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Dust Devils
An isolated farm . . . A lonely woman . . . And a young man who may not be what he seems . . . But when the wind whips up dust devils on the Texas plains, nothing is what it seems. Toby McCoy is full of questions when he is shoved headfirst into a mix of robbers, murderers, betrayals and death. Toby has his own share of dark secrets that will have to come out before any answers are found. James Reasoner is the author of the classic noir TEXAS WIND and finally returns to his roots in this action-packed redneck-noir thriller.
152 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 1, 2024
Neo-noir western.
A guy who was abandoned as a child goes to work for a woman he thinks is his mother on an isolated farm. People try to kill her, and she is not his mother. She is a femme fatale. He gets in way over his head in crime and murder.
Pretty tough.
A guy who was abandoned as a child goes to work for a woman he thinks is his mother on an isolated farm. People try to kill her, and she is not his mother. She is a femme fatale. He gets in way over his head in crime and murder.
Pretty tough.
September 26, 2021
Why all the profanity?????
I've read dozens of your books and really enjoyed most of them, but I am disgusted that you found it necessary to use so much and such vulgar profanity in this book. None of the other dozens of your books that I have read contain hardly a hint of profanity. Surely you are able to write great stories without the vulgarities. This book would have been just as good....no it would have been much better without all the profanity. I hope this is the ONLY book you write using the crude language because I really do enjoy your writing.
I've read dozens of your books and really enjoyed most of them, but I am disgusted that you found it necessary to use so much and such vulgar profanity in this book. None of the other dozens of your books that I have read contain hardly a hint of profanity. Surely you are able to write great stories without the vulgarities. This book would have been just as good....no it would have been much better without all the profanity. I hope this is the ONLY book you write using the crude language because I really do enjoy your writing.
October 22, 2011
I don't know who came up with the term "redneck noir," but it's an apt one when applied to this southern thrillride.
Dust Devils starts off with a kind of strangers-in-the-night romance, as a young man Toby arrives on the doorstep of a lonely woman named Grace's farm looking for work. A bit wary at first, she hires him and a friendship begins, which quickly heats up. Then, the story takes one wild turn after another. I'm kind of hesitant to even discuss plot details beyond the first thirty pages, because a couple of jaw-droppers happen surprisingly early in this book.
Okay, here's one: After the two of them have sex for the first time, he snoops through her dresser drawers while she's sleeping and finds a gun. It's a bit out of character, but he finds more guns hidden about the house, and when Toby's about to confront her about it two gunmen arrive and reveal that she isn't who she says she is. Her names's not even Grace. She's really a bank robber, estranged from her cohorts who all believe she's sitting on the last big score they stole and double-crossed them to get it.
The book could almost be confused for a Harlequin romance in those first thirty pages or so, but it's all prelude. It's that slow, rattling ride to the top of the roller coaster before you take the first big plunge into a crazy cross-country journey. It's not all adrenaline-pumping action though, and some of what's there felt a bit tinny and form-fitted. Things happened at times a little too smoothly, even though the two are in constant danger. It felt, I suppose, like the stakes weren't as high as they should have been given their circumstances. Still, the action builds upon itself, as does the dynamic between the two as they are dragged deeper and deeper into criminal activity. And the ending is a powder keg.
There is one moment that irks me in the book, where Toby commits murder. He at least plays party to it, and given the way he was presented in the book up to that point, and the almost detached way in which he reacts to it, seemed really out of place. Albeit, the story mends itself before it's all over, so I really shouldn't gripe on that detail.
I was impressed with James' turn at the wheel when he wrote The Blood Mesa for Lee Goldberg's and William Rabkin's Dead Man series (recently picked up for a publishing deal with Amazon's imprint, if I'm not mistaken), and Dust Devils shows why he was sought out to join the crew of authors on that series. I wasn't blown away by it, but it was a fun, quick read with as many twists as a sidewinder. And it's definitely worth checking out on Kindle right now, since it's being sold on the cheap.
Dust Devils starts off with a kind of strangers-in-the-night romance, as a young man Toby arrives on the doorstep of a lonely woman named Grace's farm looking for work. A bit wary at first, she hires him and a friendship begins, which quickly heats up. Then, the story takes one wild turn after another. I'm kind of hesitant to even discuss plot details beyond the first thirty pages, because a couple of jaw-droppers happen surprisingly early in this book.
Okay, here's one: After the two of them have sex for the first time, he snoops through her dresser drawers while she's sleeping and finds a gun. It's a bit out of character, but he finds more guns hidden about the house, and when Toby's about to confront her about it two gunmen arrive and reveal that she isn't who she says she is. Her names's not even Grace. She's really a bank robber, estranged from her cohorts who all believe she's sitting on the last big score they stole and double-crossed them to get it.
The book could almost be confused for a Harlequin romance in those first thirty pages or so, but it's all prelude. It's that slow, rattling ride to the top of the roller coaster before you take the first big plunge into a crazy cross-country journey. It's not all adrenaline-pumping action though, and some of what's there felt a bit tinny and form-fitted. Things happened at times a little too smoothly, even though the two are in constant danger. It felt, I suppose, like the stakes weren't as high as they should have been given their circumstances. Still, the action builds upon itself, as does the dynamic between the two as they are dragged deeper and deeper into criminal activity. And the ending is a powder keg.
There is one moment that irks me in the book, where Toby commits murder. He at least plays party to it, and given the way he was presented in the book up to that point, and the almost detached way in which he reacts to it, seemed really out of place. Albeit, the story mends itself before it's all over, so I really shouldn't gripe on that detail.
