Publishers Weekly
This craftily written noir thriller by Kostoff (A Choice of Nightmares) stars Jimmy Coates, a downtrodden Phoenix ex-con whose primary goal in life is sidestepping his loan shark, Ray Harp ("the kind of guy who could make Darwin blush"). Fresh from a two-year prison term for illegally transporting rare, state-protected saguaro cacti, Jimmy spends his time working at the Big and Bigger Jones's Old Wild West Park to make ends meet, but his mounting excuses aren't enough to keep Harp from trying to collect on his looming $6,000 debt. Dispatched to "accelerate" the collection process, Harp's henchmen Newt Deems and Aaron Limbe set out after Jimmy. Limbe in particular is eager to complete this assignment, since his career with the Phoenix police force was terminated after Jimmy bartered incriminating information on Limbe in exchange for his release from a grand theft auto charge. But Jimmy has devised his own solution to his money woes by robbing several dry-cleaning establishments owned by his squeaky-clean brother. It isn't hard for him to justify the thefts, since he's never gotten along with Richard anyway-and now Richard has bilked Jimmy out of their recently deceased father's inheritance. In the process, Jimmy falls for Evelyn, Richard's distracted, disenchanted wife, and their affair brings new complications. Jimmy's love for Evelyn (fueled by great sex) creates the whirlwind that propels this dark tale to its final, violent end. Kostoff's narrative goes down nice and easy, but there's not a congenial character in sight-certainly not Jimmy, whose melting heart does little to take the edge off his boorishness. His final comeuppance feels rightly deserved in this deft, oddball entertainment. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Everything seems to go wrong for ex-con Jimmy Coates. A former cop he testified against and a Phoenix loan shark to whom he owes money both want to kill him. In addition, his strait-laced brother stalls a crucial, hefty inheritance. Fighting back, Jimmy robs his brother's dry cleaners, then helps his sister-in-law commit a crime. Not really a bad guy, Jimmy falls for the woman, botches their robbery a bit, gives the bad guys a hard time, and generally gets caught up in events beyond his control. A fascinating ride through tangled relationships, rendered with clean-cut prose and nicely complicated plot. For all collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Six times daily, Jimmy Coates has to die to titillate the audiences at Big and Bigger Jones’s Wild West Park, working a double shift (three shootouts per shift) because he’s desperate for money. Pressuring him for it is a mean-spirited drug dealer/loan-shark named Ray Harp. Jimmy is into Ray big time, and Ray is growing impatient--and when Ray grows impatient, unpleasant consequences ensue, brought about by three thuggish enforcers who enjoy their work. One is a former member of the Phoenix PD with a particular reason for wanting to inflict pain on Jimmy. He’s Aaron Limbe, who became an ex-cop when Jimmy--thinking he could rely on the anonymity he’d been promised--traded certain cop-incriminating information for a pass on a grand larceny rap. Actually, Jimmy has got trouble on a variety of fronts. There’s Richard, for instance, his oh-so-respectable brother, whose solid citizenship doesn’t prevent him from maneuvering Jimmy out of his inheritance. In retaliation, Jimmy decides to knock over four of Richard’s dry-cleaning establishments and use the money to pay off his debt. But then an odd thing happens to Jimmy’s petrified little heart--it gets hammered. He falls helplessly in love with his brother’s restless wife, setting off a chain reaction that makes good turn bad, then bad good, as Jimmy gets more or less what he deserves. Kostoff (A Choice of Nightmares, 1991) writes well enough for a place in the neo-noir vanguard, but be warned: you really have to like noir, because it’s hard to like Jimmy.
