REVIEW: Guns + Tacos episode 2 by Michael Bracken
ECR reviews "Three Brisket Tacos and a Sig Sauer" by Michael Bracken. The second episode of six and a half from the Guns + Tacos novella series from Down & Out Books, 2019. As crime writers go, most want to pen something that is so enjoyably evil that reader’s can’t wait to strip down to pajamas and turn pages. As crime stories go, most of them hit the genre highlights while wallowing in the clichĂ©s until every new work resembles the wax statue that came pre-molded. It’s rare that something so familiar feels so original and effortless, and yet that is exactly the experience of reading the 2019 novella series from Down And Out Books, GUNS + TACOS.
All good boys love
their mommas--only those who are truly special love their Aunts more. This slanted
theme runs throughout this twisted tale of ding-dongs, armed robbery, and
criminal grooming. Michael Bracken’s Three Brisket Tacos and a Sig Sauer is an excellent
second episode of GUNS+TACOS. A series created by Mr. Bracken and Trey Barker,
consisting of six novellas all involving a taco truck that doubles as an
illegal armory.
The second episode
explores the ever-entangling relationship between fresh out of prison, Joey and
Sylvia, his aunt by marriage. In this dark noir, the stripper/Svengali Sylvia
uses everything in her power to groom the young Joey and exert total domination
over his life and deeds. For his part, Joey loses himself to her total control,
by engaging in more and more dangerous acts of criminality until he pulls one
job too many.
After getting
arrested and being introduced to the terrible joys of prison sex, Joey becomes
even more lost under his Aunt’s evil spell. And when he finally gets released, Joey
has no where to go but back to his Aunt’s which is just how she’d planned it.
When threatened by
her nephew’s budding relationship with a pretty neighbor, Gloria, Sylvia spins
her ultimate thrill-kill plan: rob four banks in one day.
Mr. Bracken deftly
unspools the second episode of GUNS+TACOS and it hooks you from the first page.
You keep rooting for Joey to turn things around all the way up to the harrowing
climax. This tale, as well as the series in general, stands on the shoulders of
James M. Cain and George V. Higgins, allowing readers a further and deeper view
into the abyss. I highly recommend GUNS+TACOS for any fan of modern crime
fiction.
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