The Hard Bounce
Boo Malone and his closest friend, Junior, grew up hard in an orphanage where boys formed gangs to protect themselves from other boys, and both were identified as having anger-management issues. Now thirtysomethings, they exercise their issues frequently as bouncers in a louche Boston nightclub. They’re surprised when a very attractive young woman and an edgy, angry police detective with his own issues offer them lucrative work tracking down Cassandra, a teenage runaway. Soon they find themselves sparring with a sleazy child pornographer, a candidate for mayor, Boston’s most dangerous Irish gangster, and his übercool hit man. Robinson, creator of the website Thuglit, peoples his first novel with a host of imaginatively drawn thugs, villains, victims, and rascals, and he has filled his story with top-shelf tough talk, mayhem, lots of raunch, some laughs, and a vivid sense of place. Readers who enjoy a good wallow in all of the above will feel right at home with The Hard Bounce. --Thomas Gaughan