I was impressed with James' turn at the wheel when he wrote The Blood Mesa for Lee Goldberg's and William Rabkin's Dead Man series (recently picked up for a publishing deal with Amazon's imprint, if I'm not mistaken), and Dust Devils shows why he was sought out to join the crew of authors on that series. I wasn't blown away by it, but it was a fun, quick read with as many twists as a sidewinder. And it's definitely worth checking out on Kindle right now, since it's being sold on the cheap.
November 23, 2011
I couldn't put this down. Described as "Red-neck Noir", it starts outside of Lubbock, TX in the middle of no-where with 20 year old Toby McCoy looking for a job he heard about on a farm owned by the lonely Grace Malligan, a 40 year old woman.
At first she is leary of Toby but decides to hire him. He accepts the position for a place to live (in the barn) and food.
They soon find they are attracted to one another but before the relationship can develop past just sex we learn that nothing is what it seems.
They are visited by two desperate men and barely escape with their lives. Toby soon finds himself involved in a daring armored car robbery in Dallas.
Living in the the Dallas Fort Worth area was a plus for me reading this story as I am familiar with all of the locales Mr Reasoner writes about in his book. For Robert E Howard fans he even mentions driving by the exit for Cross Plains, TX on Interstate 20.
I don't want to give it away but this is a very suspenseful, noir type story in the tradition of "Blood Simple"(the Coen Brothers Movie), Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and other stories of crime gone wrong, double crosses, and hidden agendas etc. The story reaches its'climax at the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis, TX with a "twist" ending.
At first she is leary of Toby but decides to hire him. He accepts the position for a place to live (in the barn) and food.
They soon find they are attracted to one another but before the relationship can develop past just sex we learn that nothing is what it seems.
They are visited by two desperate men and barely escape with their lives. Toby soon finds himself involved in a daring armored car robbery in Dallas.
Living in the the Dallas Fort Worth area was a plus for me reading this story as I am familiar with all of the locales Mr Reasoner writes about in his book. For Robert E Howard fans he even mentions driving by the exit for Cross Plains, TX on Interstate 20.
I don't want to give it away but this is a very suspenseful, noir type story in the tradition of "Blood Simple"(the Coen Brothers Movie), Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and other stories of crime gone wrong, double crosses, and hidden agendas etc. The story reaches its'climax at the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis, TX with a "twist" ending.
April 15, 2012
Excellent example of a book that would have been really good if it had just been a bit better.
Before the caper aspect kicks in, much depends on a character development I just couldn't buy into. I also could never really visualize ether main male character. The dialog could be either good or incredibly flat, which goes for the prose in general. Two characters who work as a team are described in these terms "Gary was the taller of the two...Walt was shorter." Where is the editor?
But it is a brief, violent crime story that kept me reading. Reasoner, who has written dozens of historical novels, mostly about the Civil War, started hist writing career in crime fiction. This was supposed to be a return to roots. I'm curious to read something from the 1980's to see if the early work might not be sharper.
Before the caper aspect kicks in, much depends on a character development I just couldn't buy into. I also could never really visualize ether main male character. The dialog could be either good or incredibly flat, which goes for the prose in general. Two characters who work as a team are described in these terms "Gary was the taller of the two...Walt was shorter." Where is the editor?
But it is a brief, violent crime story that kept me reading. Reasoner, who has written dozens of historical novels, mostly about the Civil War, started hist writing career in crime fiction. This was supposed to be a return to roots. I'm curious to read something from the 1980's to see if the early work might not be sharper.
October 23, 2012
The strong point of Dust Devils is the plotting, its strong noir undertones, and the characters of Toby and Dana. The setup is very nicely done and the story continues at a nice, jaunty pace as the two principal characters seek to resolve their respective issues: Dana’s life of crime and Toby’s abandonment as a child and his mother fixation. As they travel across Texas, the tale becomes ever darker, with the sense of foreboding growing, leading to a well played resolution. Despite these pluses, the writing at times is quite flat, and despite a style that is mainly dialogue and action, it slips into tell rather than show at times. The result is a nicely plotted story, told in a voice that is sometimes weak. Nevertheless, Dust Devils is an enjoyable slice of country noir.
October 4, 2011
Two people, each with their own secrets to hide, come together in the Texas countryside. A modern day Bonnie and Clyde. This is a heist and double cross story in the tradition of the old Gold Medal variety. If you like a story with lots of twists and turns and don't need too much character development this is a great read. Sure there are a few times when the story stretches the bounds of credulity but that's part of the beauty of it. Pulp fiction at it's best!
July 24, 2008
James Reasoner has written two excellent noir novels, including this one and Texas Wind. They are full of twists and turns galore, and the endings of both came as a surprise.
These books are sometimes called redneck noir because they take place outside the big cities, in the smaller towns and locales of Texas.
These books are sometimes called redneck noir because they take place outside the big cities, in the smaller towns and locales of Texas.
May 9, 2008
I grabbed this book at the library not knowing what it was about. It started out rather disturbing. I enjoyed the action but somehow I felt the author fell short in his ending, even though it was a surprise. I am trying to keep an open mind with books I wouldn't normally pick up.
March 29, 2009
Called Redneck Noir in the Publisher Weekly review. Very dark tale of a young drifter who “happens” upon a farm run by a woman in the panhandle of Texas and he gets caught up with a criminal element. Some very well done twists and turns and the book is only 150 pages long.
March 22, 2008
Enjoyed the characters, really a surprise ending.
March 27, 2008
I liked how it was conidered red-neck noir.
April 1, 2008
A young itinerant finds work on a farm with a pretty older woman. That's all you need to know about this lean and mean thriller before picking it up. Reading other reviews may spoil it.
March 21, 2012
Read my review at my blog.
Read
May 18, 2012red-neck noir
July 26, 2013
Fun read.
March 25, 2015
Ok more like 1.5 stars, it was a bad book, unrealistic with lousy characters. I forced myself to finish it. I wouldn't recommend this.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews