Friends Helping Friends by Patrick Hoffman

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press on March 18, 2025

Friends Helping Friends tells an unusual crime story. For that reason alone, the novel is better than its more predictable competitors.

The novel’s first half focuses on Bunny Simpson, Jerry LeClair, and Helen McCalla. Helen is a lawyer who has issues with her ex-husband and his new wife. Helen pours her heartbreak into exercise, then scores steroids from a gym rat to fuel her workout body obsession.

Helen hears the words You will not be okay until you make him pay, a message she attributes to God rather than steroid-induced psychosis. Helen wants to have her ex roughed up without doing serious damage. The gym rat connects her with Jerry, who enlists the help of his friend Bunny. Both guys need money, but this isn’t their typical line of work. They confront Helen’s ex in a park and are surprised when he fights back. Bunny comes to the defense of Jerry and does just enough damage to get himself arrested.

ATF Agents Howley and Gana visit Bunny in jail. They threaten him with a lengthy sentence but promise to help him avoid the consequences of his crimes if he’ll go undercover in their investigation of Bunny’s uncle. Bunny knows his Uncle Willard served some time for manslaughter but doesn’t know the details. He hasn’t seen Willard in years.

The ATF agents are vague about the nature of their investigation — they mention conspiracy and racketeering — but they tell Bunny that Willard is leading a Christian Identity group of white supremacists. Snitching on Willard doesn’t appeal to Bunny until they promise him a payment of $100 a day. Bunny’s lawyer should know better than to trust ATF agents but he tells Bunny to take the deal.

At ATF’s direction, Bunny takes a janitorial job with a used car dealer where his uncle makes occasional appearances, perhaps in connection with the used car dealer’s drug dealing.. Pretending to meet his uncle by chance, Bunny takes a job on his uncle’s ranch, where he sees young men training with firearms. He knows they are planning a major operation but the ATF agents only seem to be interested in recovering a notebook that Willard keeps in his safe. The novel’s second half follows Bunny’s effort to recover the notebook, his discovery of its purpose, and his hapless attempt to rip off Willard and foil the ATF agents.

Bunny and Jerry are affable losers, the kind of young men who have big dreams and little hope of achieving them. They don’t shy away from hard work but they are attracted to the possibility of easy money. It is in their nature to assume that attractive women are essentially good (a bad assumption to make if you’re a character in a crime novel). As earnest and uncomplicated dudes with reasonably good hearts, they easily win the reader’s sympathy. Helen is ambitious and petty, making her a good foil to the protagonists, but she’s likable in her own way.

The plot is a fun mixture of light and dark. The bad guys are evil but a bit bumbling. The novel’s violence is not particularly graphic although it features one of those "his head exploded in front of me" scenes that have become ubiquitous in crime stories. The story moves in unexpected directions as it nears the end -- it almost turns into a road novel -- but surprises are telegraphed by earlier events, so Patrick Hoffman plays fair with the reader. Early scenes that seem important to the story turn out to be relatively inconsequential while events that seem insignificant are important by the end.

The final bro bonding scene is a bit sappy and the conclusion is improbably happy. Those aren’t really complaints. The protagonists deserve a happy ending, so even if it stretches the boundaries of plausibility, I don’t care. Set against a disturbing backdrop of white straight male supremacy, a happy ending for decent people is a good way for the story to end.

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The Trouble Up North by Travis Mulhauser

Published by Grand Central Publishing on March 11, 2025

The Sawbrook family owns six hundred acres adjacent to Crooked Tree Park in Northern Michigan, but developers want their land. The Sawbrooks live on the edge of society and constantly fight with each other, but they aren’t dysfunctional. Within their limits, they function surprisingly well. The Sawbrooks are a crime family, but the crimes are low-key — brewing moonshine, smuggling cigarettes into Canada — and the Sawbrooks take pride in never being caught. Although they spend much of their time on the river, they are equally proud that no Sawbrook ever died by drowning.

Rhoda’s grandfather was “not well after the war,” a diagnosis that explains his decision to plant land mines in the woods to kill as many invaders as possible when they came for him. Rhoda’s father placed barbed wire around the mined land, although an occasional black bear tears down the fence and explodes while trying to snack on berries.

