Dust Devils
James Reasoner. Point Blank (www.pointblankpress.com),
$16.95 paper (152p) ISBN 978-0-8095-7245-8
Publishers Weekly: "With
a simple but effective plot and understated prose, this outstanding "redneck
noir" successfully gives the windswept Texas plains the feel of mean city streets.
Young, callow Toby McCoy appears at an isolated farmhouse, apparently just seeking work.
Soon he’s plowing the fields, feeding the hogs and making eyes at Grace Halligan, the
lovely older woman who owns the place. Just as the two move beyond a professional
relationship, strange gunmen appear at the farm, forcing the lovers to reveal the extent
of their mutual deceptions as they hit the road—with two dogs in the back of their
pickup truck—in search of a double-crossing bank robber and the money he owes Grace.
In the spirit of the genre, Reasoner (Texas Wind) saves the final chilling revelations for
the very end, captivating the reader with other twists and turns along the way."
(Aug.) --
Bookgasm review: “Many
authors have tried to duplicate the feel of the old Gold Medal classics, but usually are
slightly off the mark. Not James Reasoner; his new one from Point Blank Press – DUST
DEVILS – hits the bull’s-eye from page one. What starts out innocently enough
takes some jaw-dropping turns in a taut 150 pages . . . Reasoner has pretty much taken a
strong-willed woman and cast her in the Parker model of the Richard Stark novels, with the
Toby character being an eager beaver of a learner and not as innocent as he seems . . .
Reasoner pulls no punches in this novel, chock full of some of the lowest type of
criminals out there: men who probably would sell their own mothers to get their hands on any cash owed to them. DUST DEVILS flows so
smoothly, with the pace never letting up.”
Nathan Cain at Independent Crime review:
“James Reasoner’s Dust Devils is a hardboiled gem. A Texas set tale of a
heist gone wrong, this short novel is the equal of anything written by masters like
Westlake and Leonard … Dust Devils is one of the best novels of the year.”
(full
review)
Dust Devils is also available on Kindle and the Nook.
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