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Billy Lafitte #1
Yellow Medicine
Deputy Billy Lafitte is not unfamiliar with the law—he just prefers to enforce it, rather than abide by it. But his rule-bending and bribe-taking have gotten him kicked off the force in Gulfport, Mississippi, and he’s been given a second chance—in the desolate, Siberian wastelands of rural Minnesota. Now Billy’s only got the local girls and local booze to keep him company. Until one of the local girls—cute little Drew, bassist for a psychobilly band—asks Billy for help with her boyfriend. Something about the drugs Ian’s been selling, some product he may have lost, and the men who are threatening him because of it. Billy agrees to look into it, and before long he’s speeding down a snowy road, tracking a cell of terrorists, with a severed head in his truck’s cab. And that’s only the start.
260 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2008
32 people are currently reading
380 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Neil Smith
63 books191 followersI write crime novels. PSYCHOSOMATIC, THE DRUMMER, plus the Billy Lafitte series--YELLOW MEDICINE, HOGDOGGIN', THE BADDEST ASS, and HOLY DEATH--and the Mustafa & Adem series--ALL THE YOUNG WARRIORS and ONCE A WARRIOR, in addition to WORM, CHOKE ON YOUR LIES, and the SLOW BEAR trilogy.
I'm an English Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, and editor of the online lit mag Revolution John.
I'm an English Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, and editor of the online lit mag Revolution John.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
June 1, 2013
Sheriff's deputy Billy Lafitte sounds like a guy who might have stepped straight out of one of Jim Thompson's darker novels. (As though he had any light ones.)
Lafitte was a policeman in Gulfport, Mississippi, but because of his antics in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he was booted off the force. His wife divorced him and took custody of their two kids, but Billy's now ex-brother-in-law, the sheriff of Yellow Medicine County in rural Minnesota, takes pity on Billy and hires him on as a deputy.
One might think that given a second chance and anxious to redeem himself in the eyes of his wife and children, Billy might straighten up and fly right. He chooses not to do so, and once in the frozen tundra, he reverts to the sort of conduct that got him kicked out of Mississippi. For example, he soon corrals the local meth cookers and dealers and, rather than shutting them down, effectively puts them under his thumb.
He also falls hard for a young girl named Drew, the lead singer of a local psychobilly band called Elvis Antichrist. Lafitte basically coerces Drew into having sex with him once but then falls hard for the girl and can't bring himself to force himself on her again; he'll only have her if she genuinely wants him.
That's not likely, since Drew is madly in love with a guy who's even a bigger loser than Lafitte. The love of her life is a small-time meth dealer and when he gets into trouble, Drew asks Billy to help the kid out. Billy agrees to do so in his own inimitable way and soon finds that he's stepped into a hornets' nest that seems to grow bigger by the moment, involving a snarky and ambitious federal agent and a group of bad-ass Malaysian terrorists who have targeted the American Heartland. Needless to say, the excrement hits the fan in a big way.
This is a very compelling book that immediately grabs the reader by the throat and then squeezes harder and harder until the climax. It's not a delicate little read; rather it's deliciously dark, nasty, brutal, gory and twisted. Just when you think Smith has reached a line that can't be crossed, he leaps over it and rushes full speed ahead.(Did I mention that the book was really gory?)
Cozy, it's not. But readers who like their crime fiction really, really dark will find that Yellow Medicine is the perfect prescription.
Lafitte was a policeman in Gulfport, Mississippi, but because of his antics in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he was booted off the force. His wife divorced him and took custody of their two kids, but Billy's now ex-brother-in-law, the sheriff of Yellow Medicine County in rural Minnesota, takes pity on Billy and hires him on as a deputy.
One might think that given a second chance and anxious to redeem himself in the eyes of his wife and children, Billy might straighten up and fly right. He chooses not to do so, and once in the frozen tundra, he reverts to the sort of conduct that got him kicked out of Mississippi. For example, he soon corrals the local meth cookers and dealers and, rather than shutting them down, effectively puts them under his thumb.
He also falls hard for a young girl named Drew, the lead singer of a local psychobilly band called Elvis Antichrist. Lafitte basically coerces Drew into having sex with him once but then falls hard for the girl and can't bring himself to force himself on her again; he'll only have her if she genuinely wants him.
That's not likely, since Drew is madly in love with a guy who's even a bigger loser than Lafitte. The love of her life is a small-time meth dealer and when he gets into trouble, Drew asks Billy to help the kid out. Billy agrees to do so in his own inimitable way and soon finds that he's stepped into a hornets' nest that seems to grow bigger by the moment, involving a snarky and ambitious federal agent and a group of bad-ass Malaysian terrorists who have targeted the American Heartland. Needless to say, the excrement hits the fan in a big way.
This is a very compelling book that immediately grabs the reader by the throat and then squeezes harder and harder until the climax. It's not a delicate little read; rather it's deliciously dark, nasty, brutal, gory and twisted. Just when you think Smith has reached a line that can't be crossed, he leaps over it and rushes full speed ahead.(Did I mention that the book was really gory?)
Cozy, it's not. But readers who like their crime fiction really, really dark will find that Yellow Medicine is the perfect prescription.
March 31, 2015
I liked Psychosomatic quite a bit so I figured I'd try reading more ANS.
Yellow Medicine is just not where it's at, however. I could get into the story. I had no problem following the plot. And Smith writes excellent action and graphic but intense violence. Hell, I don't even mind violence.
I just can't stand Billy Lafitte. At all. I don't mind my "not very good" heroes by any means, in fact, I tend to skew towards the antis, but Billy is just a prick. That's it. And most of the people around him are dumb as hell for wanting anything to do with him.
I definitely don't.
I won't give up on Anthony Neil Smith by any means (guy's a great writer), I'm just not gonna bother with Billy anymore.
Yellow Medicine is just not where it's at, however. I could get into the story. I had no problem following the plot. And Smith writes excellent action and graphic but intense violence. Hell, I don't even mind violence.
I just can't stand Billy Lafitte. At all. I don't mind my "not very good" heroes by any means, in fact, I tend to skew towards the antis, but Billy is just a prick. That's it. And most of the people around him are dumb as hell for wanting anything to do with him.
I definitely don't.
I won't give up on Anthony Neil Smith by any means (guy's a great writer), I'm just not gonna bother with Billy anymore.
December 22, 2011
Billy Lafitte is a bad man. Flawed, self-destructive, corrupt, larcenous, mean. Yes, Billy Lafitte is a very bad man. However, in flawless genre form, Lafitte is also loyal and he gets the job done and he's the perfect noir hero. What is a noir hero? Here:
“The noir hero is a knight in blood caked armor. He's dirty and he does his best to deny the fact that he's a hero the whole time.” - Frank Miller
First things first. If you’re going to get into the ring with Anthony Neil Smith, know going in that he’s going to hit you and he’s going to hit you hard and short of putting the book down, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. So if you’re looking for noir that knocks you around for a couple of hundred pages then stop reading this and buy the book.
Yellow Medicine has a complex, intricate and nuanced plot and I don’t feel I can review it without giving too much of that plot away and I think doing that would spoil the fun. So in short, Billy Lafitte is a deputy in Yellow Medicine, Minnesota. Unhappy in the north, he’s pretty much up against the wall. He needed a break after losing his wife, family and job in Gulfport, Mississippi and when his ex brother-in-law offered the deputy job in Minnesota, he relocated and took the job with the hope of making a new start. Of course, this is noir and things don’t turn out as planned. I apologize for the understatement; things really don’t turn out as planned. I apologize again; this isn’t noir, this is classic noir, and you’re going to have go a ways to find anything as good as this being written today. And that’s the truth.
The truth according to Deputy Lafitte? “The truth is only as real as what you see in front of you, and here it is: truth waivers. The only constant is change. Even in faith – people want what they want and believe they can have it in spite of what their faith tells them. So they either justify what they want or change their faith to fit in.”
“The noir hero is a knight in blood caked armor. He's dirty and he does his best to deny the fact that he's a hero the whole time.” - Frank Miller
First things first. If you’re going to get into the ring with Anthony Neil Smith, know going in that he’s going to hit you and he’s going to hit you hard and short of putting the book down, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. So if you’re looking for noir that knocks you around for a couple of hundred pages then stop reading this and buy the book.
Yellow Medicine has a complex, intricate and nuanced plot and I don’t feel I can review it without giving too much of that plot away and I think doing that would spoil the fun. So in short, Billy Lafitte is a deputy in Yellow Medicine, Minnesota. Unhappy in the north, he’s pretty much up against the wall. He needed a break after losing his wife, family and job in Gulfport, Mississippi and when his ex brother-in-law offered the deputy job in Minnesota, he relocated and took the job with the hope of making a new start. Of course, this is noir and things don’t turn out as planned. I apologize for the understatement; things really don’t turn out as planned. I apologize again; this isn’t noir, this is classic noir, and you’re going to have go a ways to find anything as good as this being written today. And that’s the truth.