Rhoda’s husband is living with lung cancer. He would like to die but Rhoda can’t bear the thought of living without him. Their daughter Lucy is a park ranger. She's the only Sawbrook with an education and the only one who has any interest in obeying the law.

Rhoda gave equal parcels of the family land to her three children. Lucy sold her share to an environmental trust for $20,000 to keep it from being developed, causing Rhoda to complain that she gave it to communists — i.e., the conservation group that purchased the land.

Lucy paid her sister Jewell $20,000 so she could sell Jewell’s share of the land to the trust, but Jewell promptly lost the cash in a high-stakes poker game in Vegas, thwarting her hope of doubling her money and buying the land back. Lucy spent half the cash she received from the trust on treatment for her alcoholic brother Buckner. She regards that investment as a waste when Buckner goes off the wagon after hearing bad news about his stripper girlfriend.

Against that background, a story unfolds, although the plot is an excuse to explore the family dynamic. A man named Van Hargrave offers Jewell $10,000 (but only $1,000 up front) to set his boat on fire. Hargrave says he wants to collect the insurance. Hargrave runs poker games in his garage and promises to set up a game with high rollers that will allow Jewell to win more money than she lost in Vegas.

Jewell manages to burn the boat but the fire spreads to the forest. As Lucy evacuates campers from the park, she spots Jewell running through the woods and gives chase. They both end up in the river, creating the risk that one of them will be the first Sawbrook to drown — or to be captured after a crime. Buckner enters the mix by getting drunk and stealing an ATV from the park rangers. Lucy spots him as she’s chasing Jewell.

The Trouble Up North blends a crime story with a family drama. At the end, it becomes a story of enduring love. Travis Mulhauser crafts a fast-moving plot that will capture the reader’s attention, but characterization is the novel’s strength.

Buckner is a veteran but he doesn't blame war for his alcoholism. “Buckner had always been a drinker but it really picked up after he got back from Iraq, which people liked to say was because of trauma. Buckner had not been traumatized, but after a while he stopped arguing and just let people believe what they wanted.”

Buckner’s girlfriend has more depth than most fictional strippers. Her relationship with Rhoda showcases two capable women with soft hearts and hard attitudes. They aren’t afraid of bullies.

Lucy and Jewell are at odds through much of the novel. Lucy’s job is to enforce the law (at least within the park). Will Lucy notify the authorities that her sister started the fire? Someone may have died in the fire, so Lucy worries about her own criminal liability if she protects Jewell. Yet protecting each other is the drive that holds the Sawbrook clan together. How the mess the family members have made of their lives will be resolved is the question that gives the story its tension.

The story is tight. Like Chekov’s Gun, seemingly insignificant details become important later in the narrative. The resolution, like the story that precedes it, is smart and surprising. The Trouble Up North is an easy novel to recommend to fans of literary crime fiction.

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Hang on St. Christopher by Adrain McKinty

Published by Blackstone on March 4, 2025

The eighth entry in Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy series takes place in 1992. Duffy has the rank of Detective Inspector in Northern Ireland, but his checkered record (lots of crimes solved but few convictions because Duffy cares more about solving problems than personal glory) caused him to join the police reserve as a prelude to retirement. He lives in Scotland with his wife and daughter but takes a ferry to his native country for the six days of work per month that he needs to maintain eligibility for a full pension.

When Duffy worked full time, he was a case officer who ran an IRA double agent. Now he shares a desk in Carrickfergus with his former partner, Detective Sergeant McCrabban, another reserve officer. Neither detective is assigned to serious cases. That changes when a homicide occurs in Carrickfergus. The head of the criminal investigation department is on vacation so Duffy and McCrabban catch the case. Duffy grumbles about having to work a few extra days (McCrabban welcomes the overtime), but he’s secretly thrilled to be doing meaningful work again.

The murder victim seems to have been killed during a carjacking, but Duffy believes the death is more consistent with an execution. Duffy’s first task is identifying the victim. A search of his house reveals a couple of original Picasso etchings, but they may have been purchased under a fictitious name. The story builds interest as Duffy trudges from clue to clue, apparently chasing a ghost, before he uncovers the victim’s true identity — and his true occupation. It is a disturbing but credible reveal.

