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The Drop-Off
“This is the stuff… Violent, pacy, stylish and funny.” - The Daily Mirror Book #2 in the Stolen Millions series. Smoke Dugan, one-time bomb-maker for the mob, is on the run. There’s nothing on the Caribbean island of St. Mark’s but sun, sand and homegrown highs – making it the perfect place for Smoke to drop off the radar with the $2.5 million he’s taken from the mob. But it's not easy to keep a low profile when you've got your girlfriend, her best friend and a retired assassin in tow. Never mind that the price on your head is going to get some very bad people doing bad things to find you. Soon the scene is set for a game of cat and mouse amid the palm trees and on the high seas. Who will end up sleeping with the fish? “A great crime novel. Brilliant is the word.” - Independent on Sunday “Tightly plotted, confidently written and very hip.”
- GenresFiction
452 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 27, 2012
Technology. It's a love-hate thing. It’s Christmas 2012 and the reviewer hasn't written a book review for many years, not since “Living Social” shut down its website and then didn't allow him properly to export his stuff. He Hates Living Social. But today he's decided to give on-line book reviews a second chance with somethin' called “Good Reads”, but if that also closes then there will be consequences, know what he's saying?
During those lost years and with a strangely parallel frustration, I was also trying to find the sequel to Patrick Quinlan’s debut novel, “Smoked”, which together form the “Stolen Millions” series. No luck until Christmas 2011 when I got my first Kindle. Kindle found the sequel. I Love Kindle.
In much the same way, Patrick Quinlan describes a world where everything is black and white. Most people don’t get second chances. Some do, but with serious consequences. He writes crime thrillers without a policeman in sight.
“The Drop Off” has a similar format as “Smoked”, but on a bigger stage (more of that later). An underworld code is broken and Mr Big sends out some bad villains to deal with some not-so-bad villains. Mayhem ensues as everything that can go wrong does go wrong. By the start of this second novel the well-established and uniquely memorable characters of Smoke Dugan and Lola have been joined by an equally esoteric pairing. A gang of four is essential, as Smoke and Lola have to deal with are not just one or two, but four, sets of adversaries.
The black humour that jumped out from the debut novel is still there in spades. It starts in the first chapter. “This is the slowest fucking car chase ever”, says one of the bad guys whose bulletproof limousine is being followed by Lola and her girlfriend through gridlocked traffic. (I'm thinking movie trailer, but more of that later). He gets out the car and walks back to warn them to back off. Deadpan humour is not just contained in the dialogue, but also in the images. The most evil of the bad guys, a probably psychopath, insists on wearing a brand new, bright yellow, life preserver before jumping into a boat. No-one dares comment. A tiny detail, irrelevant to the plot, but brilliantly memorable.
There are other points that show the author’s self-awareness. Towards the end, one of the main characters has just been tied up for the second time that day, by two different villains. He reflects on the ludicrousness of such a turn of events; one can almost hear the author’s own misgivings at to whether he would stretch credulity with such a plotline. But by recognising it in the thoughts of a character, he gets away with it: blockbuster-selling novelists of a certain genre please take note.
Back to my failed trips to the high street bookshop. The visits were worth it and so they get another chance. The dude in the shop asked me what I liked about “Smoked”. I told him. He handed me an Elmore Leonard novel, “Killshot”. Brilliant classic American crime fiction and I've since read that some real critics have called Quinlan his successor.
One small problem with that analogy though, and it's not in the quality of the writing. Several of Leonard’s books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty and Jackie Brown. “Smoked” on its own could probably be a movie, but with the “The Drop Off” there is no doubt - you will visualise this novel as though it were on the big screen. You will pick the actors.
To readers: buy this book and spread the word. To the author: a trilogy? There’s still loose ends that could be tied up: a final, explosive, showdown between Smoke and Mr Big, perhaps? To the Hollywood Studios: come on guys, the “Stolen Millions” series will make you millions.
During those lost years and with a strangely parallel frustration, I was also trying to find the sequel to Patrick Quinlan’s debut novel, “Smoked”, which together form the “Stolen Millions” series. No luck until Christmas 2011 when I got my first Kindle. Kindle found the sequel. I Love Kindle.
