He's at the top of his game, pulling in big bucks from advertisers, never going out with the same woman two nights in a row, showing off on the road in his black Lamborghini. Then the violence in his work turns real, plucking him out of his lush but empty lifestyle.

The nightmare starts at a party when he ditches the woman he came with and picks up Candice, a fantasy-gorgeous blond. Something about Candice warns him to stay away, but he's intoxicated by her technicolor charms and ignores his intuition. After a drug- swamped night of ominously kinky sex, Candice ends up dead in his dumpster.

Her death raises the specter of Nick's ugly past as a pornographer, convincing the police even more of his guilt. Nick of course sets off to find out who set him up and why, but the search leads to an amazing and unexpected climax.

Violent, gritty, cynical, and provocative, Shooters takes you on a wild ride through seamy, narcissistic LA where the threatening pall of smoke from fires in the hills hangs over everything.

OK I must admit, sometimes a book can be judged by its cover.In the case of 'Shooters' I fell for its shiny glare of a cover.Fortunately,it did not take long for pages to turn as the plot was gripping to say the least.Sure some moments in the book were seemingly far fetched and glossy a la Tinseltown.But hey, it IS Hollywood and the author warns you about the crazy twist of events that lies ahead.Bear in mind Lankford is a producer/writer in Hollywood,it's also obvious in his writing style.Quick, witty, with just enough suspense to reel you in but not so intense that you get confused or lose interest altogether. 'Shooters' is a good read.I found it amusing and yes, I was rivetted:WHO WANTS TO SET NICK UP?? As the plot thickened and the characters grew shallower, I was reminded of '8mm'(starring Nicholas Cage) with the snuff movies and all..I generally don't read books from this genre, but I'm already on the prowl for Lankford's other book. You've got to be pretty good to turn me into a suspense/thriller believer, or perhaps I am just easily amused!

The only reason why I read this book is b/c i read Angry Moon first and I was impressed by that and this kept me awake 4-sure. I'm awaiting another thriller by Lankford but I haven't heard word if another one is coming soon. Shooters is about an ex-porno cameraman that changes his lifestyle and takes pics for magazines and of models. But then his life turns for the worst when he's framed and forced back into his formal life to clear his name. The ending really appealed to me and I liked it b/c it was different than most typical endings. Terrill Lankford really changed concepts and issues in this one compared to Angry Moon (haha- this one's a lil' bit more realistic) but they're both well-written. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't like this book. Well, I can't judge for them so I'll let them have their own opinion but I hope I can convince other readers to cop this one. ~Special K

"shooters" is a very good, hyperbolic novel about the horror of l.a. and the "industry". the overall ambience is like that of a contemporary james ellroy and (maybe) a "straight" dennis cooper, plus the superb nik cohn. if the forthcoming film "boogie nights" delivers on its promise, this novel should have an intersted audience

Shooters is a dark, gritty mix of blood, sex, and drugs in showbiz, where the line between commerce and crime is as thin as a stripper's G-string and just as deadly. The book is a showcase for Lankford's wicked, abrasive wit and his utterly unique take on the crime novel. It's his first book, and very much of its time, but still packs a lot of power. You can't go wrong with this one.

Nick Gardner is a fashion photographer with a hidden past. Living the high life in Malibu, he takes a model home one night and finds her dead in the morning. The police, naturally, believe that he did it. Short and sweet, Shooters is a fast and furious ride through a not-so glitzy L.A. Lankford is a very talented, underrated writer.

SHOOTERS
Terrill Lankford
Forge, Mar 1997, $20.95, 275 pp.

Nick Gardner appears to have a piece of the good life. He owns a fancy
home and car, has a prestigious job, and plays around with many beautiful
women. Yet for all his possessions, Nick remains the original ice man, a
person whose feelings for anyone including himself are frozen. Nick takes
home a fancy party girl for a night of sexual pleasures ranging from fellatio

to intercourse to bondage. The next day he learns that she has been brutally

murdered and he is the prime suspect.
Nick realizes that if he does nothing, he will be charged with murder
since there is plenty of evidence to link him to the crime. He searches for
the truth, unaware that his journey tightens the trap that has already
engulfed him. The answers he finds propels him into a world that he fled
from a long time ago. Nick returns to this underworld of drugs and
pornography, a place where murder and madness wait to embrace him.
SHOOTERS is not a book for the faint of heart since it is very graphic in
terms of its violence and dark sexual encounters. In spite of this, or
perhaps because of this, the novel is a hypnotic work that allows the
reader to suspend belief an become totally absorbed in the mesmerizing
storyline.
Harriet Klausner

I just read this book on a plane trip to Hawaii. I found it amateurish, predictable, and very mediocre. If you want to read a good book from this genre, pick up any book by James Ellroy or Andrew Vachss. This book wasn't even a good trashy beach read.