The novel’s title comes from a suitably dark Tom Waits song of the same name. The lyrics mention a Norton motorcycle. An assassin riding a Norton is tied to the murder in Carrickfergus and then to a second. When Duffy seems to be getting close to identifying the assassin, he becomes a target.

Hang on St. Christopher blends the traditional crime-solving of a police procedural with the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The politics of the IRA provide an interesting background that moves to the forefront when internal differences in the IRA power structure suggest a motive for the murders.

When Duffy ventures into the Republic of Ireland to talk to an IRA leader, tension grows. The novel’s best action scene involves a shootout between IRA assassins and cops on the Republic’s side of the border. McKinty deserves credit for describing a credible clash without elevating the aging Duffy to the status of superhero.

Duffy’s characterization is familiar — apart from resisting the sedate joys of retirement, Duffy drinks quite a bit, thinks about cheating on his wife, and ignores orders that he regards as inconsistent with crime solving — but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when you’ve got one that rolls. Duffy stands apart from other disgruntled cops in his ability to quote classic literature, identify all sorts of music, and discuss the details of history. He’s not afraid to admit that he’s afraid of death, now that he has a daughter who gives him a reason to live. That doesn’t stop him from exercising questionable judgment when he charges toward danger.

Fictional cops on the other side of the Atlantic (at least those in Great Britain and Ireland) tend not to be as insufferably self-righteous as their American counterparts. Hang on St. Christopher is an excellent choice for police procedural fans who would enjoy spending time with a snarky Irish cop working in a difficult time.

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Tongues volume 1 by Anders Nilsen

Published by ‎ Pantheon on March 11, 2025

I have to hand it to Anders Nilsen. He does not lack ambition. Not only does he take on a big story, merging Greek mythology with modern strife in the Middle East, he invents a new mythology of his own, one that sends a thirteen-year-old girl named Astrid on a mission that will either save the world or cause it to follow her into darkness.

Astrid acquired a suitcase but has not investigated its contents. A talking chicken tells her it might be used as a weapon but she will lack the knowledge to wield it. The chicken (which sometimes manifests as a less loquacious owl) tells her that her treasure is of immense importance to the human race.

The story is anchored in the myth of Prometheus, who spends each day chained to a mountain where he plays blind chess with the eagle who will eat his liver before the day ends. In some panels, the eagle is in flight, apparently communicating with Prometheus by telepathy, while the art focuses on urban marketplaces, streets filled with armored vehicles, soldiers mingling with vendors and shoppers, and pigeons perched on roofs next to buildings that have collapsed. Prometheus and the eagle chat about various subjects, but Prometheus has recently been obsessed with his unexplained plan to regain his freedom.

In another plot thread, a European soldier who calls himself I.O. is fighting or smuggling goods in a place he calls East Bum-fuckistan. I.O. and fellow soldier Nico come across and share their beer with a hitchhiking American. The American is trying to lose himself after killing some family members under circumstances he does not reveal. A teddy bear strapped to his backpack gives him advice that helps him survive. I.O. has made a promise to a dying friend that he will safeguard the friend’s monkey, but Nico — who is supposed to be helping I.O. with a side hustle — makes off with the American and the monkey.

And then there’s the swan who transforms each night into a red-eyed human male and appears in the bed of a young woman who is being pressured to choose a husband from an unappealing group of suitors. Some of this might seem silly, yet it all fits within the context of a modernized myth, given the prevalence of talking animals in Greek mythology.

The storylines will apparently be tied together at some point by the Omega, whose followers (“the Rings”) believe he is the Roman god Jupiter. The Omega long ago prevailed in a war against the maker, the progenitor of the gods. More than that we don’t yet know.

The plot is intelligent and the story is occasionally moving. By the end of the first volume, we see the contents of Astrid’s suitcase, which raises more questions than it answers. We also see inside a tower that seems to be protected by radar and a military presence, a tower occupied by a tormenter of Prometheus. I would be worried that such an ambitious beginning to a story might get lost without reaching a destination, but the story is told with confidence, suggesting that Nilsen has a plan that will eventually cause the storylines to cohere.