The truth according to Deputy Lafitte? “The truth is only as real as what you see in front of you, and here it is: truth waivers. The only constant is change. Even in faith – people want what they want and believe they can have it in spite of what their faith tells them. So they either justify what they want or change their faith to fit in.”
June 26, 2012
Psychobilly band member Drew is the catalyst for carnage that kicks starts the violent course of events portrayed in ‘Yellow Medicine’. After enlisting the services of sometime lover/favour-taker Lafitte to look into the brutal branding of her boyfriend by some harden underworld types, Drew’s’ world rains down all kinds of hell with Lafitte, himself the storm bringer.
A classic bad cop in a small town, Billy Lafitte has all the makings of a pulp culture hero – from his abuse of power, handlebar mo’ and general bada$$ demeanour the to romper-stomper info gathering techniques he employs. All good stuff. Anthony Neil Smith establishes Lafitte early as a hard nosed, no-holds-bared, no women-is-off-limits character only to have him soften a little as the story progresses. While good for Lafitte’s character development, I personally would’ve liked to have seen more of the hardened edge as indicated through the glimpses of his back-story.
A chief complaint of mine of ‘Yellow Medicine’ is that the plot felt a little too large for the characters, with what appeared a Gischler-like ‘Deputy’ localised crime novel turning international terrorism. If the boundaries were confined I can’t help but this novel would’ve been great. The follow-up, ‘Hogdoggin’ seems like my kind of thing where the focus turns towards good old fashion vengeance. As for ‘Yellow Medicine’ it was pretty good, just slightly different from what I was hoping – 3 stars.
A classic bad cop in a small town, Billy Lafitte has all the makings of a pulp culture hero – from his abuse of power, handlebar mo’ and general bada$$ demeanour the to romper-stomper info gathering techniques he employs. All good stuff. Anthony Neil Smith establishes Lafitte early as a hard nosed, no-holds-bared, no women-is-off-limits character only to have him soften a little as the story progresses. While good for Lafitte’s character development, I personally would’ve liked to have seen more of the hardened edge as indicated through the glimpses of his back-story.
A chief complaint of mine of ‘Yellow Medicine’ is that the plot felt a little too large for the characters, with what appeared a Gischler-like ‘Deputy’ localised crime novel turning international terrorism. If the boundaries were confined I can’t help but this novel would’ve been great. The follow-up, ‘Hogdoggin’ seems like my kind of thing where the focus turns towards good old fashion vengeance. As for ‘Yellow Medicine’ it was pretty good, just slightly different from what I was hoping – 3 stars.
April 30, 2012
The best part about this book is the main character, who's a bad guy in the way that you wouldn't see in a book that wasn't self-published. Think Bad Lieutenant. The worst part about it is the rest of it. I liked the fact that it tried to draw a connection between Hurricane Katrina, drugs, the War on Terror and hot chicks in rock bands, the four things that are on my mind on a regular basis, but I didn't find the story to be at all believable. It seemed like the guy was just making it up as he went along. But maybe that was the point? The cover does look kinda silly. Feel free to add a star if you have a lot of free time and you just want to read something that's violent.
April 5, 2023
Noir writing at its finest. A despicable antihero protagonist whose exploits you just keep turning the page for. An unexpected setting (Minnesota) for crime fiction. A fast-moving plot. Highly recommended for fans of original, unorthodox noir.
April 27, 2019
Si tu aimes les flic élégant et propres sur eux, style le commissaire Swan Laurence, alors tu risques de t'étrangler devant le shérif Billy Lafitte, véritable flic bad ass et borderline.
Cet homme aime rendre service et personne ne se rend compte des choses bien qu'il a accompli après l'ouragan Katarina.
Bon, il a touché de l'argent, mais tout travail mérite salaire, non ? Et puis, il aidait les pauvres gens qui seraient passés en tout dernier sur les listes d'aide.
Charité n'est pas récompensée puisque le voilà muté dans le trou du cul du Minnesota et de nouveau, en voulant aider, il se retrouve avec un tas d'emmerdes au cul. Une diarrhée d'emmerdes, carrément et une chiée de cadavres…
Billy Lafitte est un flic qui a de l'humour, cynique, une sorte de Dead Pool sans le costume (et avec moins d'humour) qui se retrouverait pris dans un engrenage dont il n'a pas le contrôle et où tout le désigne comme le seul coupable.
On a du rythme, de l'action, des cadavres sous tous les dessous de lit, des vilains méchants vraiment pas beaux et très cons, comme les flics, d'ailleurs, mais on manque cruellement d'idées novatrices et de peps qui donnerait envie de rester concentré dans l'histoire ou lieu de regarder la moindre mouche qui passe.
Si le quatrième de couverture faisait allusion à Jim Thompson et James Crumley, c'était sans doute une erreur de leur part, car nous sommes loin d'un flamboyant Nick Corey, d'un Lou Ford et même d'un Milo Milodragovitch et d'un C.W. Sughrue.
Ok, c'est un récit bien burné, avec un héros pas toujours très finaud, le genre qui défonce tout puis réfléchi ensuite, un grand stratège de mon cul, bref, le genre de gars qui a tendance à tout faire foirer et à s'entêter au-delà du raisonnable.
Assurément, un personnage qui sort des sentiers battus mais le scénario, lui, il avait des airs éculés et ne m'a pas emballé plus que ça.
Un roman noir burné, un personnage déjanté, hors-norme, des méchants limite trépanés mentaux, un scénario un peu bancal et une envie d'arriver au bout pour passer à autre chose.
On est bien en-deçà de ce que j'espérais pour ce roman au vu des bonnes critiques lues et de son pitch qui m'avait fait baver à l'avance. Comme quoi, les retours et les impressions littéraires sont personnels à chaque lecteur/trice.
Pas dit que je poursuivrai les aventures de Billy Lafitte dans le tome suivant.
Cet homme aime rendre service et personne ne se rend compte des choses bien qu'il a accompli après l'ouragan Katarina.
Bon, il a touché de l'argent, mais tout travail mérite salaire, non ? Et puis, il aidait les pauvres gens qui seraient passés en tout dernier sur les listes d'aide.
Charité n'est pas récompensée puisque le voilà muté dans le trou du cul du Minnesota et de nouveau, en voulant aider, il se retrouve avec un tas d'emmerdes au cul. Une diarrhée d'emmerdes, carrément et une chiée de cadavres…
Billy Lafitte est un flic qui a de l'humour, cynique, une sorte de Dead Pool sans le costume (et avec moins d'humour) qui se retrouverait pris dans un engrenage dont il n'a pas le contrôle et où tout le désigne comme le seul coupable.
On a du rythme, de l'action, des cadavres sous tous les dessous de lit, des vilains méchants vraiment pas beaux et très cons, comme les flics, d'ailleurs, mais on manque cruellement d'idées novatrices et de peps qui donnerait envie de rester concentré dans l'histoire ou lieu de regarder la moindre mouche qui passe.
Si le quatrième de couverture faisait allusion à Jim Thompson et James Crumley, c'était sans doute une erreur de leur part, car nous sommes loin d'un flamboyant Nick Corey, d'un Lou Ford et même d'un Milo Milodragovitch et d'un C.W. Sughrue.
Ok, c'est un récit bien burné, avec un héros pas toujours très finaud, le genre qui défonce tout puis réfléchi ensuite, un grand stratège de mon cul, bref, le genre de gars qui a tendance à tout faire foirer et à s'entêter au-delà du raisonnable.
Assurément, un personnage qui sort des sentiers battus mais le scénario, lui, il avait des airs éculés et ne m'a pas emballé plus que ça.
Un roman noir burné, un personnage déjanté, hors-norme, des méchants limite trépanés mentaux, un scénario un peu bancal et une envie d'arriver au bout pour passer à autre chose.
On est bien en-deçà de ce que j'espérais pour ce roman au vu des bonnes critiques lues et de son pitch qui m'avait fait baver à l'avance. Comme quoi, les retours et les impressions littéraires sont personnels à chaque lecteur/trice.
Pas dit que je poursuivrai les aventures de Billy Lafitte dans le tome suivant.
March 4, 2025
Anche qui 4 molto più che abbondanti...
Billy è un poliziotto corrotto, scorretto, violento, amorale, e così via, ma ha anche un suo codice di lealtà, e quando la ragazzina con cui ha una storia lo tira dentro a una brutta storia di droga, i morti cominciano a piovere come se non ci fosse un domani.. e tutto sembra avere al centro lui.. dalle metanfetamine al terrorismo il passo è breve, e tutto esplode letteralmente in un immane casino, e aldilà del messaggio politico molto americano che ci può essere dietro e che sinceramente non mi interessa, diventa un soggetto da film Hollywooddiano senza perdere il tono noir.. e Billy, tra sbagli continui, diverte, intrattiene e spacca di tutto.. Ottimo libro!!!
