Friday 21 December 2012

One Man's Opinion: RED ESPERANTO by PAUL D BRAZILL



Before the review, a few pointers.

Mr Suit's free today and tomorrow (US).  I think it's pretty good, so think about checking it out.

Another freebie is Santa's Christmas Eve Blues (US) from Douglas Lindsay and Blasted Heath.  Surely that's got to be had.

And, forgive me for the scratched record approach, but Snubnose Press have reduced the price of all their titles to the minimum of 99c or 75p.  I'll mention again that Blood On Blood, which I haven't read but own, is at 5500 in the US charts and for pragmatic reasons I reckon that if you chase it higher up there you'll be supporting a fantastic press in a way that might well stick.  Go on, be a devil.  And if you do buy more Snubnose books for your collection, think about saving your receipts somewhere - you never know when they might come in useful.

Red Esperanto (US) practically drips in the alcoholic sweat of the journalist Luke Case, not to mention some of his other bodily fluids. 

Luke is a head case in more ways than one; I’ll not elaborate on that and will let you discover that for yourselves.

We meet him in a room in Warsaw where he’s forcing down whisky and soaking up the atmosphere.  His companion is a prostitute who has more than one admirer, not all of whom are as gentile as Case.

Case is sucked gently (oh yes) into a game that lies within a love square (a love triangle with an extra corner).

Along the way, he introduces us to some unsavoury characters from the Polish community and some rather hopeless ones from the English teachers who have washed up there.

There are wise-cracks a plenty and twists that are well camouflaged. 

My favourite character in the story is the city itself.  It’s presented with a seedy romance that really wakes up the imagination.

It’s a story with a lot to offer and I’m very happy that there’s a follow up for me to get to in the very near future.

9 comments:

  1. Somehow I missed this one. Will have to check it out.

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  2. Thanks much for that, Nigel. Glad you took to Wawa. I fancy myself as the Judith Chalmers of noir, now.

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  3. That's no mean title to have Paul. You can do one for every city you can think of - I really like the idea of that all in the one collection. Go to it.

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  4. Just on the stregnth of this article alone I think you can lay claim to Judith's title, Paul.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/2191829/Judith-Chalmers-never-wore-knickers-on-Wish-You-Were-Here.html

    Esparanto bound promptly.

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  5. I'm off to check out that link AJ

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  6. Sounds great - I'll have to investigate too! ;)

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  7. Think I'll have to grab this one myself. Sounds great.

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  8. Thanks again for this, Nigel. And thanks for the comments, all. Especially A J!

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  9. Hi Nigel, Not replying to this review, but I can't find a contact for you. Came across your site through the listings on Indie Reviews. Was going through it looking for reviewers for my new novella, but based on what I'm seeing, my novel, Loisaida -- A New York Story, which was inspired by a notorious "true-life" crime, might be more up your alley. Please feel free to get in touch via email at marion@caradelocapress.com if you have any interest. A free review copy would be available.

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