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A Good Rush of Blood
A mother's sins haunt a teenage runaway in this scorching mystery of criminal conspiracy, street-level justice, and unlikely courage.
Creeley Nash has been running her entire life. That includes running drugs for a wannabe kingpin. On a drug run to Palm Springs--the town where Creeley escaped her no-good mother as a teen--she'll encounter a sun-drenched facade beneath which lurks a web of dark secrets. A Good Rush of Blood follows Creeley as she unravels the mystery of her estranged mother's murder conviction.
Peopled with bent cops, grizzled reporters, hardened drug dealers, eccentric sidekicks, and sexy librarians, this sweaty, fast-paced neo-noir finds stellar noir scribe Matt Phillips (Countdown, Know Me from Smoke) at the apex of his dirty, lethal game.
Creeley Nash has been running her entire life. That includes running drugs for a wannabe kingpin. On a drug run to Palm Springs--the town where Creeley escaped her no-good mother as a teen--she'll encounter a sun-drenched facade beneath which lurks a web of dark secrets. A Good Rush of Blood follows Creeley as she unravels the mystery of her estranged mother's murder conviction.
Peopled with bent cops, grizzled reporters, hardened drug dealers, eccentric sidekicks, and sexy librarians, this sweaty, fast-paced neo-noir finds stellar noir scribe Matt Phillips (Countdown, Know Me from Smoke) at the apex of his dirty, lethal game.
- GenresMystery
316 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2023
6 people are currently reading
3845 people want to read
About the author
Matt Phillips
22 books91 followersMatt Phillips lives in San Diego. His books are A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD, QUIET AND THE DARKNESS, TO BRING MY SHADOW, COUNTDOWN, KNOW ME FROM SMOKE, THE BAD KIND OF LUCKY, ACCIDENTAL OUTLAWS, REDBONE, BAD LUCK CITY, and THREE KINDS OF FOOL. His short fiction has been published in Tough, Mystery Tribune, Retreats from Oblivion, Shotgun Honey, and Out of the Gutter. More info at www.mattphillipswriter.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
October 17, 2023
A Good Rush of Blood (Expected publication November 1, 2023) (312 pages) is Phillips’ latest entry into the crime fiction universe. Here, Phillips combines two strands of crime fiction, the noir atmosphere of the desperate losers at the edge of society and the who-done-it enterprise of detective fiction. What’s more the combination of these two strands is done so seamlessly that you don’t even realize what he is doing until you are deep into the narrative.
Creeley Nash is the kind of loser that modern crime fiction feasts upon. She is a drug-runner for “Animal” who is based in Portland. Her mother was a Palm Springs prostitute and Creeley ran away (hopping freight cars) as a teenager and never looked back. She never knew her father. She’s good at her job and trusted (until now), but has no goals and no future other than survival and there are times even that doesn’t seem important. Her character is authentic and believable.
But, as you might have guessed, returning to the Desert brings Creeley into contact with ghosts from her past and suddenly she has someone she has not given a damn about in decades in prison for a crime perhaps she did not commit. It’s hard for Creeley to know the truth and harder still for her confront what her delving into her past means. Naively, drug-runner Creeley, with the help of a punkish librarian and a transvestite motel neighbor, sets out to play junior detective, unearthing things that were perhaps better left alone.
For a 312-page book, A Good Rush of Blood has the feel of a much shorter book. It is fast-paced, adrenaline-charged read.
Creeley Nash is the kind of loser that modern crime fiction feasts upon. She is a drug-runner for “Animal” who is based in Portland. Her mother was a Palm Springs prostitute and Creeley ran away (hopping freight cars) as a teenager and never looked back. She never knew her father. She’s good at her job and trusted (until now), but has no goals and no future other than survival and there are times even that doesn’t seem important. Her character is authentic and believable.
But, as you might have guessed, returning to the Desert brings Creeley into contact with ghosts from her past and suddenly she has someone she has not given a damn about in decades in prison for a crime perhaps she did not commit. It’s hard for Creeley to know the truth and harder still for her confront what her delving into her past means. Naively, drug-runner Creeley, with the help of a punkish librarian and a transvestite motel neighbor, sets out to play junior detective, unearthing things that were perhaps better left alone.
For a 312-page book, A Good Rush of Blood has the feel of a much shorter book. It is fast-paced, adrenaline-charged read.