Billy è un poliziotto corrotto, scorretto, violento, amorale, e così via, ma ha anche un suo codice di lealtà, e quando la ragazzina con cui ha una storia lo tira dentro a una brutta storia di droga, i morti cominciano a piovere come se non ci fosse un domani.. e tutto sembra avere al centro lui.. dalle metanfetamine al terrorismo il passo è breve, e tutto esplode letteralmente in un immane casino, e aldilà del messaggio politico molto americano che ci può essere dietro e che sinceramente non mi interessa, diventa un soggetto da film Hollywooddiano senza perdere il tono noir.. e Billy, tra sbagli continui, diverte, intrattiene e spacca di tutto.. Ottimo libro!!!
May 17, 2012
If you ever wondered what noir fiction was, you’ll find the definition in Anthony Neil Smith’s e-/paperback-book, Yellow Medicine. Start with the protagonist. Deputy sheriff Billy Lafitte is not just flawed. He’s a doofus. Impulsive. Doesn’t think ahead. When he’s intent on bonking someone, he usually fails to check behind him to see if someone else is about to bonk him. All this costs people injury, money, even lives. Still, you root for him. Why, I’m not sure. Maybe because always trying somehow to do the right thing even though he goes about it in every possible wrong--legal or illegal--way imaginable.
The action centers around some terrorists who are moving in on the meth trade in rural Minnesota. Lafitte considers both the geography and the drug traffic his territory. He’s got paid informants inside the labs, tries to keep things under control even if he roams outside of what’s strictly legal to do so. He’s had the same kind of history in his previous law-enforcement gig on Gulf Coast. He crossed a few too many lines during Katrina, taking payoffs from the rich and delivering them to the poor. Even blowing away a nasty guy in the process. All this costs him wife, kids, job. He gets a second chance via a brother-in-law sheriff in Minnesota and he ‘s doing his best to make the best of it. Trouble is, his best isn’t so hot.
Instead of teaming up to take the terrorists out (He doesn’t know they’re Al Quaeda at first.) He tries to take care of everything in his characteristically improvisational and lame-brained manner. Add to this the fact that he has a penchant for jumping the bones of every female he can--whether they’re witnesses or criminals or whatever--and you have a bundle of dangerous messes. Add to that a vengeful FBI guy who is convinced that Billy is not just a bungler but a terrorist himself, and you have witch’s brew. There’s so much violence and blood--beheadings, burnings, dismemberments (by the terrorists as well as by Billy)--and grotesque sex that “noir” doesn’t begin to describe how dark the tale gets. Not quite a horror story, but close.
I’m not sure I can say I liked Yellow Medicine, but I was fascinated throughout. And Smith’s flashback techniques are masterful, which is one of the main reasons Les Edgerton recommended it to me and that aspect paid off because I used some of them them as a model in my rewrite of my Second Vendetta (I’ll let you know when you can look for it on Kindle, etc.) Not only that, I just started reading the Yellow Medicine sequel--Hotdoggin’. Poor Billy Lafitte. But this time, I have a feeling that vengeful FBI guy is going to get his, and it’s going to be oh, so ugly.
The action centers around some terrorists who are moving in on the meth trade in rural Minnesota. Lafitte considers both the geography and the drug traffic his territory. He’s got paid informants inside the labs, tries to keep things under control even if he roams outside of what’s strictly legal to do so. He’s had the same kind of history in his previous law-enforcement gig on Gulf Coast. He crossed a few too many lines during Katrina, taking payoffs from the rich and delivering them to the poor. Even blowing away a nasty guy in the process. All this costs him wife, kids, job. He gets a second chance via a brother-in-law sheriff in Minnesota and he ‘s doing his best to make the best of it. Trouble is, his best isn’t so hot.
Instead of teaming up to take the terrorists out (He doesn’t know they’re Al Quaeda at first.) He tries to take care of everything in his characteristically improvisational and lame-brained manner. Add to this the fact that he has a penchant for jumping the bones of every female he can--whether they’re witnesses or criminals or whatever--and you have a bundle of dangerous messes. Add to that a vengeful FBI guy who is convinced that Billy is not just a bungler but a terrorist himself, and you have witch’s brew. There’s so much violence and blood--beheadings, burnings, dismemberments (by the terrorists as well as by Billy)--and grotesque sex that “noir” doesn’t begin to describe how dark the tale gets. Not quite a horror story, but close.
I’m not sure I can say I liked Yellow Medicine, but I was fascinated throughout. And Smith’s flashback techniques are masterful, which is one of the main reasons Les Edgerton recommended it to me and that aspect paid off because I used some of them them as a model in my rewrite of my Second Vendetta (I’ll let you know when you can look for it on Kindle, etc.) Not only that, I just started reading the Yellow Medicine sequel--Hotdoggin’. Poor Billy Lafitte. But this time, I have a feeling that vengeful FBI guy is going to get his, and it’s going to be oh, so ugly.
April 30, 2013
Some say noir is just a story with no heroes. If that's the case, then Yellow Medicine is most definitely noir, because its protagonist, Billy LaFitte, is a far cry from a hero.
LaFitte is a man of the law, but he's never let that get in the way of doing the right thing. After leaving New Orleans in disgrace, losing his job, his wife and son, and all general faith in mankind, he winds up working for his ex-wife's brother who is a sheriff in a Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota. It's a dull, dreary existence with only the occasional meth head to exploit for protection money, local drunks to take his frustrations out on, and a pretty psychobilly chick to pine over on those cold, lonely nights.
Things might have gone sour for him eventually, but it becomes a near certainty when Drew, that pretty psychobilly chick, shows up at his door pleading for help. Her boyfriend is missing and she's worried he's gotten into trouble with local drug dealers. A thorn in Lafitte's side, but it's nothing he can't handle, and it might score points with Drew. But when he finally finds the lowlife, Lafitte finds himself up against a group of hombres he would never have anticipated, and now that he's on their radar, it's his life that's on the line.
Look, if you thought the Coen Brothers' film, Fargo, cast a grim portrait of the tundra-esque landscape of mid-north America, that movie looks downright Rockwellian compared to the tale Anthony Neil Smith has cooked up. Never mind that Billy Lafitte is from "away," because there are plenty of unsavory characters to be seen that were born and raised in Yellow Medicine. Still, they don't hold a candle to the remorseless sorts that have a bulls-eye on Lafitte's chest. He's not that likable a character, but he winds up being everyone's best shot at catching the bad guys--at least when he's not sabotaging his own efforts by letting ego and greed get in the way.
Drugs, murder, and all round mayhem all with a Minnesota backdrop make Yellow Medicine one of the best times I've had reading about bad people. And wouldn't you know it's the first in a trio of books, the next of which, Hogdoggin', I already have on my to-be-read pile.
LaFitte is a man of the law, but he's never let that get in the way of doing the right thing. After leaving New Orleans in disgrace, losing his job, his wife and son, and all general faith in mankind, he winds up working for his ex-wife's brother who is a sheriff in a Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota. It's a dull, dreary existence with only the occasional meth head to exploit for protection money, local drunks to take his frustrations out on, and a pretty psychobilly chick to pine over on those cold, lonely nights.
Things might have gone sour for him eventually, but it becomes a near certainty when Drew, that pretty psychobilly chick, shows up at his door pleading for help. Her boyfriend is missing and she's worried he's gotten into trouble with local drug dealers. A thorn in Lafitte's side, but it's nothing he can't handle, and it might score points with Drew. But when he finally finds the lowlife, Lafitte finds himself up against a group of hombres he would never have anticipated, and now that he's on their radar, it's his life that's on the line.
Look, if you thought the Coen Brothers' film, Fargo, cast a grim portrait of the tundra-esque landscape of mid-north America, that movie looks downright Rockwellian compared to the tale Anthony Neil Smith has cooked up. Never mind that Billy Lafitte is from "away," because there are plenty of unsavory characters to be seen that were born and raised in Yellow Medicine. Still, they don't hold a candle to the remorseless sorts that have a bulls-eye on Lafitte's chest. He's not that likable a character, but he winds up being everyone's best shot at catching the bad guys--at least when he's not sabotaging his own efforts by letting ego and greed get in the way.
Drugs, murder, and all round mayhem all with a Minnesota backdrop make Yellow Medicine one of the best times I've had reading about bad people. And wouldn't you know it's the first in a trio of books, the next of which, Hogdoggin', I already have on my to-be-read pile.
September 14, 2015
Billy Lafitte figured out at an early age that the best way to bend the law was to be the law. This book – the first in a trilogy – kicks off like it’s a plain and simple of story of brutally bad backwoods America, where every shed hosts a meth-lab and every corrupt lawman demands his dues.
But then the narrative escalates into something much bigger. There’s a coherent, carefully crafted plot driving the action. There’s more than money motivating the stone-cold killers who’ve rolled into town and are making bloody examples out of the local lowlives.
