Review: Pulp Fiction Erotica
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 6, 2013
Pulp fiction writers in the early days of the genre were always men. Dashiell Hammett brought us Sam Spade. Raymond Chandler gave birth to the marvelous Philip Marlowe. Mickey Spillane introduced Mike Hammer. Love interest came through the de rigueur femme fatale, usually a curvy blonde in a tight skirt with a big problem. Sex, if it entered the narrative, was as tame as the gunplay was explosive and the twists startling.What Elodie Parkes has done is take the genre by the neck, turn it upside down and stand it on its head. She introduces in "The Last Time" Private Investigator Bethany Snow, an operator from the mysterious Black Agency, whose assignment is to guard the actor Seth Carbery, recipient of death threats and, worse, the shadow of a stalker. And, worse still: a man at the end of a long road of disappointment who has vowed never to fall in love again. Against the backdrop of a film in the middle of being shot  - and with others members of the cast and crew also receiving threatening letters - PI Snow uncovers an intriguing plot that throws her into danger - and into the arms of Seth Carbery. Oh, those eyes!Balancing erotica and detective fiction in a driving narrative, the author manages to stay on the tightrope and carries us safely to a satisfactory ending that is what we may have expected - but not in the way we expected it.