In much the same way, Patrick Quinlan describes a world where everything is black and white. Most people don’t get second chances. Some do, but with serious consequences. He writes crime thrillers without a policeman in sight.
“The Drop Off” has a similar format as “Smoked”, but on a bigger stage (more of that later). An underworld code is broken and Mr Big sends out some bad villains to deal with some not-so-bad villains. Mayhem ensues as everything that can go wrong does go wrong. By the start of this second novel the well-established and uniquely memorable characters of Smoke Dugan and Lola have been joined by an equally esoteric pairing. A gang of four is essential, as Smoke and Lola have to deal with are not just one or two, but four, sets of adversaries.
The black humour that jumped out from the debut novel is still there in spades. It starts in the first chapter. “This is the slowest fucking car chase ever”, says one of the bad guys whose bulletproof limousine is being followed by Lola and her girlfriend through gridlocked traffic. (I'm thinking movie trailer, but more of that later). He gets out the car and walks back to warn them to back off. Deadpan humour is not just contained in the dialogue, but also in the images. The most evil of the bad guys, a probably psychopath, insists on wearing a brand new, bright yellow, life preserver before jumping into a boat. No-one dares comment. A tiny detail, irrelevant to the plot, but brilliantly memorable.
There are other points that show the author’s self-awareness. Towards the end, one of the main characters has just been tied up for the second time that day, by two different villains. He reflects on the ludicrousness of such a turn of events; one can almost hear the author’s own misgivings at to whether he would stretch credulity with such a plotline. But by recognising it in the thoughts of a character, he gets away with it: blockbuster-selling novelists of a certain genre please take note.
Back to my failed trips to the high street bookshop. The visits were worth it and so they get another chance. The dude in the shop asked me what I liked about “Smoked”. I told him. He handed me an Elmore Leonard novel, “Killshot”. Brilliant classic American crime fiction and I've since read that some real critics have called Quinlan his successor.
One small problem with that analogy though, and it's not in the quality of the writing. Several of Leonard’s books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty and Jackie Brown. “Smoked” on its own could probably be a movie, but with the “The Drop Off” there is no doubt - you will visualise this novel as though it were on the big screen. You will pick the actors.
To readers: buy this book and spread the word. To the author: a trilogy? There’s still loose ends that could be tied up: a final, explosive, showdown between Smoke and Mr Big, perhaps? To the Hollywood Studios: come on guys, the “Stolen Millions” series will make you millions.
December 28, 2011
Smoke Dugan, one-time bomb-maker for the mob, is on the run. It's not easy to keep a low profile when you've got your girlfriend (Lola), her best friend (Pamela) and a retired professional assassin (Cruz) with you; and if you're carrying $2.5 million in cash, you can be sure the people the money belongs to won't let the trail go cold. The tiny Caribbean island of Saint Mark's seems a safe bet, but that's reckoning without the unexpected presence of ex-Navy Seal Stone, an old enemy of Cruz. Stone has heard of the massive finder's fee placed on Cruz's head by Big Vito back in New York, so he's very motivated. Soon the rest of the mob is on the way and the scene is set for a game of cat and mouse amid the palm trees and on the high seas.
Well, that's what the blurb says, anyway. It also says that author Patrick Quinlan is a writer who weaves together elements of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Get Shorty. He is certainly a writer who is doing his damndest to be as cool as Elmore Leonard used to be (some say still is). There's a lot to commend in his writing, that's for sure. But I wasn't entirely won over by his latest offering.
The Drop-Off is the follow up to Quinlan's first novel Smoked, which received some rave reviews, comparing Quinlan to James Ellroy or Quentin Tarantino. In Smoked, James Smoke Duggan (aka Wally O'Malley) is an aging explosive expert with a gammy leg who rips off the mob to the tune of $2.5 million ably assisted by his twenty-five-year-old girl friend and martial arts expert, Lola Bell. The mob, who used to employ Smoke (unbeknownst to Lola Bell) send a stone-cold killer, Denny Cruz, and two nasty assistants, Moss and Fingers, to despatch Smoke and retrieve their $2.5 million.