At the centre of it all is Billy, already a two-time loser. On his last chance with a law enforcement badge. An adrenalin junkie with a penchant for making exactly the wrong call at the vital moment. And an intriguing character; not a cardboard cut-out, not a two-dimensional hillbilly bad-boy, but a convincing person motivated not just by greed and lust (although they sure play a part)
Yellow Medicine brings something of Louisiana’s laid-back lawlessness to the chilly, big-sky snows drifts of Minnesota, and the squeaky-clean college town of Ann Arbor. It’s less gruesomely explicit than some recent ‘country noir’. Although the pace is driven relentlessly by a succession of escalating violent encounters, it has more the feel of a mature thriller than a hack-n-slash horror crossover.
At its core, Yellow Medicine peels apart some of the most important issues in contemporary politics and Billy himself provides a conduit to examine American motives and actions on the worldwide stage of religious conflict. Author Neil Smith flings his net wide, using what a first sight appears to be a ‘simple’ crime novel to say in public some of those troubling thoughts which usually only get discussed in private.
And he tells a ripping yarn, too.
8/10
But then the narrative escalates into something much bigger. There’s a coherent, carefully crafted plot driving the action. There’s more than money motivating the stone-cold killers who’ve rolled into town and are making bloody examples out of the local lowlives.
At the centre of it all is Billy, already a two-time loser. On his last chance with a law enforcement badge. An adrenalin junkie with a penchant for making exactly the wrong call at the vital moment. And an intriguing character; not a cardboard cut-out, not a two-dimensional hillbilly bad-boy, but a convincing person motivated not just by greed and lust (although they sure play a part)
Yellow Medicine brings something of Louisiana’s laid-back lawlessness to the chilly, big-sky snows drifts of Minnesota, and the squeaky-clean college town of Ann Arbor. It’s less gruesomely explicit than some recent ‘country noir’. Although the pace is driven relentlessly by a succession of escalating violent encounters, it has more the feel of a mature thriller than a hack-n-slash horror crossover.
At its core, Yellow Medicine peels apart some of the most important issues in contemporary politics and Billy himself provides a conduit to examine American motives and actions on the worldwide stage of religious conflict. Author Neil Smith flings his net wide, using what a first sight appears to be a ‘simple’ crime novel to say in public some of those troubling thoughts which usually only get discussed in private.
And he tells a ripping yarn, too.
8/10
December 25, 2008
A raw hard mystery. The main character is a sheriff Lafitte, an aptly named pirate, from down Katrina way who in order to help people during the aftermath engaged in various corrupt acts with his partner Paul Asimov. Divorced from his wife he now makes a living in Minnesota working for his wife's brother, but also is back to working the angles. That is muscling in on the meth lab guys, running protection racket and generally being a corrupt cop. He is asked by a girl he helped out and took sex in payment to look after her boyfriend who got involved, she thinks with wrong crowd-- turns out Ian, the boyfriend, has had a run in with terrorists who are really after Lafitte who they think can score them meth money to finance their terrorism. Throw in an undercover cop and enough murders and dastardly deeds you get a hard boiled cop and murderous scum book that doesnt let up. But no one is likeable either and thats a problem in this short -- 260 page noir.
You got to like an author, however, who keeps it real.
You got to like an author, however, who keeps it real.
August 6, 2009
A solid first half that gets away from itself somewhere in the middle, where it makes the turn from THE KILLER INSIDE ME to an episode of 24. In an effort to maintain its pace, it sometimes throws procedure and logic aside.
I found myself often wondering why the characters were doing what they did. It was usually to get them in more trouble, but that felt forced (it made the events to the author's advantage, not the character's).
Some good moments and some confident writing, but a little loose.
I found myself often wondering why the characters were doing what they did. It was usually to get them in more trouble, but that felt forced (it made the events to the author's advantage, not the character's).
Some good moments and some confident writing, but a little loose.
December 18, 2015
I'd give it 3.5 stars so I'm rounding up here. A violent blast of noir that loses some steam about three quarters of the way through. The protagonist is a little too far on the unlikable side and a little too dumb to completely get behind which can be a killer for this type of book. The writing is pretty good and it has some great set pieces but overall it was slightly underwhelming.
February 1, 2016
My first book by this author. Very intense storyline. Great narratives. Thriller it truly is. The main character, Billy, is complicated to understand in any form of a "hero" role. The storyline is unsettling but only because it has some truth possibilities. I did read to the end and would recommend if you really enjoy thrillers!
April 29, 2014
Review to follow...
August 26, 2023
I gave this book 4.5 stars
A friend of mine, Mitchell, asked me to read this book, and so I found it on Kindle Unlimited and began reading!
This is book one of the Billy Lafitte trilogy.
This is a little rougher type book than I usually read, but I know for a fact that my husband and a lot of the male patrons at Muleshoe Area Public Library would like this book.
Craig Johnson, the author of the Longmire series wrote the Introduction to this book, that says something right there!
This book was action packed, you got a surprise with almost every page you turned. It only took me a couple of days to get this one read!
If you enjoyed James Patterson’s Alex Cross series, if you liked the movie Charlie Sheen was in called “Beyond the Law” or Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, I think you will like this series also.
Thank you, Mitchell for suggesting this book.
A friend of mine, Mitchell, asked me to read this book, and so I found it on Kindle Unlimited and began reading!
This is book one of the Billy Lafitte trilogy.
This is a little rougher type book than I usually read, but I know for a fact that my husband and a lot of the male patrons at Muleshoe Area Public Library would like this book.
Craig Johnson, the author of the Longmire series wrote the Introduction to this book, that says something right there!
This book was action packed, you got a surprise with almost every page you turned. It only took me a couple of days to get this one read!
If you enjoyed James Patterson’s Alex Cross series, if you liked the movie Charlie Sheen was in called “Beyond the Law” or Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, I think you will like this series also.
Thank you, Mitchell for suggesting this book.
May 31, 2025
Crime noir is not my go-to genre, but, after reading Yellow Medicine, that might change. This bad boy got me hooked on page one and didn't let up until after the very last. Billy Lafitte is a big asshole, no question. Not only that, but he slanders my home state of Minnesota every few pages throughout this novel. Whatever...That didn't change the fact that I loved following the bastard through his narrative. This was a lot of fun - gritty, cold, and bitter, with an ending that makes me grateful to know there are more Billy Lafitte books out there waiting to be read.
Watch out Billy, you bastard, here I come!
Watch out Billy, you bastard, here I come!
April 14, 2023
If you love anti-heroes that are total pieces of shit this is a masterpiece of crime fiction.
July 27, 2008
[Full disclosure: Neil Smith published my first short story. He also owes me a beer. Bet he didn't know that about the beer, did he?]
Deputy Billy LaFitte is trying to start over in rural Minnesota. A former Gulf Coast cop, he was brought down by graft and divorce in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His ex-brother-in-law Graham, the sheriff of Yellow Medicine County, throws him a lifeline, bringing him north.
Not that Billy's found God or learned his lessons. He still shakes down meth dealers for protection and occasionally helps himself to a female suspect if she's willing. But Billy has his friends, too, including psychobilly bass player Drew.
When Drew, a friend with benefits, asks Billy to get his boyfriend out of a jam, he agrees, figuring a night with Drew would be a fair enough exchange. Unfortunately, when Billy chases Ian into hiding to keep him from the bad guys, the bad guys, two Malaysian drug distributors, show themselves, making Billy an offer he has to refuse.
Billy says no. The bodies pile up, and Malaysians make sure the finger is pointed at Billy. If Billy would just come clean, it'd all be over. But Billy's instinct is to cover his ass while trying to clean up the mess. By the time it's all over, Billy finds himself face-to-face with Muslim terrorists (although not very bright ones) and an ambitious rogue federal agent named Rome, for whom Billy's head on a platter is the ticket to a cushy office in Washington.
Smith works best with the morally questionable protagonist, of which Billy LaFitte is the latest. He doesn't shy away from painting him as a bad guy in the beginning, but then just as easily gives us a reason to care. Drew, for instance, is more than an easy night in the sack for Billy. He's in love with her, even if that love isn't returned. Moreover, as the death toll rises, Billy starts seeing himself as Drew's protector.
One interesting aspect of the story the role dogma plays. The terrorists are dogmatic to the point where they will justify anything, even sins of the flesh (One terrorist is caught with a cute blonde girlfriend in Detroit). However, their devotion to the cause has cracks. One character doesn't like his leadership role challenged. Several are shown to be so zealous that they don't think things through.
LaFitte's former in-laws, too, are dogmatic. Flashbacks depict Billy's father-in-law spouting scripture to destroy his marriage. And yet...
As with the homicide detective from Smith's novella with Victor Gischler, TO THE DEVIL, MY REGARDS, we have a man for whom faith and dogma are merely tools to get through life. Graham, Billy's former brother-in-law and his boss, thinks Billy is redeemable, and at some point, Billy starts to believe him. However, over a dozen people are dead by the time he realizes this.