I’m not an art critic, but I was taken by the minimalist nature of the graphic art. Many panels tell the story in images rather than text, as good graphic novels should. Volume 1 of Tongues left me intrigued. I look forward to volumes to come.

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The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton

Published by ‎ St. Martin's Press on February 25, 2025

‎I’m not sure if this was Edward Ashton’s intent — he may have intended only to entertain by crafting a science fiction thriller — but I view The Fourth Consort as an exploration of culture and the difficulty of understanding or adopting cultural norms that differ from our own. Like Mickey7, the novel is also about diplomacy and moral behavior as an alternative to fighting needless battles.

Ashton’s books tend to be uncomplicated stories that don’t require the support of a large cast of characters. In The Fourth Consort, two primary species are in interstellar conflict with each other. Both species are roaming around in our part of the universe in search of new species that might benefit from their guidance. One is called Unity; their leaders belong to a race of creatures with hard shells whose members are known as ammies. The other group is called the Assembly. Members of the race that dominates the Assembly are described as stickmen. The aliens are unimaginative, but that's a small knock on the story.

Unity visited Earth and made a lot of promises about forming an alliance that don’t seem to have been kept. Dalton Greaves is a human. Dissatisfied with his life, Dalton took a job with Unity in exchange for the promise of a vast fortune when he returns to Earth. Dalton’s job is to make first contact with aliens and act as a diplomat for Unity. He’s on a survey ship captained by an ammie named Boreau, who is probably more interested in taking a planet’s resources than in diplomacy.

The planet is populated by minarchs. Minarchs fight with their mandibles, supplemented by spears. Two political factions are struggling to control the planet. The city is ruled by something like a queen, but she is being challenged by members of the competing faction.

Dalton and another human, Neera Agarwal, take a lander to a planet, only to find that a stickman named Breaker has already made contact with the minarchs. The Assembly and Unity ships in orbit manage to destroy each other, leaving Dalton, Neera, and Breaker stranded on the planet. They nevertheless continue their diplomatic missions, a task Breaker pursues by trashing Dalton as a sneaky human who can't be trusted.

The story follows Dalton as he develops relationships with the minarch queen, her Counselor, the Prefect who wants to displace the queen, and Breaker. Dalton earns the minarchs’ respect (or triggers their fear) when he uses his bare hands to defeat a fearsome creature that attacks him in his room. Fortunately, the creature’s venom doesn’t kill humans, making Dalton seem more powerful to the minarchs than he actually is.

The queen takes a liking to Dalton and decides he will be her new consort. To his relief, Dalton won’t be required to have sex with the queen. He is nevertheless unhappy to learn that the queen ate her first consort. The second and third are marking time until they are devoured. Dalton is the fourth.

As events unfold, Dalton makes an enemy of the Prefect, whose lover is killed by the Counselor as she tries to protect Dalton. This leads to Dalton’s designation as the second in a duel between the Prefect and the Counselor. Minarchs tell him that honor compels him to fight his own duel with the Prefect. The duels are dictated by cultural norms that Dalton doesn’t share. Some people go all shivery at the mention of the word honor, but the novel suggests that dishonorable (or just stupid) behavior often results from cultural adherence to notions of honor that serve no purpose. The honor killings of female relatives after they are raped are a human example of abhorrent acts taken in the name of honor.

Novels often benefit from a protagonist who is forced to make a difficult moral choice. Dalton has to decide whether to let Neera rescue him with superior firepower. If he goes with her, his actions as a consort will reflect poorly upon the queen and will probably lead to her death. If he stays and battles the Prefect, his choice will probably cause his own death. If Dalton substitutes his own sense of honor for the views of the minarchs, what choice will he make?

Ashton always tells a good story. The novel moves quickly. It has enough action scenes to give it the feel of a science fiction thriller, but it also has some hidden depth. The characters have well-defined personalities. Ashton is a likeable guy who messed up his life and is trying to atone, or possibly to disappear. Either way, he remains true to himself, even when he must decide whether to make unselfish choices. The blend of action and philosophy has always drawn me to science fiction, and Ashton is following the best traditions of the genre.

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