Trailer Park Noir by Ray Garton takes some proudly despicable characters with clashing motives, puts them in a closed environment and has them interact with each other. As a reader, you know this isn’t going to end well, and it doesn’t. It’s a classic fuck-ups racing each other to the bottom story. Recommended
Ray Garton writes about Trailer Park Noir here.
I read The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt because of its great cover. We aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover but a shitty cover is a turn-off and a great one catches your eye. By itself it isn’t enough to guarantee the book being read but a great cover WILL make me take a closer look at it. In this case The Sisters Brothers is a western about the titular brothers, who are cold blooded killers. It is told from the POV of one of the brothers in a captivating dispassionate voice filled with humor. The narrative is filled with violence that is handled so matter of factly and dispassionately it’s almost tonally reminiscent of a Parker novel at times. The Sisters Brothers has one eye towards Charles Portis and shouldn’t be missed by readers. Highly Recommended.
Brian,
The tie-in with the Parker novels and Portis struck me as particularly apt in Dewitt’s case. I second the highly recommended for The Sisters Brothters; it was a fun and fine read.
Twisted Sisters… yup
It was the scene where one of the brothers, Charlie, punches the woman in the stomach that drove home the Parker comparison in my mind.
“Charlie did not answer, but dropped to a crouch and buried his fist in her stomach, after which she fell back onto a chair and sat bent over, drooling and coughing and generally struggling to regain her breath and composure.” – The Sisters Brothers
“It’s Parker,” he said, and hit her twice in the stomach. She fell retching to the floor, and he stepped on her back on the way out.” — The Hunter
Sounds great, but I’ll buy this for the cover alone. (p.s. you called it The Bothers Sisters up there by mistake, brother)
Two mistakes for the price of one. Thanks for catching that. make sure to enter the contest for a signed print of the cover art.