Review: Watch Out For The Down Cards
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 14, 2012
Dani Amore has a knack that most of the best poker players in the world possess -- she can suck you in with her up cards the slam your head in a car door with the others, the ones you didn't see coming. The first story about a private eye (well . . .  a different kind of a private eye with special talents) with trust issues about his employer is a familiar friend: a good bad guy who makes the best of a bad situation. Warm and comforting and you begin to relax as you read number two.You shouldn't have done that because . . .The next three tales will rip your freakin' scalp off!No good guys. All bad news. Situations that chainsaw so far apart the you can't see anybody at all . . . let alone which bad guy is slightly less bad than the other bad guy or gal with the axe, knife, shotgun, pistol, acid, or any of the other instruments of mayhem that appear in the stories . . . for the blood dripping off your eyebrows and the gunshot residue burning your eyes into cinders.As Otto Penzler said,"Noir is about losers losing", and Dani captures that definition perfectly. (Well, maybe not the PI story but remember, that's the card that sucks you in.)