But if there's one person in all this who is truly evil, it's Agent Rome. Rome is a Homeland Security agent who doesn't care if Billy is innocent or not. He has himself a home-grown terrorist, and if he can paint Billy as a collaborator and a traitor, he can write his own ticket.
In the beginning, Rome seems to be an ally, working undercover at a Sioux casino. When he reveals himself, he claims to want to get Billy out of a jam, but soon, all he cares about is running Billy into either witness protection or federal prison. And he's not above anything to do it, including, possibly, murder.
Of all of Smith's novels, YELLOW MEDICINE is the most complex. Like the previous two, he gives us a sharp sense of place, this time cold, damp norther Minnesota. LaFitte is probably his most complex character to date. All in all, probably Smith's best novel yet.
Deputy Billy LaFitte is trying to start over in rural Minnesota. A former Gulf Coast cop, he was brought down by graft and divorce in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His ex-brother-in-law Graham, the sheriff of Yellow Medicine County, throws him a lifeline, bringing him north.
Not that Billy's found God or learned his lessons. He still shakes down meth dealers for protection and occasionally helps himself to a female suspect if she's willing. But Billy has his friends, too, including psychobilly bass player Drew.
When Drew, a friend with benefits, asks Billy to get his boyfriend out of a jam, he agrees, figuring a night with Drew would be a fair enough exchange. Unfortunately, when Billy chases Ian into hiding to keep him from the bad guys, the bad guys, two Malaysian drug distributors, show themselves, making Billy an offer he has to refuse.
Billy says no. The bodies pile up, and Malaysians make sure the finger is pointed at Billy. If Billy would just come clean, it'd all be over. But Billy's instinct is to cover his ass while trying to clean up the mess. By the time it's all over, Billy finds himself face-to-face with Muslim terrorists (although not very bright ones) and an ambitious rogue federal agent named Rome, for whom Billy's head on a platter is the ticket to a cushy office in Washington.
Smith works best with the morally questionable protagonist, of which Billy LaFitte is the latest. He doesn't shy away from painting him as a bad guy in the beginning, but then just as easily gives us a reason to care. Drew, for instance, is more than an easy night in the sack for Billy. He's in love with her, even if that love isn't returned. Moreover, as the death toll rises, Billy starts seeing himself as Drew's protector.
One interesting aspect of the story the role dogma plays. The terrorists are dogmatic to the point where they will justify anything, even sins of the flesh (One terrorist is caught with a cute blonde girlfriend in Detroit). However, their devotion to the cause has cracks. One character doesn't like his leadership role challenged. Several are shown to be so zealous that they don't think things through.
LaFitte's former in-laws, too, are dogmatic. Flashbacks depict Billy's father-in-law spouting scripture to destroy his marriage. And yet...
As with the homicide detective from Smith's novella with Victor Gischler, TO THE DEVIL, MY REGARDS, we have a man for whom faith and dogma are merely tools to get through life. Graham, Billy's former brother-in-law and his boss, thinks Billy is redeemable, and at some point, Billy starts to believe him. However, over a dozen people are dead by the time he realizes this.
But if there's one person in all this who is truly evil, it's Agent Rome. Rome is a Homeland Security agent who doesn't care if Billy is innocent or not. He has himself a home-grown terrorist, and if he can paint Billy as a collaborator and a traitor, he can write his own ticket.
In the beginning, Rome seems to be an ally, working undercover at a Sioux casino. When he reveals himself, he claims to want to get Billy out of a jam, but soon, all he cares about is running Billy into either witness protection or federal prison. And he's not above anything to do it, including, possibly, murder.
Of all of Smith's novels, YELLOW MEDICINE is the most complex. Like the previous two, he gives us a sharp sense of place, this time cold, damp norther Minnesota. LaFitte is probably his most complex character to date. All in all, probably Smith's best novel yet.
Read
October 11, 2011Most people don’t take bribes or go out of their way to abuse their authority. Most people don’t routinely violate their oath of office or take advantage of people who are down. Most people wouldn’t dream of exploiting a natural disaster of historic proportions for their own gain.
Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte.
And thank god for that, because Billy Lafitte is not a nice man. Billy Lafitte is the type of thieving, exploitative, brutal thug people expect the police to protect them from. Good luck with that…Billy Lafitte is a cop.
Lafitte’s antics finally got him kicked off the Gulfport, Mississippi police force when he stooped to exploiting residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, commandeering supplies and charging scalper’s prices for things people needed just to survive. Adding insult to the injury of losing his job, his wife also decided to call it quits, taking their kids and leaving him. Most people would have taken this as a serious wake-up call to get their life in order.
Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte.
So when Lafitte gets a second chance at policing courtesy his ex-brother-in-law, Sheriff of Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota, it isn’t long before Lafitte falls back into his old ways. Bored out of his mind in the remote, rural locale, Lafitte entertains himself by charging meth cookers protection money, bullying the locals, and drinking too much. Not entirely unaware of how pathetic his life has gotten, an occasional round of Russian Roulette often ends Lafitte’s evening.
Things get really interesting, really fast for Lafitte when he’s asked by a female friend for help with her boyfriend. Seems he’s gotten in over his head with some drug dealers, lost some of their product, and fears for his life. Lafitte agrees to look into the matter, and before he knows it he’s up to his ass in decapitated bodies, at odds with his own police department, the target of terrorists looking to start their own little jihād in Minnesota, and square in the cross-hairs of one very mentally unstable federal agent. Most people would breakdown and give up under that kind of pressure.
Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte.
And thank god for that, because Billy Lafitte is one of the most interesting anti-heroes I’ve had the pleasure of reading in quite some time. There’s no question Lafitte is a sleazy bastard, yet as the book progresses it also becomes clear that there’s no question he does have a personal moral code he operates by…it just doesn’t happen to jive with the law more often than not. He may get in bed with drug dealers and take payoffs from them, but he also religiously sends that money to his wife for child support. He may have engaged in despicable acts of opportunism in Gulfport, but he refused to rat out fellow cops when his feet were put to the fire. Yes, in Billy Lafitte author Anthony Neil Smith (aka Doc Noir) has created the ultimate “love to hate him” character.
And in Yellow Medicine Smith gives Lafitte plenty of opportunities to put his personal moral code to the test. Packed tight with action, Lafitte is constantly scrambling to stay one step ahead of the avalanche of hurt threatening to engulf him, having to choose between doing what he knows is right, or what’s right for him. Rarely in the real world are circumstances and decisions clearly black and white, and Anthony Neil Smith has seized upon that uncertainty by painting Yellow Medicine in a thousand glorious shades of grey.
No matter what ails you, I guarantee Yellow Medicine is just what the Doc ordered.
Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte.
And thank god for that, because Billy Lafitte is not a nice man. Billy Lafitte is the type of thieving, exploitative, brutal thug people expect the police to protect them from. Good luck with that…Billy Lafitte is a cop.
Lafitte’s antics finally got him kicked off the Gulfport, Mississippi police force when he stooped to exploiting residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, commandeering supplies and charging scalper’s prices for things people needed just to survive. Adding insult to the injury of losing his job, his wife also decided to call it quits, taking their kids and leaving him. Most people would have taken this as a serious wake-up call to get their life in order.
Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte.
So when Lafitte gets a second chance at policing courtesy his ex-brother-in-law, Sheriff of Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota, it isn’t long before Lafitte falls back into his old ways. Bored out of his mind in the remote, rural locale, Lafitte entertains himself by charging meth cookers protection money, bullying the locals, and drinking too much. Not entirely unaware of how pathetic his life has gotten, an occasional round of Russian Roulette often ends Lafitte’s evening.
Things get really interesting, really fast for Lafitte when he’s asked by a female friend for help with her boyfriend. Seems he’s gotten in over his head with some drug dealers, lost some of their product, and fears for his life. Lafitte agrees to look into the matter, and before he knows it he’s up to his ass in decapitated bodies, at odds with his own police department, the target of terrorists looking to start their own little jihād in Minnesota, and square in the cross-hairs of one very mentally unstable federal agent. Most people would breakdown and give up under that kind of pressure.
Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte.
And thank god for that, because Billy Lafitte is one of the most interesting anti-heroes I’ve had the pleasure of reading in quite some time. There’s no question Lafitte is a sleazy bastard, yet as the book progresses it also becomes clear that there’s no question he does have a personal moral code he operates by…it just doesn’t happen to jive with the law more often than not. He may get in bed with drug dealers and take payoffs from them, but he also religiously sends that money to his wife for child support. He may have engaged in despicable acts of opportunism in Gulfport, but he refused to rat out fellow cops when his feet were put to the fire. Yes, in Billy Lafitte author Anthony Neil Smith (aka Doc Noir) has created the ultimate “love to hate him” character.
And in Yellow Medicine Smith gives Lafitte plenty of opportunities to put his personal moral code to the test. Packed tight with action, Lafitte is constantly scrambling to stay one step ahead of the avalanche of hurt threatening to engulf him, having to choose between doing what he knows is right, or what’s right for him. Rarely in the real world are circumstances and decisions clearly black and white, and Anthony Neil Smith has seized upon that uncertainty by painting Yellow Medicine in a thousand glorious shades of grey.
