cover image The Furious Way

The Furious Way

Aaron Philip Clark. Shotgun Honey, $12.95 trade paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-64396-062-3

Clark (The Science of Paul) provides red meat for noir fans with this razor-edged tale of revenge that pulls no punches. Twenty-year-old Lucy Ramos leads a reclusive existence, obsessed with punishing the man she holds responsible for her mother’s murder. Her quarry is L.A. assistant district attorney Victor Soto, and after many years of dreaming of his death, Lucy hits upon a radical plan. She seeks out Tito Garza, the mob contract killer known as the Dog of San Pedro for his use of canines to attack his victims. Against the odds, Lucy persuades Garza to train her to be a killer, after she demonstrates her fearlessness by trying to retrieve his kidnapped Chihuahua from some young thugs. She moves in with him, and gets her first taste of blood when Garza enlists her to get payback for the death of his pet. As in the best hard-boiled fiction, Lucy’s continued efforts to get to Soto only take her further on a path from which there is no return. Those seeking happy endings should look elsewhere. (BookLife)