October 22, 2023
I’ve read, enjoyed and reviewed several of Matt Phillips’s previous novels and as a result he sent me an advanced copy of this, his latest novel.
Creeley Nash is a drug runner who delivers packages out of Portland, Oregon, across several states, on behalf of her dealer, Animal. Approaching forty, Creeley was a teenage runaway, abandoning her crappy life with her drug abusing prostitute mother, Blossom, when she was just fifteen. On a run to Joshua Tree, Creeley encounters an acquaintance from her youth, who informs her that her mother is now serving life for the murder of a teenager in Palm Springs in 1996. Creeley decides to visit her mother in prison and following her conversation with her, believes that she is innocent and sets out to prove it. Creeley teams up with a Palm Sorings murder detective Monty, a punky librarian Amber and gay vacationer Kimmie, during her initial enquiries and assisted by them, she sets out to prove her mother’s innocence. Her task is further complicated due to the fact that Animal is on her case, as she’s failed to deliver his drugs and money.
This is a fast moving, complicated ‘whodunnit’ with lots of twists and turns along the way, the most shocking being the identity of the teenage victim. I liked protagonist Creeley, as during the course of the novel we see her character changing. She goes from being relatively easy going but switched on, to an individual full of anger and rage, that sometimes spills over into violence, due to the frustrations of the investigation and injustices that she reveals. She also has to face up to her past and delve back in time to reengage with relatives from her early life. Phillips also intersperses the present day story with chapters revealing significant events from Creeley’s past which help us understand her better. The story however is not all dark and there are plenty of lighthearted moments, especially when there’s plenty alcohol and drugs present. There is also a vast array of, usually eccentric, characters and I did lose track of who’s who a couple of times. Creeley’s investigation takes us on a violent ride that ultimately reveal’s corruption at the very heart of Palm Springs police and local government systems that try and stymie her at every turn.
This is a worthy addition to Matt Phillips canon, as he appears to raise the bar with regard to the characterisation and adventurousness of the plot with each new publication.
Creeley Nash is a drug runner who delivers packages out of Portland, Oregon, across several states, on behalf of her dealer, Animal. Approaching forty, Creeley was a teenage runaway, abandoning her crappy life with her drug abusing prostitute mother, Blossom, when she was just fifteen. On a run to Joshua Tree, Creeley encounters an acquaintance from her youth, who informs her that her mother is now serving life for the murder of a teenager in Palm Springs in 1996. Creeley decides to visit her mother in prison and following her conversation with her, believes that she is innocent and sets out to prove it. Creeley teams up with a Palm Sorings murder detective Monty, a punky librarian Amber and gay vacationer Kimmie, during her initial enquiries and assisted by them, she sets out to prove her mother’s innocence. Her task is further complicated due to the fact that Animal is on her case, as she’s failed to deliver his drugs and money.
This is a fast moving, complicated ‘whodunnit’ with lots of twists and turns along the way, the most shocking being the identity of the teenage victim. I liked protagonist Creeley, as during the course of the novel we see her character changing. She goes from being relatively easy going but switched on, to an individual full of anger and rage, that sometimes spills over into violence, due to the frustrations of the investigation and injustices that she reveals. She also has to face up to her past and delve back in time to reengage with relatives from her early life. Phillips also intersperses the present day story with chapters revealing significant events from Creeley’s past which help us understand her better. The story however is not all dark and there are plenty of lighthearted moments, especially when there’s plenty alcohol and drugs present. There is also a vast array of, usually eccentric, characters and I did lose track of who’s who a couple of times. Creeley’s investigation takes us on a violent ride that ultimately reveal’s corruption at the very heart of Palm Springs police and local government systems that try and stymie her at every turn.
This is a worthy addition to Matt Phillips canon, as he appears to raise the bar with regard to the characterisation and adventurousness of the plot with each new publication.
February 9, 2024
Welcome to another episode of " what the fuck did I just read?"
Maybe this is just not for me
I wanted to like it and I was really excited about it but this was really disappointing to be honest.
This started off good then it turned meh and sadly the last 100 pages ruined everything for me.