No matter what ails you, I guarantee Yellow Medicine is just what the Doc ordered.
December 9, 2013
It makes a cool change to follow a protagonist who is an absolute arse, with hardly a redeeming feature to latch to. At least in the early stages of this Anthony Neil Smith novel set in the American Midwest.
We meet Billy Lafitte, a Yellow Medicine copper, fancying the knickers off another man’s girlfriend, Drew, promising to help her boyfriend, Ian, with some drug trouble he’s got himself into, only so he can get in her good books so he can have her to himself. To be fair, he wants her on her terms, rather than just wanting an easy lay, which is what he’s after with just about every other attractive woman in the area.
And so starts Lafitte’s second nightmare. We learn he took backhanders during his previous incarnation as a Mississippi cop during Hurricane Katrina, taking all the advantages he could from that catastrophe. Found out and disgraced he is now in frozen Minnesota, exiled from his wife, kids, and Mississippi warmth, and taking backhanders from meth cooks and dealers. All this while his brother-in-law gives his career a second chance. Only it turns out that Ian is in serious debt to a bunch of Islamist terrorists who use beheadings to get their way. And now they’re furious because Lafitte won’t play ball.
Yellow Medicine is a mad, lurching, somersaulting ride into a dark zone enough to freak you out. The bad guys are so hell-bent on using Lafitte to ease their money-raising activities that they make the protagonist’s actions and personality completely sane in comparison. But Liafitte’s past is so degraded that he worries how everything might look, so hides or doctors the plants (a knife and photographs) they intend to incriminate him with, instead of turning them over to his colleagues. And what he has to hide is a head. It leads to more headless bodies, and a hunt for the bastards who did it all.
The novel is about corruption erupting after national disasters, with Lafitte and his ex-partner falling off the rails after Katrina, and government agents going rogue after 9/11, bending the law and doing whatever they feel is right to either keep the country safe, or to push their own promotion.
Fast-paced and hardly stopping to allow the reader to put the kettle on for a brew, ANS piles on the stakes until you root for bad bastard Lafitte. You can roll your eyes all you want at his space shuttle-sized cock ups, but when he’s up against head-choppers, you want him to win.
For all its entertainment, it’s not flawless. Drew seems insufficiently affected by the deaths around her, and the interactions between her and Lafitte are a little stiff. Lafitte also seems a little unworldly. He whines about why terrorists hate America, and leaves it at that. His brother-in-law says at one point that it is because of people like him. It’s not explored enough, and it would have benefited from it, considering the antagonists would love to blow the US to a pulp.
Still, it doesn’t overly affect what is a cracking piece of entertainment, with a main character you can love to hate.
We meet Billy Lafitte, a Yellow Medicine copper, fancying the knickers off another man’s girlfriend, Drew, promising to help her boyfriend, Ian, with some drug trouble he’s got himself into, only so he can get in her good books so he can have her to himself. To be fair, he wants her on her terms, rather than just wanting an easy lay, which is what he’s after with just about every other attractive woman in the area.
And so starts Lafitte’s second nightmare. We learn he took backhanders during his previous incarnation as a Mississippi cop during Hurricane Katrina, taking all the advantages he could from that catastrophe. Found out and disgraced he is now in frozen Minnesota, exiled from his wife, kids, and Mississippi warmth, and taking backhanders from meth cooks and dealers. All this while his brother-in-law gives his career a second chance. Only it turns out that Ian is in serious debt to a bunch of Islamist terrorists who use beheadings to get their way. And now they’re furious because Lafitte won’t play ball.
Yellow Medicine is a mad, lurching, somersaulting ride into a dark zone enough to freak you out. The bad guys are so hell-bent on using Lafitte to ease their money-raising activities that they make the protagonist’s actions and personality completely sane in comparison. But Liafitte’s past is so degraded that he worries how everything might look, so hides or doctors the plants (a knife and photographs) they intend to incriminate him with, instead of turning them over to his colleagues. And what he has to hide is a head. It leads to more headless bodies, and a hunt for the bastards who did it all.
The novel is about corruption erupting after national disasters, with Lafitte and his ex-partner falling off the rails after Katrina, and government agents going rogue after 9/11, bending the law and doing whatever they feel is right to either keep the country safe, or to push their own promotion.
Fast-paced and hardly stopping to allow the reader to put the kettle on for a brew, ANS piles on the stakes until you root for bad bastard Lafitte. You can roll your eyes all you want at his space shuttle-sized cock ups, but when he’s up against head-choppers, you want him to win.
For all its entertainment, it’s not flawless. Drew seems insufficiently affected by the deaths around her, and the interactions between her and Lafitte are a little stiff. Lafitte also seems a little unworldly. He whines about why terrorists hate America, and leaves it at that. His brother-in-law says at one point that it is because of people like him. It’s not explored enough, and it would have benefited from it, considering the antagonists would love to blow the US to a pulp.
Still, it doesn’t overly affect what is a cracking piece of entertainment, with a main character you can love to hate.
May 12, 2011
In Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith, we find Deputy Billy Lafitte starting a new life in Minnesota after Hurricane Katrina left him not only homeless, but without a family and a job when he decided to take advantage of other victims in the area by securing fees in exchange for his Good Samaritan-like behavior.
Even with the second chance provided to him by his brother-in-law, Deputy Lafitte manages to take kick-backs from the meth dealers that have set up shop throughout Yellow Medicine County, and finds himself in serious trouble when the past that he was supposed to be leaving behind in the South catches up with him in the Minnesota backwoods.
When one of the local kids, Ian, gets into trouble and goes into hiding from a group of outsiders that are wanting to move into their territory, Deputy Lafitte is asked by Ian's girlfriend, Dawn, to help out. From there things go from bad to really, really bad in a matter of minutes when Ian goes missing and the severed head of a blond beauty is found at one of Ian's hideouts. After refusing a bribe from the group, it doesn't take long for Deputy Lafitte to realize that the new locals are more than just dealers looking for easy money, but are a group of terrorists wanting a quiet place to start their operation.
Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith, takes you on a wild ride of corruption and crime with a protagonist more than capable of finding his way in and out of the mess. Deputy Billy Lafitte, although despicable and unethical, not to mention sleazy, is an amazing character in that he still manages to garner sympathy from the reader. His skills from his early days during Hurricane Katrina has actually helped him prepare and even possibly win a fight against a ruthless group of terrorists. Not only is he quick to respond to each situation, he seems to have a clever ability to convince others to break the rules right along with him... seriously, there is no shortage of solutions for this one-man team fighting terrorist extremists. You might not like Deputy Lafitte most of the time, but you will learn to appreciate his character because he leads you to believe that he only cares about himself and that he's willing to do whatever he can to get what he wants, but towards the end of the book... well, the guy actually has a heart. And believe it or not, there really is a good explanation for dismembering, burning and scattering the remains of his friend.
Yellow Medicine is the third book I have read this year written by Anthony Neil Smith, and just like the others, Yellow Medicine does not disappoint. Well written and highly-entertaining, the plot moves quickly and never loses its pace. Anthony Neil Smith used the words "bat shit crazy" the other night on Twitter in reference to this book and I thought it was a great description. Yellow Medicine is definitely "bat shit crazy" in the best way "bat shit crazy" can be. It's a must have for any fan of the noir / crime genre.
Even with the second chance provided to him by his brother-in-law, Deputy Lafitte manages to take kick-backs from the meth dealers that have set up shop throughout Yellow Medicine County, and finds himself in serious trouble when the past that he was supposed to be leaving behind in the South catches up with him in the Minnesota backwoods.
When one of the local kids, Ian, gets into trouble and goes into hiding from a group of outsiders that are wanting to move into their territory, Deputy Lafitte is asked by Ian's girlfriend, Dawn, to help out. From there things go from bad to really, really bad in a matter of minutes when Ian goes missing and the severed head of a blond beauty is found at one of Ian's hideouts. After refusing a bribe from the group, it doesn't take long for Deputy Lafitte to realize that the new locals are more than just dealers looking for easy money, but are a group of terrorists wanting a quiet place to start their operation.
Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith, takes you on a wild ride of corruption and crime with a protagonist more than capable of finding his way in and out of the mess. Deputy Billy Lafitte, although despicable and unethical, not to mention sleazy, is an amazing character in that he still manages to garner sympathy from the reader. His skills from his early days during Hurricane Katrina has actually helped him prepare and even possibly win a fight against a ruthless group of terrorists. Not only is he quick to respond to each situation, he seems to have a clever ability to convince others to break the rules right along with him... seriously, there is no shortage of solutions for this one-man team fighting terrorist extremists. You might not like Deputy Lafitte most of the time, but you will learn to appreciate his character because he leads you to believe that he only cares about himself and that he's willing to do whatever he can to get what he wants, but towards the end of the book... well, the guy actually has a heart. And believe it or not, there really is a good explanation for dismembering, burning and scattering the remains of his friend.
