Pun Salad

A first for me: I'm reporting on this book because the author, Steven Max Russo, requested that I "take a look". Hey, why not? I gather he's self-publishing, and self-promoting, and I kind of admire that. Steven offered to send an ePub or PDF version, but I bought it. The Kindle version is $5.99 as I type.

I have to admit I was a little put off by this sentence in the book's third paragraph: "She could almost see the ribs in his thin frame." Um, could she see them or not? How do you almost see something? Sorry, a pet peeve. But I think a decent editor would have flagged that.

But (good news) there were no further major stylistic potholes that I noticed. It's a very decent page-turner (or, more accurately screen-swiper).

"She" is Abigail Barnes, who's decided to make her living as a debt collector. She's moving up to New Jersey after some sort of unspecified trouble down in Baltimore. The guy whose ribs she either can, or can't, see is Hector Perez, and he asks her for a lift, encouraging her compliance with a shotgun. She's unruffled, and takes Hector home. Hector is no criminal mastermind, as he forgets his shotgun when he exits the car.

In any case, a relationship is forged. Abigail soon establishes some connections with the low-level criminal element of Bergen County, New Jersey, and starts making some decent money. It turns out she has major skills in fighting dirty (Krav Maga style), a couple of guns, and a nasty pair of brass knuckles (illegal to carry in NJ, tsk!) All useful skills and resources for making deadbeats pay up.

A major career obstacle occurs: after Abigail delivers a successful collection to Benny the bookie, Benny gets his head bashed in. Whodunit? We're pretty sure it's not Abigail, but none of the other denizens of New Jersey crime seem convinced. And they are pretty much of the "kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out" method of justice. So Abigail has to get out from under this, somehow. Cat-and-mouse activity ensues, capped by a very violent showdown.