Review: Mix Noir, Humor and Murders...Meet Blackie Noir!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 15, 2012
As soon as I read the author's name in my Facebook group, Reviewers Roundup, I decided I had to read his novel--nothing like publicizing the genre to the world and making sure they knew what to expect! I loved it, although I'd still kinda like to know his real name...LOL In the past, I've tried to get a handle on the noir, hard-boiled crime genre, but I was still not sure what it totally encompassed until I read Blackie's blog article about how he started writing. Turns out, I've been reading these authors myself! LOLI wasn't quite sure who to call the main character--the Widowmaker? The cops chasing him?Of course that was easy for me since I always enjoy a strong female character and Nadine surely met that desire. She had recently been promoted for chasing and ultimately killing a man who turned out to be wanted for a number of murders. Nadine became a hero and that chase scene, of course filmed in some way, went virile (if they had that capability during the time Nadine lived)...Her boss had watched the chase over and over, deciding how he should reward her. In the meantime, another strong woman who was heading up a Task Force to catch the Widowmaker thought Nadine would make a good addition to her team. Along with Nadine, she also got Johnny Vance, who she was not happy about, since he had once refused to partner with her--I'll let you find out why when you read it!Actually Nadine and Vance made a great team and I wish the novel had not ended as it did...so that we could enjoy them in the future...The Widowmaker had mellowed from his old days when he'd been given the moniker Icepick, but a somewhat traumatic event for him had affected him so that he'd become more selective with his kills--choosing to rid the world of those men who, like the man who'd killed his lover, beat up, abused and threw women away routinely.In fact, he had been on the way to kill a local bar owner, when he coincidentally found two men beating up on one of the dancers there. He had killed both of those men, who had already killed his original victim...and then decided to let the dancer go--was he making his first mistake?Nadine and Vance hooked up at the scene with Vance's old partner and went on to verify that there were two guns that had killed the duo, who, of course, were also wanted criminals. The second had been the .22 caliber that was the signature gun for the Widowmaker...But now they thought they had a lead, a witness, because as they analyzed the scene, it was clear that the dancer had gotten away!And so the hunt begins...But there is a concurrent often humorous story line about Nadine's family who had adopted her many years ago and had treated her as their own. I enjoyed a family barbecue scene where Nadine brought a movie star who had approached her after seeing "the chase scene" and how the family and he interacted. Let's just say that this family didn't accept phonies...LOLWill you guess how this book ends, as I did? For me, it was the perfect ending; but I admit that you and others might totally disagree! Like I said earlier, I would have preferred that Nadine and Vance stayed on the job, but, hey, they went out with a bang... Highly recommended! Enjoy!GABixlerReviews