Yellow Medicine is the third book I have read this year written by Anthony Neil Smith, and just like the others, Yellow Medicine does not disappoint. Well written and highly-entertaining, the plot moves quickly and never loses its pace. Anthony Neil Smith used the words "bat shit crazy" the other night on Twitter in reference to this book and I thought it was a great description. Yellow Medicine is definitely "bat shit crazy" in the best way "bat shit crazy" can be. It's a must have for any fan of the noir / crime genre.
March 28, 2019
Anthony Neil Smith ne fait pas dans la demi-mesure, son texte est noir et tranchant, sans concessions, il n’épargne pas le lecteur.
Nous nous retrouvons dans un paysage désolé, froid, misérable, auprès d’un flic borderline sur le règlement, limite antipathique, viré de son ancien poste, muté sous les ordres de son ex beau-frère. Lafitte est disons le clairement incontrôlable, il badine avec tout ce qui bouge et n’aime pas vraiment être embêté par son prochain, n’hésite pas à passer des marchés avec des dealers de meth ou des truands. Une chose ne peut lui être reproché, il est loyal envers les gens qu’il aime.
L’écriture est sombre et belle à la fois, on aime à trainer dans ces pages pour ressentir l’émotion qui en ressort malgré sa noirceur, à la manière d’un roman de Michael Farris Smith par exemple. Attention aux âmes sensibles tout de même, c’est ultra violent par moment.
J’ai vraiment hâte que la suite « Bête noire » sorte en septembre prochain afin de continuer à suivre cette histoire et replonger dans l’ambiance si particulière qu’Anthony Neil Smith nous décrit.
Sur le blog :
https://unbouquinsinonrien.blogspot.c...
Nous nous retrouvons dans un paysage désolé, froid, misérable, auprès d’un flic borderline sur le règlement, limite antipathique, viré de son ancien poste, muté sous les ordres de son ex beau-frère. Lafitte est disons le clairement incontrôlable, il badine avec tout ce qui bouge et n’aime pas vraiment être embêté par son prochain, n’hésite pas à passer des marchés avec des dealers de meth ou des truands. Une chose ne peut lui être reproché, il est loyal envers les gens qu’il aime.
L’écriture est sombre et belle à la fois, on aime à trainer dans ces pages pour ressentir l’émotion qui en ressort malgré sa noirceur, à la manière d’un roman de Michael Farris Smith par exemple. Attention aux âmes sensibles tout de même, c’est ultra violent par moment.
J’ai vraiment hâte que la suite « Bête noire » sorte en septembre prochain afin de continuer à suivre cette histoire et replonger dans l’ambiance si particulière qu’Anthony Neil Smith nous décrit.
Sur le blog :
https://unbouquinsinonrien.blogspot.c...
July 26, 2012
I am starting to wonder if Anthony Neil Smith is capable of writing a bad novel. This is the third one I have read by him and all are first-rate. It doesn’t surprise me at all he teaches creative writing. I hope his students are soaking up his talent.
Yellow Medicine (the title refers to the name of the town in Minnesota where most of the action takes place) is narrated by Deputy Billy Lafitte. He’s a broken-down deputy in a frost bitten county. Removed from the police force in New Orleans for corruption, he only has the job because his ex-brother-in-law wanted to help. Lafitte is a man with a bad moral compass: he likes to bend the rules. But he knows how far he can go.
Unfortunately he and his shift partner bent the rules so far in New Orleans they broke. Lafitte felt he had to do something with Hurricane Katrina hitting land and if he took a few tips from grateful citizens, so what? The investigators saw it differently and he was out of a job, wife, and family. The position in Minnesota was his only way out and he took it.
At the beginning of the novel we learn the deputy has been taking pay-offs from the local meth cookers. He justifies it as a way of keeping things under control. What other jobs that pay decently do these locals have? But he’s always close to the edge: Lafitte threatens a drunk doctor with his gun when the sauced MD makes derogatory remarks about the deputy’s ex-wife.
The plot shifts in fourth gear when a local “psychobilly” singer named Drew asks the deputy to see if he can do something about her boyfriend Ian. Ian has been selling drugs to the wrong people and got his ass branded as a result. Lafitte doesn’t think it’ll involve too much and he has an interest in the girl himself. But he soon discovers Ian’s thug problem is out of control: he’s been dealing with foreign terrorists who want to take over the local meth trade.
This isn’t the deputy from The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. Lafitte may have a busted center, but he knows right from wrong. He just has a tendency to make the wrong choice. And by the end of the book he’s made so many bad decisions a train wreck has resulted.
I highly recommend this book. It’s difficult to put down.
www.z7hq.com
Yellow Medicine (the title refers to the name of the town in Minnesota where most of the action takes place) is narrated by Deputy Billy Lafitte. He’s a broken-down deputy in a frost bitten county. Removed from the police force in New Orleans for corruption, he only has the job because his ex-brother-in-law wanted to help. Lafitte is a man with a bad moral compass: he likes to bend the rules. But he knows how far he can go.
Unfortunately he and his shift partner bent the rules so far in New Orleans they broke. Lafitte felt he had to do something with Hurricane Katrina hitting land and if he took a few tips from grateful citizens, so what? The investigators saw it differently and he was out of a job, wife, and family. The position in Minnesota was his only way out and he took it.
At the beginning of the novel we learn the deputy has been taking pay-offs from the local meth cookers. He justifies it as a way of keeping things under control. What other jobs that pay decently do these locals have? But he’s always close to the edge: Lafitte threatens a drunk doctor with his gun when the sauced MD makes derogatory remarks about the deputy’s ex-wife.
The plot shifts in fourth gear when a local “psychobilly” singer named Drew asks the deputy to see if he can do something about her boyfriend Ian. Ian has been selling drugs to the wrong people and got his ass branded as a result. Lafitte doesn’t think it’ll involve too much and he has an interest in the girl himself. But he soon discovers Ian’s thug problem is out of control: he’s been dealing with foreign terrorists who want to take over the local meth trade.
This isn’t the deputy from The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. Lafitte may have a busted center, but he knows right from wrong. He just has a tendency to make the wrong choice. And by the end of the book he’s made so many bad decisions a train wreck has resulted.
I highly recommend this book. It’s difficult to put down.
www.z7hq.com
May 14, 2011
I found out about this novel through the crime/noir community on Twitter, which I have found generally makes good recommendations. I purchased the novel for 0.99 on Amazon, and read it on a mixture of my kindle and iPad.
Yellow Medicine is a novel starring Billy Lafitte, a deputy in small town named Yellow Medicine, Minnesota. Billy Lafitte is a crooked cop who lost his job in Louisiana after hurricane Katrina when he was taking kickbacks from citizens to help them recover/survive the hurricane. Oh yeah, he also murdered someone and covered it up with his partner at the time.
The novel starts out with Lafitte in federal custody, and then tells most of the story via flashback. The novel starts out quickly, and introduces a lot of characters sequentially, but logically, so it isn't too confusing. The character development of Lafitte is perfect, as is that of his muse, Drew a (female) bass player in a local psychobilly band. She asks him to check up on her boyfriend, who has apparently been involved in some sort of drug deal gone bad. The next thing you know, Lafitte is driving around with the severed head of a blonde girl in the back of his police cruiser, and things have just gone insane.
At this point in the novel, I was pretty pumped up. The plot was a little out there, but it has to be interesting, right? Next thing you know, Malaysians, Arabs and international terrorism are involved. This might have taken things slightly over the edge of believability, but the story remained entertaining. The ending of the novel is a little abrupt for my taste, but I will not reveal what happens, because I am anti-spoiler.
Overall, this book is a pretty wild ride and you are getting a lot more bang for the 0.99 than you will with a Donovan Creed novel! I would recommend reading this novel if you are a fan of crime fiction.
I have a few novels to read coming up. I'm probably going to take it vintage again with some Elvis Cole. I also have graphic novel and short story collection I want to start reading. Choices, choices!
Yellow Medicine is a novel starring Billy Lafitte, a deputy in small town named Yellow Medicine, Minnesota. Billy Lafitte is a crooked cop who lost his job in Louisiana after hurricane Katrina when he was taking kickbacks from citizens to help them recover/survive the hurricane. Oh yeah, he also murdered someone and covered it up with his partner at the time.
The novel starts out with Lafitte in federal custody, and then tells most of the story via flashback. The novel starts out quickly, and introduces a lot of characters sequentially, but logically, so it isn't too confusing. The character development of Lafitte is perfect, as is that of his muse, Drew a (female) bass player in a local psychobilly band. She asks him to check up on her boyfriend, who has apparently been involved in some sort of drug deal gone bad. The next thing you know, Lafitte is driving around with the severed head of a blonde girl in the back of his police cruiser, and things have just gone insane.