I hated this but I have my reasons:
1- the writing: don't get me started on how much I hated the writing. I usually don't have a problem with profanity but not like this. Those characters cuss more than saying is and I lol. Like here is a direct quote from the book and it didn't even mean anything sexual: "f*cking shit. F*ck the f*ck out of me". See what I mean? You know what was the occasion of saying that ? She just realized who killed her brother...
This wasn't a one time case, this was simply most of the book.
I do think that using profanity like that makes the sentences not really understandable. In addition to profanity, I just didn't like the writing style and there were some Grammer mistakes and I am not convinced that drug runners talk like that all the time.
2- the plot: this was supposedly a mystery but I felt like the whodunnit was too far pitched and out of the blue and until now I can't even understand who killed who and who slept with who. All I understand is that her brother was killed years ago and her mother was imprisoned for it and apparently the killer was one of the cops with whom their mother slept (she is a prostitute) and after some more understanding I realized that no, he wasn't sleeping with her but how he and those cops where connected to her brother's murder was literally out of the blue so I gave up on understanding.
3- The characters: I really liked the fmc. She was so badass. I also liked Paul a little. The thing is that there were too many side characters and most of them were cops. I had a hard time trying to remember those really boring side characters so I eventually gave up on that too.
So basically, I didn't care about the characters because there was too much of them and they were just boring. The plot just revolved around some corrupt cops and a mystery I wanted to understand and the writing wasn't for me.
Bottom line: onto the "this gave me PTSD" shelf this goes :)
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Maybe this is just not for me
I wanted to like it and I was really excited about it but this was really disappointing to be honest.
This started off good then it turned meh and sadly the last 100 pages ruined everything for me.
I hated this but I have my reasons:
1- the writing: don't get me started on how much I hated the writing. I usually don't have a problem with profanity but not like this. Those characters cuss more than saying is and I lol. Like here is a direct quote from the book and it didn't even mean anything sexual: "f*cking shit. F*ck the f*ck out of me". See what I mean? You know what was the occasion of saying that ? She just realized who killed her brother...
This wasn't a one time case, this was simply most of the book.
I do think that using profanity like that makes the sentences not really understandable. In addition to profanity, I just didn't like the writing style and there were some Grammer mistakes and I am not convinced that drug runners talk like that all the time.
2- the plot: this was supposedly a mystery but I felt like the whodunnit was too far pitched and out of the blue and until now I can't even understand who killed who and who slept with who. All I understand is that her brother was killed years ago and her mother was imprisoned for it and apparently the killer was one of the cops with whom their mother slept (she is a prostitute) and after some more understanding I realized that no, he wasn't sleeping with her but how he and those cops where connected to her brother's murder was literally out of the blue so I gave up on understanding.
3- The characters: I really liked the fmc. She was so badass. I also liked Paul a little. The thing is that there were too many side characters and most of them were cops. I had a hard time trying to remember those really boring side characters so I eventually gave up on that too.
So basically, I didn't care about the characters because there was too much of them and they were just boring. The plot just revolved around some corrupt cops and a mystery I wanted to understand and the writing wasn't for me.
Bottom line: onto the "this gave me PTSD" shelf this goes :)
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 6, 2023
Creeley Nash works as a drug runner for Animal, proving herself trustworthy for three solid years. Everything changes when he sends her on a run to Palm Springs. There, Creeley confronts her past and gets involved in proving that a convicted murderer is actually innocent. With Animal on her trail as well as myriad crooked cops and thugs, Creeley must rely on new and old friends and her own strong will to keep herself safe.
Creeley is one heck of a fascinating protagonist. Her rough history has made her tough as nails, giving her the sheer nerve to standup to the kind of bad guys that would have most people cowering. The colorful people she meets along the way, including librarian Amber and cool cat Kimmie are an absolute joy.
Phillips keeps the plot pumping, making the novel hard to put down. While Creeley is a formidable force, I found myself at times having to suspend disbelief. For example, believing Creeley could keep Animal’s goods secure in seedy motels while she occupied by her sleuthing. But half the fun was watching Creeley’s gutsy actions, the kind of things female characters rarely are given the opportunity to do; the kind of things that male crime fiction characters do all the darn time.
I really admired how Phillips slowly revealed Creeley’s backstory and created such a strong female protagonist.
For me, A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD was a 4.5 star read, rounded up to five.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thanks to the author for providing an Advance Reader Copy.
