Helpful Score: 2
Whew; when they named this line of books Hard Case Crime, they weren't kidding! (Well, actually, a number of the books aren't all that hard boiled, but this is...my goodness...is REALLY thoroughly, completely, hard boiled to death.)
We meet Angel Dare, the aging but still beautiful retired porn star, who runs a business representing ...er... models. She's a veteran of the business who wasn't ruined by it.
A series of events take place that have her shot and left for dead in a car trunk. Having not died after all, she finds this kind of treatment to be somewhat irritating, so she vows to bring the dastardly villains to justice--in her own way. (That means she hopes to personally kill them.)
The story moves on quickly and efficiently, with the spare, lean prose we expect in our hard-boiled stories. Things happen. People are shot, people die, people are buried out in the desert, and so on and so on.
I liked the book, but by the end, I'd been boiled just a bit beyond my normal tolerance for that sort of thing. The harsh realities (assuming that they are, in fact, real) of the porn business are not much fun to know.
So consider yourself warned. If you like hard-boiled stuff, have a little curiosity about the seamier side of the porn business, and can stomach cold-blooded killing right and left, you'll probably like this. It's written about as well as something like this can be written. If, however, the disgusting soft underbelly of the triple-x world is likely to turn you all squeamish, you'd better keep your distance.
We meet Angel Dare, the aging but still beautiful retired porn star, who runs a business representing ...er... models. She's a veteran of the business who wasn't ruined by it.
A series of events take place that have her shot and left for dead in a car trunk. Having not died after all, she finds this kind of treatment to be somewhat irritating, so she vows to bring the dastardly villains to justice--in her own way. (That means she hopes to personally kill them.)
The story moves on quickly and efficiently, with the spare, lean prose we expect in our hard-boiled stories. Things happen. People are shot, people die, people are buried out in the desert, and so on and so on.
I liked the book, but by the end, I'd been boiled just a bit beyond my normal tolerance for that sort of thing. The harsh realities (assuming that they are, in fact, real) of the porn business are not much fun to know.
So consider yourself warned. If you like hard-boiled stuff, have a little curiosity about the seamier side of the porn business, and can stomach cold-blooded killing right and left, you'll probably like this. It's written about as well as something like this can be written. If, however, the disgusting soft underbelly of the triple-x world is likely to turn you all squeamish, you'd better keep your distance.
Helpful Score: 2
Christa Faust proves that women can write crime stories that are more hard-boiled than men with Money Shot.
Angel Dare is a former porn starlet who now owns a "modeling agency." An old friend is in a bind and asks her to do an onscreen appearance as a favor. When she shows up to what she thinks will be the set, she is beaten by her supposed co-star, witnesses the murder of the friend that double crossed her, and her body is dumped in the trunk of a car.
Angel manages to escape, and with the help of her agency's security officer Malloy she sets out to learn why she was set up and to seek vengeance against those who hurt her.
This book is not for the easily offended or the weak of stomach. There are a number of violent scenes, and the picture that Faust paints of the porn industry is not a pleasant one. However, with plenty of action and a hard as nails heroine, this book is sure to entertain fans of Tarantino or readers with a dark sense of humor.
Angel Dare is a former porn starlet who now owns a "modeling agency." An old friend is in a bind and asks her to do an onscreen appearance as a favor. When she shows up to what she thinks will be the set, she is beaten by her supposed co-star, witnesses the murder of the friend that double crossed her, and her body is dumped in the trunk of a car.
Angel manages to escape, and with the help of her agency's security officer Malloy she sets out to learn why she was set up and to seek vengeance against those who hurt her.
This book is not for the easily offended or the weak of stomach. There are a number of violent scenes, and the picture that Faust paints of the porn industry is not a pleasant one. However, with plenty of action and a hard as nails heroine, this book is sure to entertain fans of Tarantino or readers with a dark sense of humor.