At this point in the novel, I was pretty pumped up. The plot was a little out there, but it has to be interesting, right? Next thing you know, Malaysians, Arabs and international terrorism are involved. This might have taken things slightly over the edge of believability, but the story remained entertaining. The ending of the novel is a little abrupt for my taste, but I will not reveal what happens, because I am anti-spoiler.
Overall, this book is a pretty wild ride and you are getting a lot more bang for the 0.99 than you will with a Donovan Creed novel! I would recommend reading this novel if you are a fan of crime fiction.
I have a few novels to read coming up. I'm probably going to take it vintage again with some Elvis Cole. I also have graphic novel and short story collection I want to start reading. Choices, choices!
December 10, 2011
Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith is a gritty, noir crime drama that reminds me of the love child of Quentin Tarantino and a Cohen Brothers film. The 260 page tale is gritty, deadly, harsh, at times outlandish but still somehow grounded in reality.
Not really sure why I picked this ebook up, I grabbed the sample on a whim and dove in, quickly burning through the sample pages. I purchased the book immediately.
The main character Billy Lafitte is a complete anti-hero who often is confronted with situations that you or I would easily make sound decisions to resolve the situation. He chooses the other path. This often leads to disaster and more often than not, some dies. Lafitte is a jackass. Period. The kind of guy you would punch straight in the nose if you had a chance, but at the same time, he is guy we all want to be. He does what he wants, carries a big gun, shoots people when they get in his way, and scores the hot babe....all while fighting terrorists!
He's still a jackass though. Despite being given the benefit of the doubt, being given the chance to do good, the jerk just screws it up.
That's not to say this is not good, it is. A hard hitting, nail biting punch in the gut. A sort of guilty pleasure watching this guy's spiral of self-destruction. His propensity for violence and his amazing way to get women to fall for him creates a guilty pleasure that frankly, you just cannot stop reading. Will he get himself...and everyone around him, killed? Will he climb out of the hole he has dug for himself? You just have to keep reading to find out.
This was certainly a different genre for me and a welcome change of pace. The writing is smooth and descriptive, providing a quick read that never fails to surprise or spur your interest. The story has some bone-jarring violent moments and a few instances of foul language which might not fit with some readers, but is completely in-character and fitting for the story.
Not really sure why I picked this ebook up, I grabbed the sample on a whim and dove in, quickly burning through the sample pages. I purchased the book immediately.
The main character Billy Lafitte is a complete anti-hero who often is confronted with situations that you or I would easily make sound decisions to resolve the situation. He chooses the other path. This often leads to disaster and more often than not, some dies. Lafitte is a jackass. Period. The kind of guy you would punch straight in the nose if you had a chance, but at the same time, he is guy we all want to be. He does what he wants, carries a big gun, shoots people when they get in his way, and scores the hot babe....all while fighting terrorists!
He's still a jackass though. Despite being given the benefit of the doubt, being given the chance to do good, the jerk just screws it up.
That's not to say this is not good, it is. A hard hitting, nail biting punch in the gut. A sort of guilty pleasure watching this guy's spiral of self-destruction. His propensity for violence and his amazing way to get women to fall for him creates a guilty pleasure that frankly, you just cannot stop reading. Will he get himself...and everyone around him, killed? Will he climb out of the hole he has dug for himself? You just have to keep reading to find out.
This was certainly a different genre for me and a welcome change of pace. The writing is smooth and descriptive, providing a quick read that never fails to surprise or spur your interest. The story has some bone-jarring violent moments and a few instances of foul language which might not fit with some readers, but is completely in-character and fitting for the story.
August 7, 2011
I can’t believe it took me this many years to read Anthony Neil Smith. I’d of course heard about him often, usually in a sentence that went something like, “Dude! You’ve to read this guy!”
Well… “Dude” didn’t read him when he should have.
But, I have now and now I’m on a mission to sing his praises to everyone who will listen. Listen up: “Dude! You have got to read this guy!”
I’m on my third of Smith’s novels since I discovered him less than a week ago. The first of his novels I read—or, better “experienced”—experienced is a much more accurate verb to describe what it means to open the pages of a Smith novel. The first was YELLOW MEDICINE, after which I immediately glommed onto THE DRUMMER and am now halfway through HOGDOGGIN’. All breathtaking.
YELLOW MEDICINE out-bleaks “Fargo.” This is pure, black noir of the highest order. The protagonist, Billy Lafitte has to be one of the most memorable characters in fiction. He brought me back to my own outlaw and prison days—this guy is the same guy I ran with on the bricks and celled with. The same guy who was with me in South Bend that night when we outran the cops in my T-Bird and the same guy I took the road trip to Lake Charles with. Which reminds me--the cops in this novel aren’t the cops I usually encounter in fiction—I’m from New Orleans and the cops in the Big Easy aren’t like the cops usually seen in most novels or movies—they’re the cops we find in YELLOW MEDICINE. Like the kids say: “True that.”
Smith just plain delivers the goods in an original, American voice. All I can say is, “Dude! You gotta read this guy!”
September 1, 2012
After being busted off the police force in Mississippi, Deputy Billy Lafitte is given a second chance by his ex-wife’s brother who is sheriff of Yellow Medicine County in Minnesota. He gets on the wrong side of some terrorists operating crack houses on the outskirts of town.
I don’t read a lot of Crime Noir, but I did enjoy the lean writing style—lots of sentence fragments and smart-assed asides. However, I struggled with the protagonist. He’s an easy guy to dislike, especially his attitude toward women who he sees as sex objects open to manipulation by a person in authority (a policeman--him). I guess there may be cops as bent as this one, but as a character, I found it hard to root for him. And that’s a big problem because the book is told in first person from Billy’s perspective.
The action scenes were well portrayed, although with too much gory detail for my taste. Billy and his wannabe girlfriend, Drew, were well-drawn characters. But the terrorist cell and the way they behaved and particularly how they interacted with Billy, was unconvincing. A lot of time was spent inside Billy’s head, and on occasions the author’s politics showed through a little too obviously.
As I said, I’m no expert on the genre, and much of what I didn’t enjoy can be attributed to that. Crime Noir is a specific niche, and I think this is probably a good example that would appeal to lovers of hardboiled stories.
Disclaimer: This review was originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. I may have received a free review copy.
I don’t read a lot of Crime Noir, but I did enjoy the lean writing style—lots of sentence fragments and smart-assed asides. However, I struggled with the protagonist. He’s an easy guy to dislike, especially his attitude toward women who he sees as sex objects open to manipulation by a person in authority (a policeman--him). I guess there may be cops as bent as this one, but as a character, I found it hard to root for him. And that’s a big problem because the book is told in first person from Billy’s perspective.
The action scenes were well portrayed, although with too much gory detail for my taste. Billy and his wannabe girlfriend, Drew, were well-drawn characters. But the terrorist cell and the way they behaved and particularly how they interacted with Billy, was unconvincing. A lot of time was spent inside Billy’s head, and on occasions the author’s politics showed through a little too obviously.
As I said, I’m no expert on the genre, and much of what I didn’t enjoy can be attributed to that. Crime Noir is a specific niche, and I think this is probably a good example that would appeal to lovers of hardboiled stories.
Disclaimer: This review was originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. I may have received a free review copy.
May 19, 2013
Smith introduces us to a Mississippi lawman, Billy LaFitte that runs afoul after Katrina. His wife leaves him and stays with their 2 children while her brother sees to it to offer Lafitte a deputy position in Yellow Medicine county in southern Minnesota. Lafitte runs cover for some crank cookers, has the hots for a young singing lead of a pyschobilly playing band while trying to steer clear of doing much police work, a modern day Nick Corey from Jim Thompson's Pop 1280. I hesitate to make that comparison because this work pales in that match-up. Introduce a couple of Malaysians are part of a terrorist cell that start disrupting things as well as a federal agent that has it in for Lafitte and things start going down-hill. Another reviewer stated that the plot seemed a bit to big for the characters and I don't think I could state my feelings about this any clearer.
It is hard to be too critical of an independently published noirish e-book that was free. It is also hard to criticize an effort in this genre as being unrealistic but when you are reading conversation like: 'don't go all sentimental on me. I need the corrupt side of you switched on right now.' Come on people don't really talk like this and when you read lines like this you start picking at the rest of the story. Not a bad book by any means, just a bit disappointing but hey, like I said the price was right. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that Smith enticed me enough with the offering to pay for next book in the series, Hogdogging.
It is hard to be too critical of an independently published noirish e-book that was free. It is also hard to criticize an effort in this genre as being unrealistic but when you are reading conversation like: 'don't go all sentimental on me. I need the corrupt side of you switched on right now.' Come on people don't really talk like this and when you read lines like this you start picking at the rest of the story. Not a bad book by any means, just a bit disappointing but hey, like I said the price was right. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that Smith enticed me enough with the offering to pay for next book in the series, Hogdogging.
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