Creeley is one heck of a fascinating protagonist. Her rough history has made her tough as nails, giving her the sheer nerve to standup to the kind of bad guys that would have most people cowering. The colorful people she meets along the way, including librarian Amber and cool cat Kimmie are an absolute joy.
Phillips keeps the plot pumping, making the novel hard to put down. While Creeley is a formidable force, I found myself at times having to suspend disbelief. For example, believing Creeley could keep Animal’s goods secure in seedy motels while she occupied by her sleuthing. But half the fun was watching Creeley’s gutsy actions, the kind of things female characters rarely are given the opportunity to do; the kind of things that male crime fiction characters do all the darn time.
I really admired how Phillips slowly revealed Creeley’s backstory and created such a strong female protagonist.
For me, A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD was a 4.5 star read, rounded up to five.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thanks to the author for providing an Advance Reader Copy.
November 9, 2023
A Good Rush of Blood is bold and bloody grit lit, and it hits like a hammer.
Creeley Nash is almost forty, a drug runner living in Portland, Oregon. In her teens, she ran away from Palm Springs, leaving her mom and the motel where they’d been living so her mom could turn tricks. A drug run brings Creeley back to Palm Springs, where new information about her mom throws her life off balance.
Phillips’ prose is solid (Another guitar riff burned through the night, seemed to call forth some devil from the deep, or from another dimension.), and I like how he blends fragments with complete sentences so the writing feels urgent. For example:
Tweakers.
Addicts.
Mutts.
Douchebags.
Creeley had seen it all and these two fucks might be the worst.
I especially enjoyed the chapters labeled History Lessons that shed light on why Creeley ran away. These quieter moments are a reprieve from the action, and let the reader understand Creeley in a more intimate way.
In addition to Creeley, there's a Palm Springs detective (Monty), a librarian with a mohawk (Amber), a gay man going through a divorce (Kimmie), a childhood friend (Paul), and Creeley’s employer (Animal). It’s quite the cast of characters.
This book is filled with drugs, booze, violence, and wit, but the story is about the draw family has on you, even when you don’t want anything to do with them. And Creeley learns you can’t run forever.
Creeley Nash is almost forty, a drug runner living in Portland, Oregon. In her teens, she ran away from Palm Springs, leaving her mom and the motel where they’d been living so her mom could turn tricks. A drug run brings Creeley back to Palm Springs, where new information about her mom throws her life off balance.
Phillips’ prose is solid (Another guitar riff burned through the night, seemed to call forth some devil from the deep, or from another dimension.), and I like how he blends fragments with complete sentences so the writing feels urgent. For example:
Tweakers.
Addicts.
Mutts.
Douchebags.
Creeley had seen it all and these two fucks might be the worst.
I especially enjoyed the chapters labeled History Lessons that shed light on why Creeley ran away. These quieter moments are a reprieve from the action, and let the reader understand Creeley in a more intimate way.
In addition to Creeley, there's a Palm Springs detective (Monty), a librarian with a mohawk (Amber), a gay man going through a divorce (Kimmie), a childhood friend (Paul), and Creeley’s employer (Animal). It’s quite the cast of characters.
This book is filled with drugs, booze, violence, and wit, but the story is about the draw family has on you, even when you don’t want anything to do with them. And Creeley learns you can’t run forever.
October 1, 2023
A Good Rush of Blood is a fast-past story filled with adventure, suspense, betrayal, and complicated relationships. Creeley Nash is a complex character who has been dealt a hard hand in life. The storyline has many twists and turns and keeps you guessing throughout the entire book. Matt Phillips did an excellent job weaving heartbreak, self-discovery, and mystery together.
August 31, 2023
“If you’ve ever run from anybody or anything, this book is for you.” From the jump, A Good Rush of Blood is a gritty, fast-paced, twisty adventure filled with intriguing characters and a setting that will challenge common perception. Matt Phillips masterfully weaves a complex web of intrigue and suspense that keeps his reader on the edge of their seat as he unveils the seedy haunts and hidden players in a popular resort town. He stays true to the style of the genre while crafting his story with a unique narrative spin. The pacing is relentless as each character demonstrates the propensity to be both inherently good, but also very bad. You may think you have it all figured out, but turn one more page and that theory will start to unravel. A Good Rush of Blood is a roller coaster ride of emotions and revelations that creates an exhilarating reading experience.
August 19, 2023
Creeley Nash is minding her own business running drugs for her boss Animal. Then Animal sends her to her old stomping grounds to do a pick up. Creeley figures in and out no big deal. That is until family secrets get dragged up and she decides to go see her mom. That's where Creeley Nash's whole world starts to unravel. Between bent cops,cigarette smoking news reporters, outlaw bikers, and crooked politicians this book goes off like a bomb!! Must read!!
October 19, 2023
Thank you to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD. The book started out strong. It reminded me a lot of Elmore Leonard’s work. Phillips style has that grit and tempo needed when writing crime.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but there were some elements that felt contrived, specifically Creeley’s relationship with Amber. I don’t think the romantic elements were necessary as they didn’t really add much to Creeley’s character arc. I also felt that Creeley’s seedy world wasn’t as developed as it could be. If you watch any type of crime drama, it’s always the same. Corrupt politicians and cops, drug dealers, motorcycle gangs, etc. It would have been nice to go into more depth with less predictability, whether that be from character motivations or plot twists, instead of just scratching the surface and relying on what the reader already knows of the genre. The social commentary that was added through the lenses of Monty and Amber also felt a little too preachy.
I’ll probably read more of Phillips work because I do like his style.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but there were some elements that felt contrived, specifically Creeley’s relationship with Amber. I don’t think the romantic elements were necessary as they didn’t really add much to Creeley’s character arc. I also felt that Creeley’s seedy world wasn’t as developed as it could be. If you watch any type of crime drama, it’s always the same. Corrupt politicians and cops, drug dealers, motorcycle gangs, etc. It would have been nice to go into more depth with less predictability, whether that be from character motivations or plot twists, instead of just scratching the surface and relying on what the reader already knows of the genre. The social commentary that was added through the lenses of Monty and Amber also felt a little too preachy.
I’ll probably read more of Phillips work because I do like his style.
September 22, 2024
I read this book in a day. I found that I couldn't put it down because I cared so much about Creeley. I wanted to know what happened. I look forward to reading more books by Matt Phillips.
December 6, 2023
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
WHAT'S A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD ABOUT?
Creely Nash is almost forty, single, a waitress in downtown Portland, and a drug runner. That last item may be eye-catching, and it's really the only thing in Nash's life that could be described that way.
She's been driving for Animal for long enough for him to trust her implicitly—she gets the job done with no muss, no fuss, and no questions. Pick up from some place in the Western US and deliver it somewhere else. Period. She gets a nice flat fee and goes back to work. She's started a savings account so that one day she can move south of the border and forget everything else.
And then Animal has her do a job in Palm Springs, California. When she was 16, Creely ran away from her mother there and never looked back. She'd never been back, either. She should've told Animal no—it might not have been good for their working relationship if she had, but it'd be better than it ended up being.
One thing leads to another, and she runs into a face from her past who tells her that Creely's mother is doing life in Chino for murder. The wheels come off at that point—there's no love lost between Creely and Blossom, but you don't shake off news like that. Creely delays returning to Portland (angering Animal) to stop in Chino. Blossom tells Creely she's innocent, but not much else.
Creely decides to stay in Palm Springs and get some answers—at least for herself, but maybe for her mother, too. Animal is beyond angry at this point and promises Creely that if she's not home soon, she'll be killed.
She's about as unlikely an amateur detective as you're going to find—and this is no cozy where gumption and banter are going to get her anywhere. But luck, making a good friend or two, and a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time just might put her on the right trail.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD?
I didn't think of Know Me from Smoke once while reading this book. But I've had a hard time not thinking about it every time I've thought about the book since then. Briefly—this is a better novel in just about every way that I can think of. But I didn't care about what was happening or the people it was happening to nearly as much as I did with Know Me from Smoke. This probably says more about me than either book (I'm not sure what it says, however).
Now that I've got that out of the way, hopefully, my subconscious will allow me to focus on this book by itself.
The characters are so well-drawn that it's hard to think of them as characters. It's common to talk about a well-depicted as "flawed." These characters are beyond flawed—some of them seem to be nothing but flaws. This is not a criticism in any way—these characters are real. The kind of people that we pass by every day—some of us even are these people.
Throughout the book, Creely accumulates people to help her in one form or another. And she does very little to obtain these helpers—in fact, she sometimes tries to shake them off. But it's only through the addition of her allies that she comes closer and closer to getting the answers that she's looking for. It's not that she's been friendless before—or ally-less even. But I didn't get the impression that she's had this many at once before.
I don't understand the motivation for two of her allies—the two who end up personally most important to her. The more I consider the novel—and what these two characters say about themselves and their reasons for helping Creely—the less I understand them. It's not that I find them unbelievable as characters (see what I said above), nor that I think we have to understand the motivations of everyone in life or fiction. But I really want to sit them down and ask, "Why are you putting yourself through this for this stranger? I know what you said, but really, why?" Maybe it's because they're easily the most likable characters in the book that their involvement in this mess (to put it succinctly)—and the ones who will benefit the least from it—that I've spent so much time thinking about them.
But those are secondary matters—the focus of this book is Creely. The murder mystery and what she (and others) must accomplish and endure to get answers is secondary, too. This is ultimately a matter of Creely understanding herself and getting a better understanding of the world. That is not to say the reader will necessarily agree with the latter—but it's important. Creely would, I believe, sneer at the notion of "self-discovery" (I'm not sure that Phillips would be crazy about it either), so I won't say she's on a voyage of self-discovery here—although that's the cliché one would appropriately use for any other protagonist in similar circumstances.
Creely's life has been characterized by survival—I imagine her aspirations have been low, characterized primarily by "different than now" and "less bad." Even her vague plans for getting out of drug running (eventually) could be seen as "getting by in better weather." But this news about her mother and how it impacted Creely give her the opportunity to do something that counts. Something that could have a lasting impact for someone (in a positive way). It's not about making a mark on the world in a way that draws attention to herself, garners fame, or any of the usual things we see in fiction. Creely finds an opportunity to accomplish something that will affect people. She's not had that ever—and is unlikely to have it again (especially if Animal finds her.
That's what drives Creely, what drives the novel—and she discovers, like so many of us, that she really didn't understand much about her childhood, her parents, and what set her on her path. Sure, there's more tragedy and drama in her past than some experience—and few have as hazardous a path to learn this as she does. But most readers will be able to relate to what she goes through in some way. By the end of this experience, Creely might be able to do more than simply exist, there might be more for her than getting to the next day. I doubt self-reflection has been a big part of her life prior to these events—and it might not be a huge component after. But she does do some now—and that's no small thing.
I've gone on a lot about character, self-discovery, and whatnot—and you may be saying to yourself that this is a far cry from the "sweaty, fast-paced neo-noir" "[p]eopled with bent cops, grizzled reporters, hardened drug dealers, eccentric sidekicks, and sexy librarians" that the back of the book promises. You're absolutely right to do that. I can only blather on like that because I'm late with this post—if I'd written this immediately (as intended), I'd have focused on that kind of thing and maybe devoted a paragraph to the things I've started to explore above. But I've had time to ponder.
"Sweaty" is an incredibly apt word. I kept thinking greasy and grimy for some reason while reading—just a present and real sense of wanting to wipe your hands off on something throughout. It's like that hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you know why the lights are dim and you don't care what kind of dodgy things happen in the kitchen because the food is great. "Fast-paced: might be an exaggeration, but it is propulsive—once the "murder" comes into play, there's a momentum that carries you forward and you can't get off. Like the moment the roller coaster starts to move and you get the sense that nothing can stop it now.
There's both a rawness and a cleanness to the prose that makes you know that Phillips sweated over every line—possibly every syllable. It was absolutely worth it—it's been five years since I first read Phillips, and he's put them to good use (and the memory of the quality of that writing has remained with me longer than other books I read that year). The power of what he's given the readers is going to linger in your subconscious.
This is one of the noir-est books I've read in 2023—a statement that would hold up in almost any year you read it—solidifying my impression of Runamok Crime as an imprint to stalk. Fans of Jordan Harper, Eli Cranor, or Vern Smith would do well to pick this up.
Disclaimer: I received this ARC from the publisher, but my opinions are my own and honest.
---
WHAT'S A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD ABOUT?
Creely Nash is almost forty, single, a waitress in downtown Portland, and a drug runner. That last item may be eye-catching, and it's really the only thing in Nash's life that could be described that way.
