Blood and Bullets

Deacon Chalk is a monster-hunter with a dead family, a love for big guns and bigger cars, and ambiguous ethics despite his devotion to Catholicism. “Call me a caveman all you want,” he tells the reader, and indeed they might as he declares weaker women liabilities and boasts of owning a fortified supernatural strip club (called Polecats, natch) where women he’s “saved” work “out of gratitude.” Chalk is larger than life, complete with paranormal powers, body-spanning tattoos, and sex appeal that works even on his enemies, who are positively retro in their pure evilness. Male readers looking for escape into a world where life is hard but simple and heroes don’t need plans will find this perfect beach or airport reading, but the gender politics are unlikely to find favor with female readers. (Feb.)