You might suppose, then, that The Drop-Off is simply a rewrite of Smoked. And, as Barry Norman might once have said, why not? The plot is, of course, predictable but it's all about the action. Unfortunately, sometimes the action sometimes chugs along rather slowly (at one stage a mobster says to his sidekick, This is about the slowest f***ing car chase in the history of the world, which is a summary of at least the first half of the book). Quinlan has an annoying habit of giving the reader the full backstory of every new character he introduces which, despite their always colourful backstory, I just found a tedious brake on the action – to hell with the backstory, I wanted to get on with the frontstory! He also seems to write for the lowest common denominator. To give just one example: we are told when we meet Cruz's girlfriend that, until she fell for the stone-cold killer, Pamela had her job at the library, her quiet life, her cute little apartment. Fine. It's a cliché, but we have an effective picture of Pamela. But Quinlan then goes on to remind us of Pamela's backstory nearly every time she crops up, including her final scene when we are told that, Pamela, the formerly shy and retiring librarian, was going to do just fine.
These are just minor quibbles to explain why I don't think Quinlan is in the Ellroy/Leonard league just yet. But the book does have humour, some exciting set-pieces and a good deal of stylish violence. If you want a book to take away on your holidays and read by the pool with a Mai Tai or two, then this book is as good as any.
Well, that's what the blurb says, anyway. It also says that author Patrick Quinlan is a writer who weaves together elements of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Get Shorty. He is certainly a writer who is doing his damndest to be as cool as Elmore Leonard used to be (some say still is). There's a lot to commend in his writing, that's for sure. But I wasn't entirely won over by his latest offering.
The Drop-Off is the follow up to Quinlan's first novel Smoked, which received some rave reviews, comparing Quinlan to James Ellroy or Quentin Tarantino. In Smoked, James Smoke Duggan (aka Wally O'Malley) is an aging explosive expert with a gammy leg who rips off the mob to the tune of $2.5 million ably assisted by his twenty-five-year-old girl friend and martial arts expert, Lola Bell. The mob, who used to employ Smoke (unbeknownst to Lola Bell) send a stone-cold killer, Denny Cruz, and two nasty assistants, Moss and Fingers, to despatch Smoke and retrieve their $2.5 million.
You might suppose, then, that The Drop-Off is simply a rewrite of Smoked. And, as Barry Norman might once have said, why not? The plot is, of course, predictable but it's all about the action. Unfortunately, sometimes the action sometimes chugs along rather slowly (at one stage a mobster says to his sidekick, This is about the slowest f***ing car chase in the history of the world, which is a summary of at least the first half of the book). Quinlan has an annoying habit of giving the reader the full backstory of every new character he introduces which, despite their always colourful backstory, I just found a tedious brake on the action – to hell with the backstory, I wanted to get on with the frontstory! He also seems to write for the lowest common denominator. To give just one example: we are told when we meet Cruz's girlfriend that, until she fell for the stone-cold killer, Pamela had her job at the library, her quiet life, her cute little apartment. Fine. It's a cliché, but we have an effective picture of Pamela. But Quinlan then goes on to remind us of Pamela's backstory nearly every time she crops up, including her final scene when we are told that, Pamela, the formerly shy and retiring librarian, was going to do just fine.
These are just minor quibbles to explain why I don't think Quinlan is in the Ellroy/Leonard league just yet. But the book does have humour, some exciting set-pieces and a good deal of stylish violence. If you want a book to take away on your holidays and read by the pool with a Mai Tai or two, then this book is as good as any.
June 20, 2017
A Tarantino-esque crime thriller. Gangsters, hitmen, thieves and a boat full of money they're all fighting for. decent read
Read
April 30, 2024Gripping and masterfully plotted
Great dialogue that reveals character and is often hilarious. The lead characters are as full of occasional foibles as most of us, as well as bravery and loyalty to each other. The plotting is full of suspenseful episodes that make it hard to put the book down. I recommend it very highly.
Great dialogue that reveals character and is often hilarious. The lead characters are as full of occasional foibles as most of us, as well as bravery and loyalty to each other. The plotting is full of suspenseful episodes that make it hard to put the book down. I recommend it very highly.
December 29, 2013
Book was great.... it had humor, it had some mystery. it was a good follow up to Smoke. looking for a third book in the series right now.
December 28, 2015
The idea is too mainstream and the ending is predictable.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews