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Hard Bite
Hard Bite is a swirling, rambunctious thriller about a paraplegic man named Dean Drayhart who—with the help of his deadly sidekick, Sid the monkey—seeks out hit-and-run drivers in retaliation for a tragic accident that took everything he had. Dean’s annoying but endearing nurse knows nothing about what he’s up to, and when Sid tears out the throat of a Mexican Mafia member, Marcie gets kidnapped in order to force Dean’s surrender. Armed with nothing but his wits, a monkey, and a sympathetic streetwalker named Cinda, Dean manipulates drug-cartel carnales and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in a David-against-Goliath plot that twists and turns to a heart-pounding finale.
180 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2012
65 people are currently reading
832 people want to read
About the author
Anonymous-9
11 books65 followersHARD BITE and BITE HARDER are coming home. For years now, the e-books and the paperbacks have been split between publishers in UK and the US. Now, I'm proud that the whole family will be with Down & Out Books, helmed by Eric Campbell.
The name "Anonymous-9" came about because I wasn't sure if my experimental stories would be accepted. But they were. Tragic, comic and hardboiled are words that apply to my work. Uncanny Books released my Lovecraftian tribute of action, adventure and horror called DREAMING DEEP. In 2014 I self-published CRASHING THROUGH MIRRORS, a hardboiled novelette set in the music biz of Los Angeles. It was named a Top Crime Read of 2014 alongside Joe Lansdale, Karin Slaughter and Matthew McBride by Just a Guy Who likes to Read book review blog.
HARD BITEl features a paraplegic serial killer who targets hit and run drivers in Los Angeles with the aid of a helper monkey named Sid. It was named one of the Top 5 Debut Novels of 2013 by MYSTERY PEOPLE. The follow-up was BITE HARDER which won a 2014 Readers' Choice Award for Best Indie Novel (Down & Out Books) from The House of Crime and Mystery, Canada.
I live in Los Angeles, party in Texas and love to hear from Goodreads people who like the same books I do.
The name "Anonymous-9" came about because I wasn't sure if my experimental stories would be accepted. But they were. Tragic, comic and hardboiled are words that apply to my work. Uncanny Books released my Lovecraftian tribute of action, adventure and horror called DREAMING DEEP. In 2014 I self-published CRASHING THROUGH MIRRORS, a hardboiled novelette set in the music biz of Los Angeles. It was named a Top Crime Read of 2014 alongside Joe Lansdale, Karin Slaughter and Matthew McBride by Just a Guy Who likes to Read book review blog.
HARD BITEl features a paraplegic serial killer who targets hit and run drivers in Los Angeles with the aid of a helper monkey named Sid. It was named one of the Top 5 Debut Novels of 2013 by MYSTERY PEOPLE. The follow-up was BITE HARDER which won a 2014 Readers' Choice Award for Best Indie Novel (Down & Out Books) from The House of Crime and Mystery, Canada.
I live in Los Angeles, party in Texas and love to hear from Goodreads people who like the same books I do.
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March 13, 2015
Note, March 13, 2015: I edited this review just now to correct a minor typo.
Although I sometimes say I don't read e-books, a more accurate way of putting that would be that I very, very seldom read them (more on that below), and then only under unusual circumstances. In this case, the author, Elaine Ash, and I are Goodreads friends in her Anonymous-9 incarnation (her real identity isn't secret, and is indeed mentioned in the author info at the end of this book). Awhile back, she wound up giving me quite a bit of computer advice/information, and only asked in return that I'd buy a copy of her book. (She didn't ask me to review it; and when I said I would if I liked it, she replied that she wouldn't be offended by a honest review even if I didn't.) Since I figured that a gracious favor from a lady deserved one in return, and I'd already heard of the book and found it intriguing, I did buy it (at 99 cents, it won't break anybody!). But her publisher basically only does e-books (as I understand it, the paperback edition in the Goodreads database was a very limited run for review copies, now out of print). So in this case, it was e-book format or nothing.
As the Goodreads description indicates, this book has one of the more original premises ever employed in crime fiction; but the use of helper monkeys to assist the severely disabled is not an invention of the author's. They're very real, and a Google search will generate a lot of information. Being highly intelligent for an animal, dextrous and easy to train, monkeys make wonderful helper pets. However, Sid's training has been taken in directions not anticipated by the helper monkey program. Lacking a moral sense and being trained to be loyal and protective toward his human owner --and being endowed with agility, quickness, problem-solving ability and nasty teeth-- he makes a formidable lethal weapon in the wrong hands. When the owner starts his narration with, "I like to kill people," that's definitely a clue that these are the wrong hands!
Dean Drayhart, though, is no psychotic serial killer who likes homicide for its own sake; as he quickly makes clear, it's not people in general that he likes killing, just "certain" people: those who've taken human life as hit and run drivers and gotten away with it. One of them tragically slaughtered his beloved little daughter and left him with no feet, one hand replaced by a prosthetic hook, and severe damage to his neck and intestines; his wife left him because she couldn't handle his all-consuming obsession with revenge. He's not your average paraplegic; smart, equipped with a specially-fitted van and adaptive technology on his computer, and a burning sense of mission, he's a vigilante to be reckoned with, especially with Sid's help.
While it has some genuinely humorous moments, this isn't a humorous book. Rather, it's a tale very much in the pulp crime-fiction tradition, with a high body count and several characters on the wrong side of the law. But that doesn't mean it lacks a moral sense; on the contrary, the pulp tradition at its best often uses the extreme situations and gray areas of morality that it posits to grapple with serious moral issues. That's definitely the case here; the author doesn't supply any pat answers for the moral issues posed by vigilantism, but she forces you to think about them on your own, and gives you grist for your mind to work on. The author uses present-tense narration throughout (in first person for Dean's sections, third person for those from the viewpoint of other characters), but it flows very easily and naturally, including the few key flashbacks to scenes in the past. There's a really gripping, often edge-of-the-seat quality to the narration; you don't want to stop reading, even if you have to. (Like many Goodreads descriptions, this one is a bit misleading about how the plot actually develops, but that's all I'll say.) All the characters are well-drawn and developed. Dean and his girlfriend Cinda are likable, even if you disapprove of what they do (she's not, to be fair to her, an actual accomplice in the killings, just an accessory who knows about and "respects" Dean's vendetta because he's her lover); and so are the cops investigating the case. (I particularly appreciated the fact that the lead cop is a loving and faithful husband and father; the glimpses of his family life are well-done.) The drug cartel's ruling family, the Malalindas, definitely aren't likable (indeed, the deceased's two brothers make up in utter ruthlessness what they totally lack in charm or intelligence), and we get a very dark look at the ugly world of the U.S.-Mexican drug trade. But even these people are fully fleshed-out and realistic; we can understand them, and family matriarch Orella IS a human being (albeit a really misguided and dangerous one who's allowed some very bad choices to define her). L.A. is the author's home town, and she has a thorough command of the geography and local color that only a resident could; and she knows her police procedure and gun specs. She engages your emotions from the beginning, and the ending will stay with you.
So, why four stars instead of five? I had a few nits to pick here. I actually wasn't as put off by the language as I thought I might be at the outset; Dean has something of a potty mouth (including the f-word) especially when he's upset, but most of the characters do not, and his speaking style, I think, reflected the psychological damage he carries. The author also mostly refrains from explicit sex; when her couples make love, she accords them their privacy, which I appreciated, and we don't actually see Cinda at work. (Contrary to the Goodreads book description, she's a call girl, not a streetwalker
--the two are somewhat different. She and Dean represent an unusual case of prostitute and customer who actually connected as people and fell for each other. We don't get inside her head enough to fully understand what got her into "the life" and keeps her in it, but we can probably infer that economic needs had and have a lot to do with it; I wasn't scandalized by her as a character --though I'd certainly have advised her and Dean to get married, and her to find other work!) In one case, though, we get more explicit sexual content (though not as explicit as in a lot of books!), and that's in a context that doesn't ring true; Orella trying to use her sexual favors to bribe someone to do something. Coming from a cartel boss with many other more convenient means of bribery and force at her disposal, and given her cultural background and role assumptions, that struck me as out of character. (Okay, so I don't know her well enough to make that judgment --but the author DID establish that she'd never done anything like that before.) I was also grossed out by one scene in a shower room (though to be fair, I think that was meant as comic relief, and many readers would take it that way). There are a few other plotting and detail quibbles. I had a problem with how improbably loose-lipped certain people were in one instance. Marcie's likeability factor, especially at first, didn't really come across to me. Finally, there's a significant discrepancy:
None of those points, though, kept me from really liking the book! If gritty crime fiction with a pulp flavor is your thing, this will be a read right up your alley, and this writer is definitely one to watch.
This is the second book I've read on my Kindle PC app, and I have to admit I find it much easier to read this way than I expected. While it doesn't fit my schedule and lifestyle as easily as paper books, working in time to read this way, on an intermittent basis, also has turned out to be doable. I'm still a committed paper books reader; I think that medium serves social purposes that e-books don't, and my choice is to spend my money on the former, and do everything I can to preserve and promote it. That said, I've decided that in some cases, when I can try a book for free as an e-book, I'll do it that way. But if I like it, I'm buying a paper copy --if not for myself, as a gift or as a library donation. (So, Elaine, you have got me to "join the 21st century;" but I'm doing it cautiously, and on MY own terms! :-) )
Although I sometimes say I don't read e-books, a more accurate way of putting that would be that I very, very seldom read them (more on that below), and then only under unusual circumstances. In this case, the author, Elaine Ash, and I are Goodreads friends in her Anonymous-9 incarnation (her real identity isn't secret, and is indeed mentioned in the author info at the end of this book). Awhile back, she wound up giving me quite a bit of computer advice/information, and only asked in return that I'd buy a copy of her book. (She didn't ask me to review it; and when I said I would if I liked it, she replied that she wouldn't be offended by a honest review even if I didn't.) Since I figured that a gracious favor from a lady deserved one in return, and I'd already heard of the book and found it intriguing, I did buy it (at 99 cents, it won't break anybody!). But her publisher basically only does e-books (as I understand it, the paperback edition in the Goodreads database was a very limited run for review copies, now out of print). So in this case, it was e-book format or nothing.
As the Goodreads description indicates, this book has one of the more original premises ever employed in crime fiction; but the use of helper monkeys to assist the severely disabled is not an invention of the author's. They're very real, and a Google search will generate a lot of information. Being highly intelligent for an animal, dextrous and easy to train, monkeys make wonderful helper pets. However, Sid's training has been taken in directions not anticipated by the helper monkey program. Lacking a moral sense and being trained to be loyal and protective toward his human owner --and being endowed with agility, quickness, problem-solving ability and nasty teeth-- he makes a formidable lethal weapon in the wrong hands. When the owner starts his narration with, "I like to kill people," that's definitely a clue that these are the wrong hands!
Dean Drayhart, though, is no psychotic serial killer who likes homicide for its own sake; as he quickly makes clear, it's not people in general that he likes killing, just "certain" people: those who've taken human life as hit and run drivers and gotten away with it. One of them tragically slaughtered his beloved little daughter and left him with no feet, one hand replaced by a prosthetic hook, and severe damage to his neck and intestines; his wife left him because she couldn't handle his all-consuming obsession with revenge. He's not your average paraplegic; smart, equipped with a specially-fitted van and adaptive technology on his computer, and a burning sense of mission, he's a vigilante to be reckoned with, especially with Sid's help.
While it has some genuinely humorous moments, this isn't a humorous book. Rather, it's a tale very much in the pulp crime-fiction tradition, with a high body count and several characters on the wrong side of the law. But that doesn't mean it lacks a moral sense; on the contrary, the pulp tradition at its best often uses the extreme situations and gray areas of morality that it posits to grapple with serious moral issues. That's definitely the case here; the author doesn't supply any pat answers for the moral issues posed by vigilantism, but she forces you to think about them on your own, and gives you grist for your mind to work on. The author uses present-tense narration throughout (in first person for Dean's sections, third person for those from the viewpoint of other characters), but it flows very easily and naturally, including the few key flashbacks to scenes in the past. There's a really gripping, often edge-of-the-seat quality to the narration; you don't want to stop reading, even if you have to. (Like many Goodreads descriptions, this one is a bit misleading about how the plot actually develops, but that's all I'll say.) All the characters are well-drawn and developed. Dean and his girlfriend Cinda are likable, even if you disapprove of what they do (she's not, to be fair to her, an actual accomplice in the killings, just an accessory who knows about and "respects" Dean's vendetta because he's her lover); and so are the cops investigating the case. (I particularly appreciated the fact that the lead cop is a loving and faithful husband and father; the glimpses of his family life are well-done.) The drug cartel's ruling family, the Malalindas, definitely aren't likable (indeed, the deceased's two brothers make up in utter ruthlessness what they totally lack in charm or intelligence), and we get a very dark look at the ugly world of the U.S.-Mexican drug trade. But even these people are fully fleshed-out and realistic; we can understand them, and family matriarch Orella IS a human being (albeit a really misguided and dangerous one who's allowed some very bad choices to define her). L.A. is the author's home town, and she has a thorough command of the geography and local color that only a resident could; and she knows her police procedure and gun specs. She engages your emotions from the beginning, and the ending will stay with you.
So, why four stars instead of five? I had a few nits to pick here. I actually wasn't as put off by the language as I thought I might be at the outset; Dean has something of a potty mouth (including the f-word) especially when he's upset, but most of the characters do not, and his speaking style, I think, reflected the psychological damage he carries. The author also mostly refrains from explicit sex; when her couples make love, she accords them their privacy, which I appreciated, and we don't actually see Cinda at work. (Contrary to the Goodreads book description, she's a call girl, not a streetwalker
--the two are somewhat different. She and Dean represent an unusual case of prostitute and customer who actually connected as people and fell for each other. We don't get inside her head enough to fully understand what got her into "the life" and keeps her in it, but we can probably infer that economic needs had and have a lot to do with it; I wasn't scandalized by her as a character --though I'd certainly have advised her and Dean to get married, and her to find other work!) In one case, though, we get more explicit sexual content (though not as explicit as in a lot of books!), and that's in a context that doesn't ring true; Orella trying to use her sexual favors to bribe someone to do something. Coming from a cartel boss with many other more convenient means of bribery and force at her disposal, and given her cultural background and role assumptions, that struck me as out of character. (Okay, so I don't know her well enough to make that judgment --but the author DID establish that she'd never done anything like that before.) I was also grossed out by one scene in a shower room (though to be fair, I think that was meant as comic relief, and many readers would take it that way). There are a few other plotting and detail quibbles. I had a problem with how improbably loose-lipped certain people were in one instance. Marcie's likeability factor, especially at first, didn't really come across to me. Finally, there's a significant discrepancy:
None of those points, though, kept me from really liking the book! If gritty crime fiction with a pulp flavor is your thing, this will be a read right up your alley, and this writer is definitely one to watch.
This is the second book I've read on my Kindle PC app, and I have to admit I find it much easier to read this way than I expected. While it doesn't fit my schedule and lifestyle as easily as paper books, working in time to read this way, on an intermittent basis, also has turned out to be doable. I'm still a committed paper books reader; I think that medium serves social purposes that e-books don't, and my choice is to spend my money on the former, and do everything I can to preserve and promote it. That said, I've decided that in some cases, when I can try a book for free as an e-book, I'll do it that way. But if I like it, I'm buying a paper copy --if not for myself, as a gift or as a library donation. (So, Elaine, you have got me to "join the 21st century;" but I'm doing it cautiously, and on MY own terms! :-) )
August 16, 2015
Hard Bite kicks off with revenge, like one of those lone wolf retribution thrillers where the main dude’s family gets wiped out and he gets all upset about it. But that’s exactly what happens here when Dean’s life gets smashed to a twisted wreck and he is left to live with the consequences of carnage. What would you do if you had a wild-eyed helper monkey trained to obey every command, a simian companion in your days in oblivion?
Dean wills his plan into action, his restricted mobility focusing his mind, motivated by righteous fury he takes to the city. With his furry sidekick acting out what he is unable to do physically, they function as a dastardly team and work to clean up the streets. Together the bring vigilante justice to those who have evaded the law, in an attempt to right some wrongs and bring some elusive peace to Dean’s battered psyche. It helps to keep busy.
As events unfold their lively spree of violence inevitably gathers unwanted attentions, both from the law and those under the watchful eye of it. Dean and his plucky pal, with the help of a well-drawn supporting cast, are faced with a situation where there may be no ultimate winners but they’ve given the game all they’ve got.
This novel is incredibly funny. Pulpy, noirish, and borderline madcap in places, it is short and sharp. Completely enjoyable ride with the humour rich and dry, I was fully entertained. One thing though - I wanted more Sid!
Dean wills his plan into action, his restricted mobility focusing his mind, motivated by righteous fury he takes to the city. With his furry sidekick acting out what he is unable to do physically, they function as a dastardly team and work to clean up the streets. Together the bring vigilante justice to those who have evaded the law, in an attempt to right some wrongs and bring some elusive peace to Dean’s battered psyche. It helps to keep busy.
As events unfold their lively spree of violence inevitably gathers unwanted attentions, both from the law and those under the watchful eye of it. Dean and his plucky pal, with the help of a well-drawn supporting cast, are faced with a situation where there may be no ultimate winners but they’ve given the game all they’ve got.
This novel is incredibly funny. Pulpy, noirish, and borderline madcap in places, it is short and sharp. Completely enjoyable ride with the humour rich and dry, I was fully entertained. One thing though - I wanted more Sid!
November 1, 2012
HARD BITE is modern pulp with a paraplegic protagonist and a side kick worthy of a cult following, in Sid, a serial killer money. HARD BITE is laced with satire and dark humour likened to other Blasted Heath titles, notably Douglas Lindsay's Barney Thomson series - despite the murderous plot, Anonymous-9 keeps the laughs and lighter moments rolling along. I didn't know whether to cringe when Sid went in for the 'hard bite' or laugh at the overall outlandish concept - great stuff.
Not your typical portrait of a serial killer, Dean Drayhart is wheelchair bound and uses a unique accomplice to carry out his killings. In a twisted way, Dean gets some redemption with every kill of a hit and run driver, slowly accounting for his predicament courtesy of a hit and run which not only caused his loss of movement but also cost him his family.
HARD BITE really comes to the boil when it's discovered one of Drayhart's victims has strong ties to a Mexican drug cartel. Soon he encounters bullets, a scornful mother, and the police in an all out action packed story that's entertaining all the way through.
The characters are superb, from Drayhart and Sid, to Drayhart's nurse Maric Blattlatch and prostitute girlfriend Cinda. Cop Doug provides a glimpse at the police procedural aspect to the hunt while the Mexican drug cartel add an element of noir to this fun pulpy caper.
Anonymous-9, Dave Zeltserman (Julius Katz mystery series), and Duane Swierczynski (Charlie Hardie trilogy) are leading the new era of modern pulp which could well turn into the second coming of the genres golden age. I wonder who's the better sidekick (albeit from opposite sides of the law); Sid from HARD BITE or Archie from JULIUS KATZ AND ARCHIE? Perhaps we need to see more of Sid before deciding.
HARD BITE gets 5 stars for me.
Side note: I love books that have covers relevant to the actual story, not just a cut and pasted images set amongst a generic backdrop. HARD BITE's cover has got to be one of the best this year.
This review also appears on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
Not your typical portrait of a serial killer, Dean Drayhart is wheelchair bound and uses a unique accomplice to carry out his killings. In a twisted way, Dean gets some redemption with every kill of a hit and run driver, slowly accounting for his predicament courtesy of a hit and run which not only caused his loss of movement but also cost him his family.
HARD BITE really comes to the boil when it's discovered one of Drayhart's victims has strong ties to a Mexican drug cartel. Soon he encounters bullets, a scornful mother, and the police in an all out action packed story that's entertaining all the way through.
The characters are superb, from Drayhart and Sid, to Drayhart's nurse Maric Blattlatch and prostitute girlfriend Cinda. Cop Doug provides a glimpse at the police procedural aspect to the hunt while the Mexican drug cartel add an element of noir to this fun pulpy caper.
Anonymous-9, Dave Zeltserman (Julius Katz mystery series), and Duane Swierczynski (Charlie Hardie trilogy) are leading the new era of modern pulp which could well turn into the second coming of the genres golden age. I wonder who's the better sidekick (albeit from opposite sides of the law); Sid from HARD BITE or Archie from JULIUS KATZ AND ARCHIE? Perhaps we need to see more of Sid before deciding.
HARD BITE gets 5 stars for me.
Side note: I love books that have covers relevant to the actual story, not just a cut and pasted images set amongst a generic backdrop. HARD BITE's cover has got to be one of the best this year.
This review also appears on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
June 6, 2013
HARD BITE is based on the hilarious, award-winning short story of the same name. Think of the short as the icing on a giant quid pro quo, a french farce that went out of control and you have somewhat an accurate portrait of HARD BITE. It's a novel that's running wild into the streets of Los Angeles.
The ultra-charming, seral-killing, monkey-loving, wheelchair-bound narrator Dean Drayhart is still quite the philosopher, but he shares the pages and the point of view with several other characters, including a no-nonesense police investigator and two bad girls blinded by grief. It's both good and bad, because it contributed to the ambient wackiness, but the point of view switches so often it can become confusing.
I liked HARD BITE. I thought it was wild and daring. I loved Dean Drayhart's chapters, thought. The other characters simply cannot live up to his charisma and that makes the novel derivative at times. Maybe not during the Orella and Maria segments because it's so grandiose in its opulence, but the Doug chapters didn't work as well, I though. I would have taken a complete novel from his perspective, but I'll take HARD BITE as it is. It's a crazy trip into the urban hell L.A can be sometimes.
The ultra-charming, seral-killing, monkey-loving, wheelchair-bound narrator Dean Drayhart is still quite the philosopher, but he shares the pages and the point of view with several other characters, including a no-nonesense police investigator and two bad girls blinded by grief. It's both good and bad, because it contributed to the ambient wackiness, but the point of view switches so often it can become confusing.
I liked HARD BITE. I thought it was wild and daring. I loved Dean Drayhart's chapters, thought. The other characters simply cannot live up to his charisma and that makes the novel derivative at times. Maybe not during the Orella and Maria segments because it's so grandiose in its opulence, but the Doug chapters didn't work as well, I though. I would have taken a complete novel from his perspective, but I'll take HARD BITE as it is. It's a crazy trip into the urban hell L.A can be sometimes.
August 18, 2013
I read the collection The 1st Short Story Collection about a year ago and really enjoyed all the stories but a few stood out and the Hard Bite short was one that had a unique premise. I ignored the listing for Hard Bite assuming it was for the short. What an idiot! I was very excited to see how my favorite short was fleshed out in this novella. I had some preconceived notions of where this might go but Anonymous-9 really went in a direction I did not expect and what a great ride!
The original idea of hit and run victim turned wheelchair bound vigilante(with help from Sid)remains but instead of multiple uses of the "hard bite" several other methods come into play. He employs several different techniques to pick his targets and up to the final incident in this book, he is utterly convinced of the righteousness of his process and targets.
A much larger cast is introduced and we swing from a Mexican drug family(headed by one bad-ass/pyscho
mama, to a call girl/love interest and the local cops trying to piece together the clues concerning the rash of attacks. I'm really looking forward to more exploration of this weird relationship between Dean, Sid and Cinda....can't wait for the next one!
The original idea of hit and run victim turned wheelchair bound vigilante(with help from Sid)remains but instead of multiple uses of the "hard bite" several other methods come into play. He employs several different techniques to pick his targets and up to the final incident in this book, he is utterly convinced of the righteousness of his process and targets.
A much larger cast is introduced and we swing from a Mexican drug family(headed by one bad-ass/pyscho
mama, to a call girl/love interest and the local cops trying to piece together the clues concerning the rash of attacks. I'm really looking forward to more exploration of this weird relationship between Dean, Sid and Cinda....can't wait for the next one!
October 18, 2012
Dean Drayhart is an unusual serial killer. A paraplegic, rendered so by a hit and run driver, who also took his daughter's life and eventually killed his marriage. His weapon of choice is a small monkey named Sid, a helper animal trained for work with crippled people. Sid's training goes much further though.
Dean has an obsession to rid the world of hit and run drivers and has a website where he poses as a crime writer looking for paid interviews with hit and run drivers, discretion guaranteed. He has a hooker girl friend who knows what he does and a care nurse that doesn't.
When Sid, with his razor sharp teeth, rips out the throat of a member of a Mexican drug cartel member, Mother gets very angry. She's run the cartel ever since her husband died in prison and with her other two sons, it doesn't take her long to get on Dean's trail.
And the cops start to put things together when they find strange animal hairs at two of the murder scenes, not a canine of any sort, but some sort of exotic.
But when the cartel grab Dean's care nurse, he knows something has to be done.
Quite enjoyed this look at a novel by Anonymous-9, the pseudonym of Elaine Ash, having read a few stories over the last few years.
Dean has an obsession to rid the world of hit and run drivers and has a website where he poses as a crime writer looking for paid interviews with hit and run drivers, discretion guaranteed. He has a hooker girl friend who knows what he does and a care nurse that doesn't.
When Sid, with his razor sharp teeth, rips out the throat of a member of a Mexican drug cartel member, Mother gets very angry. She's run the cartel ever since her husband died in prison and with her other two sons, it doesn't take her long to get on Dean's trail.
And the cops start to put things together when they find strange animal hairs at two of the murder scenes, not a canine of any sort, but some sort of exotic.
But when the cartel grab Dean's care nurse, he knows something has to be done.
Quite enjoyed this look at a novel by Anonymous-9, the pseudonym of Elaine Ash, having read a few stories over the last few years.
November 19, 2012
i have finished Hard Bite and would give it a solid 3 stars. kind of a Stephen Hawking meets Dexter if you can imagine......it was fast paced and had enough going on, however i just didn't find myself connecting too much with any of the characters. but maybe that is not such a bad thing. i wasn't sure how it would end, but it was a good ending. i will definitely read another novel from this author tho.
November 26, 2012
I liked this book it was definitely different but thats how I like them it keeps me reading. Thumbs up to Anonymous-9!
December 2, 2012
At this point, you’re wondering why I do this – eradicate hit-and-run drivers. At first I called myself an assassin but Merriam Webster ruined that idea by defining assassination as “killing for impersonal reasons” and that’s incorrect. I kill for extremely personal reasons. Starting with the individual who hit me, shattering my neck, crushing my left arm and feet, and squashing my large intestine to mush. I can’t digest much of anything, but my dick still works. Go figger.
After suffering a near fatal hit and run accident that does kills his young daughter and leaves him in a wheel chair, Dean Drayhart decides to become a serial killer to eliminate hit and run drivers that have led to the same type of harm that he has faced. I thought this was an interesting premise, especially since he uses a trained pet monkey Sid to assist in the killings – a monkey that has a “Hard Bite” way of killing. However, I wasn’t really sure how this would hold up over the course of a full book as how many killings by monkey bites would be interesting (not many). Fortunately, Anonymous-9 (please change your name back Elaine, this is hard to type) does not just stay there, but takes the book in a couple of different directions with some interesting and often funny dialogue along the way. The excerpt above is a good one – it tells about why Dean is doing what he is doing and gives some sense of the humor that is present throughout what is otherwise a fairly dark book (with the injuries and killings and everything you know..)
I thought the interactions of Dean and his nurse Marcie Blattlatch were some of my favorites in the book as Dean has no patience for her or her nice and overly-conservative ways. Here’s one of my favorite funny parts when she finds Dean’s girlfriend’s thong in his bed.
Blattlatch looks at the end of her tongs like she’s got a rat by the tail. She actually sniffs at it. Brings the tongs closer. Sniffs again. Explodes “Used! Worn! Uuuck!”
Sid climbs the headboard, chittering and squeaking. Such a drama monkey, he loves seeing Blattlatch upset. He must get it from me.
“They belong to a friend,” I venture.
“Dis-GUS-ting,” Blattlatch cries. Frog marches the thong to the trash, dumps it with a clatter of tongs and whirls to face me. “Where did you get that? Ordering off the internet? Eh?”
“I wasn’t always in a wheelchair Blattlatch. I used to be a man.”
Unfortunately for Dean, but fortunately for the reader, Hard Bite takes a turn when Dean seeks his revenge against the favorite son of Orella Malalinda, the leader of the Mexican-American drug trafficking business started by her father Alejandro. Orella’s son Ambrose was the “good” one that she hoped would stay out of the drug business. She is out to revenge her son’s death and uses all of her resources to track down Dean and his monkey. Dean’s life is also complicated when one of his targets may just be in it for the money and not really a hit and run killer.
The book also presents the police investigation by Detective Doug Coltson who attempts to find out first who he first thinks killed Hector Stamos. He quickly realizes that Hector Stamos is not who died, but Orella Malalinda’s son Ambrose whose real identity she has been hiding. Doug is a good detective and another interesting character that definitely adds to the book.
The book is really a combination of styles with part of the book in first person (of Dean Drayhart) and parts in third person perspective of other major characters. I started reading the book and thought is was going in one direction (just a serial killer) but it went in very different and interesting directions. Part serial killer, part police procedural with some Mexican mafia thrown in. Very dark and very funny in parts. A quick and very enjoyable read. I hope that Anonymous-9 writes more (and hopefully in her real name of Elaine Ash.)
Elaine Ash (Anonymous-9) contacted me after I followed her on Twitter. She saw some of the reviews at Mostlyficiton.com (where I posted many reviews in the past) and asked if I was interested in reading and reviewing her book. I was not really familiar with her writing although I may have read one of her short stories. She wrote in the noir style that I enjoy (I’m a two-time attendee to Noircon after all) so she sent me a copy of the book through Amazon to read on my kindle. This was the first review book I read that way and I actually found that format helpful for highlighting and taking notes. Of course, I still want real books of the ones I want to keep.
(This is an update of a short observation I had right after reading the book.)
February 2, 2014
This novel is perverse and original.
The first-person narrator decides to wage a vigilante campaign against jerks similar to the one who made him a paraplegic. Using social media and legacy 20th century style newspaper ads, he lures his usually guilty victims into his assassin's web. Then, in a truck equipped to house his wheelchair, accompanied by a loyal monkey to change the gears, he kills inventively, wielding the lie of the land as well as he does blunt metal and clever animal instruments, until his conscience rears up when faced with the law of unintended consequences. He fears not the mother-worshipping mafia style family he divested of one of its own, but the dark night in which he asks himself if, by wishing to do right by his own lights, he has not actually perpetrated the crime he set out to condemn and avenge.
As I read the last chapters the question drummed through my mind, "Is this victim turned killer going to be hoist with his own petard?" You'll have to read the novel to find out.
Another question that came to mind during the reading: "Is it possible to hatch a realistic scheme of revenge in LA without a hapless scriptwriter coming along to foul up the best laid plans of monkey and man?"
The LA baroque style of writing provides a throb-veined envelope for some seriously off-the-wall content, typified by a murder weapon that shares 97,6% of its owner's DNA.
The first-person narrator decides to wage a vigilante campaign against jerks similar to the one who made him a paraplegic. Using social media and legacy 20th century style newspaper ads, he lures his usually guilty victims into his assassin's web. Then, in a truck equipped to house his wheelchair, accompanied by a loyal monkey to change the gears, he kills inventively, wielding the lie of the land as well as he does blunt metal and clever animal instruments, until his conscience rears up when faced with the law of unintended consequences. He fears not the mother-worshipping mafia style family he divested of one of its own, but the dark night in which he asks himself if, by wishing to do right by his own lights, he has not actually perpetrated the crime he set out to condemn and avenge.
As I read the last chapters the question drummed through my mind, "Is this victim turned killer going to be hoist with his own petard?" You'll have to read the novel to find out.
Another question that came to mind during the reading: "Is it possible to hatch a realistic scheme of revenge in LA without a hapless scriptwriter coming along to foul up the best laid plans of monkey and man?"
The LA baroque style of writing provides a throb-veined envelope for some seriously off-the-wall content, typified by a murder weapon that shares 97,6% of its owner's DNA.
December 24, 2012
Hard Bite is a dark and twisted crime novella from Anonynmous-9 (aka Elaine Ash) about a paraplegic vigilante ridding the streets of hit and run drivers with help of his capuchin monkey, Sid. Dean Drayhart had lost his family, a hand, and the use of his legs trying to cross the street to visit Knott’s Berry Farm. In a first person POV, Dean tells us why he’s seeking revenge in a bitter and often self-effacing tone. Sid, his living assistance monkey, is more than just a cute, Bonzo-esque prop who sticks out his tongue for cheep laughs. He is a full fanged, unneutered primate with an attitude. Sometimes obedient and other times defiant, Sid even displays PTSD after committing a murder.
While Dean uses Craigslist and his skills as a former insurance actuary to research his next target, the POV shifts to a cop assigned to the murders and a Mexican mafia family who has lost a son/brother to Sid’s hard bite. Unbeknownst to Dean, things are going to get really messy for him and almost everybody he knows. The book is an unpredictable, fast read. Dean is one of the more original crime fiction characters in recent memory.
While Dean uses Craigslist and his skills as a former insurance actuary to research his next target, the POV shifts to a cop assigned to the murders and a Mexican mafia family who has lost a son/brother to Sid’s hard bite. Unbeknownst to Dean, things are going to get really messy for him and almost everybody he knows. The book is an unpredictable, fast read. Dean is one of the more original crime fiction characters in recent memory.
February 4, 2013
Hard Bite was a joy to read. Original, witty, smart, dark, and hard with a soft-centre. Elaine Ash (Anonymous-9) writes in very assured and sparkling prose that is all show and no tell, and which swaps between the first person narrative of Dean and the third person of the other characters, including Sid. I was hooked from the first sentence. The plot is very nicely put together, and whilst it could have twirled off into a screwball noir, it manages to be darkly comic without descending into farce, and wheels an interesting path through a morally fraught landscape. Dean is a remarkable lead character, strong in vision and drive but weak in body, and Ash doesn’t fall into the trap of portraying him in an ableist light. Sid is great fun as a helper monkey who was dropped from his training programme for attitude problems, and the other characters are all nicely realised. Along with good contextualisation, there is also a decent sense of place in both LA and Mexico. One of the most original crime and enjoyable novels I’ve read in a good while and thoroughly recommended.
December 12, 2012
HARD BITE by Anonymous 9
Absolutely loved this book. I’m a sucker for vigilante tales and this is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Plus, it had the bonus of the “crusader” employing a helper monkey to assist him. Unless there’s a genre featuring helper monkeys that everyone else knows about and I don’t, this is only the second novel I’ve ever read that featured one. The first was John Vernon’s magic realism novel, Peter Doyle in which the protagonist, on the hunt for Napoleon’s penis, owned a monkey he’d fashioned from body parts and when he was low on cash, would help fill the coffers by leaping on the backs of sailors, slash their throats and take their purses. Anonymous 9’s use of a helper monkey in Hard Bite, while different, was equally delightful and original. Just wondering how the folks at PETA liked it… Since I eat meat as often as I can, I’m without their prohibitions concerning critters and I give it a 5 out of 5 stars… Just a darned good read!
Absolutely loved this book. I’m a sucker for vigilante tales and this is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Plus, it had the bonus of the “crusader” employing a helper monkey to assist him. Unless there’s a genre featuring helper monkeys that everyone else knows about and I don’t, this is only the second novel I’ve ever read that featured one. The first was John Vernon’s magic realism novel, Peter Doyle in which the protagonist, on the hunt for Napoleon’s penis, owned a monkey he’d fashioned from body parts and when he was low on cash, would help fill the coffers by leaping on the backs of sailors, slash their throats and take their purses. Anonymous 9’s use of a helper monkey in Hard Bite, while different, was equally delightful and original. Just wondering how the folks at PETA liked it… Since I eat meat as often as I can, I’m without their prohibitions concerning critters and I give it a 5 out of 5 stars… Just a darned good read!
July 21, 2014
Anonymous 9 has crafted a book with one heck of a unique twist. We have a monkey trained to attack with a bite so deadly it can kill a man or woman and a main character who seeks retribution for a hit and run that left him a paraplegic,daughterless, and with a heart burning for revenge . But Dean, the paraplegic, has already extracted justice for his own hit and run, now seeks retribution for the surviving members of victims to other hit and run incidents. He slowly researches incidents of hit and run homicides and makes plans to make the perpetrator suffer the ultimate payback.
But sometimes the best plans can have consequences no one can foresee. And this is where the twists and turns of this book get exciting. We have drug lords, vengeful brothers, hookers that have hearts, and again, we have Sid, the monkey with the attitude. This book was well written and fun to read. It is set up nicely for a sequel and I for one, am looking forward to it.
But sometimes the best plans can have consequences no one can foresee. And this is where the twists and turns of this book get exciting. We have drug lords, vengeful brothers, hookers that have hearts, and again, we have Sid, the monkey with the attitude. This book was well written and fun to read. It is set up nicely for a sequel and I for one, am looking forward to it.
October 23, 2012
Anonymous-9 is a pen name for Elaine Ash. If you've kept up with various crime short fiction websites, "Hard Bite" may already be familiar to you, as it is expanded from a short story that has already made the rounds and won some awards on the internet. This debut novel keeps the premise of the original story; a hit-and-run victim confined to wheelchair seeks out revenge with the assistance of his trained killer monkey "Sid." If this alone doesn't entice you to want to read more, I don't know what will. In the longer form, the story is expanded to include how the cops go about investigating the crimes, and how the family of one of the victims takes matters into their own hands which all makes for a very entertaining read. A collection of short stories by the author including the original smaller "bite" is available as an eBook as well.
January 31, 2013
I'm a sucker for revenge books and movies, and this book fits the bill, with a few character and plot twists. I'm giving it 5 stars for the outrageous originality of the main character and his sidekick, a mutilated paraplegic and a psycho service monkey. Dean Drayhart lost his wife and child to a hit and run that left him maimed and paralyzed, so he takes it upon himself to avenge those "murdered" by hit and run drivers. Since he can't physically carry out the deed, Sid, his devoted capuchin, does. If you don't like dark and twisted mixed with black humor, you probably won't like this. But if you do, Hard Bite is for you.
October 27, 2012
This novel is a crazed slugfest of wild windmill and roundhouse punches that all connect. Mexican Mafia, drugs, murdered innocents, shedding flesh and spurting blood, a hooker, and of course Sid.Just when you think serial killing by monkey is cracked up to be a worthwhile endeavor, you dear reader will be hard-bitten. And believe me, you will enjoy the teeth sinking in your ear lobe, tearing away a portion of your ear and instead of complaining to the referee, you will ask for more. See my full review on Luridlit.com.
July 31, 2013
Hard Bite is a funny and witty book with a genuinely unique basis to it. However, it's not as funny and witty as I have found other books to be, and whilst at times I felt pity for the main character and understanding for why he does what he does, I can't always bring myself to like him, or I'd rather be reading about one of the other characters. The relationship between him and his monkey Sid though is absolutely brilliant and I feel that it is the humour in this relationship that really makes this book stands out and brings it to life.
March 31, 2014
A great vigilante story, with a unique hook: hit-and-run victim goes on a vengeance-killing spree with the help of his hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold girlfriend and by training his helper monkey to put the “Hard Bite” into those guilty of vehicular-manslaughter in L. A.. Well-paced and imaginative, with plenty of twists, interesting characters, and great action, this novel takes us on an entertaining ride. My only issue with the book is whether to shelve it before Margaret Atwood or after Nietzsche?
April 27, 2014
This is not the first handicapped man/helper monkey story to come down the pike (back in the '80s, there was "Monkey Shines" by Michael Stewart) -- but nonetheless, "Hard Bite" is very distinctive and clever. It has its own sensibility, quite different from the Stewart book, and benefits from a mordant sense of humor. Strong cast of characters across the board -- Sid's "personality" is something to see -- plus really good use of L.A. locations. Fun stuff. I'd be glad to read the sequel that the ending here sets up.
July 22, 2013
A fast flowing story, easy to read and enjoyable. A vigilante style story where you are left wondering who is really the victim. An book of interesting ideas pulled together with a carefully woven tale from several perceptions and angles. Definitely worth a read.
A Goodreads giveaway. Thanks for the book Anonymous-9. I really enjoyed it. Have passed in on to the next reader.
A Goodreads giveaway. Thanks for the book Anonymous-9. I really enjoyed it. Have passed in on to the next reader.
October 31, 2013
I'm not sure what to say about HARD BITE. A paraplegic uses a monkey for vengeance killings. Anonymous 9 writes at a fast pace and has the strangest plot I've read in a long time. I always wonder what authors like this are like in real life? They clearly spend a lot of time thinking about crafty ways of killing people. Well written and a new stab at crime/pulp for readers of this stripe.
August 7, 2015
Crime novel where a paraplegic serial killer, aided by his trained monkey, are tracking down and killing hit-and-run drivers in Los Angeles (he and his family were victims of one). The lawmen aren't stupid and begin to pick up his trail.
Pretty good story that leaves the ending open, so will probably be the first of a series.
Pretty good story that leaves the ending open, so will probably be the first of a series.
November 5, 2012
This book was a blast from start to finish. loved it. i read this book on a Sunday (while trying to watch NFL football!!) and couldnt put it down. cant wait to see what comes next!! hopefully another is coming shortly???!!!
December 2, 2012
Hard Bite was a really good read, it was deadly, yet still amusing and I found Sid the monkey became my favourite! I can't remember reading a book with a monkey in it as a main character. Very enjoyable!!
December 3, 2014
I had a lot of fun reading this book. I mean, what's not to like about a one-armed paraplegic vigilante and his killer helper monkey? A truly original story, well written, quirky, and fast-moving. Looking forward to reading Bite Harder to find out what happens next.
July 6, 2015
Hard Bite is the gripping and blackly comic story of a serial killer in a wheelchair and his monkey accomplice that kicks off a brilliant combination of revenge tale, mini- mafia saga and police procedural. A smart and arch spin on hardboiled crime fiction.
October 28, 2012
Nice! Thrill ride from beginning to end. ANOTHER quality release from the boys at a blasted Heath. They can do no wrong. Can't wait to see what's next from Anonymous-9!!!
November 26, 2012
Hear our full review here: http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2012/11/...
December 13, 2015
191 reviews on Amazon; Readers Choice Award (2012) from The House of Crime and Mystery (Canada); Top 5 Debut Novels of 2013 from BOOK PEOPLE, largest indie book store in Texas, many "Best of" lists
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