She's been driving for Animal for long enough for him to trust her implicitly—she gets the job done with no muss, no fuss, and no questions. Pick up from some place in the Western US and deliver it somewhere else. Period. She gets a nice flat fee and goes back to work. She's started a savings account so that one day she can move south of the border and forget everything else.
And then Animal has her do a job in Palm Springs, California. When she was 16, Creely ran away from her mother there and never looked back. She'd never been back, either. She should've told Animal no—it might not have been good for their working relationship if she had, but it'd be better than it ended up being.
One thing leads to another, and she runs into a face from her past who tells her that Creely's mother is doing life in Chino for murder. The wheels come off at that point—there's no love lost between Creely and Blossom, but you don't shake off news like that. Creely delays returning to Portland (angering Animal) to stop in Chino. Blossom tells Creely she's innocent, but not much else.
Creely decides to stay in Palm Springs and get some answers—at least for herself, but maybe for her mother, too. Animal is beyond angry at this point and promises Creely that if she's not home soon, she'll be killed.
She's about as unlikely an amateur detective as you're going to find—and this is no cozy where gumption and banter are going to get her anywhere. But luck, making a good friend or two, and a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time just might put her on the right trail.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD?
I didn't think of Know Me from Smoke once while reading this book. But I've had a hard time not thinking about it every time I've thought about the book since then. Briefly—this is a better novel in just about every way that I can think of. But I didn't care about what was happening or the people it was happening to nearly as much as I did with Know Me from Smoke. This probably says more about me than either book (I'm not sure what it says, however).
Now that I've got that out of the way, hopefully, my subconscious will allow me to focus on this book by itself.
The characters are so well-drawn that it's hard to think of them as characters. It's common to talk about a well-depicted as "flawed." These characters are beyond flawed—some of them seem to be nothing but flaws. This is not a criticism in any way—these characters are real. The kind of people that we pass by every day—some of us even are these people.
Throughout the book, Creely accumulates people to help her in one form or another. And she does very little to obtain these helpers—in fact, she sometimes tries to shake them off. But it's only through the addition of her allies that she comes closer and closer to getting the answers that she's looking for. It's not that she's been friendless before—or ally-less even. But I didn't get the impression that she's had this many at once before.
I don't understand the motivation for two of her allies—the two who end up personally most important to her. The more I consider the novel—and what these two characters say about themselves and their reasons for helping Creely—the less I understand them. It's not that I find them unbelievable as characters (see what I said above), nor that I think we have to understand the motivations of everyone in life or fiction. But I really want to sit them down and ask, "Why are you putting yourself through this for this stranger? I know what you said, but really, why?" Maybe it's because they're easily the most likable characters in the book that their involvement in this mess (to put it succinctly)—and the ones who will benefit the least from it—that I've spent so much time thinking about them.
But those are secondary matters—the focus of this book is Creely. The murder mystery and what she (and others) must accomplish and endure to get answers is secondary, too. This is ultimately a matter of Creely understanding herself and getting a better understanding of the world. That is not to say the reader will necessarily agree with the latter—but it's important. Creely would, I believe, sneer at the notion of "self-discovery" (I'm not sure that Phillips would be crazy about it either), so I won't say she's on a voyage of self-discovery here—although that's the cliché one would appropriately use for any other protagonist in similar circumstances.
Creely's life has been characterized by survival—I imagine her aspirations have been low, characterized primarily by "different than now" and "less bad." Even her vague plans for getting out of drug running (eventually) could be seen as "getting by in better weather." But this news about her mother and how it impacted Creely give her the opportunity to do something that counts. Something that could have a lasting impact for someone (in a positive way). It's not about making a mark on the world in a way that draws attention to herself, garners fame, or any of the usual things we see in fiction. Creely finds an opportunity to accomplish something that will affect people. She's not had that ever—and is unlikely to have it again (especially if Animal finds her.
That's what drives Creely, what drives the novel—and she discovers, like so many of us, that she really didn't understand much about her childhood, her parents, and what set her on her path. Sure, there's more tragedy and drama in her past than some experience—and few have as hazardous a path to learn this as she does. But most readers will be able to relate to what she goes through in some way. By the end of this experience, Creely might be able to do more than simply exist, there might be more for her than getting to the next day. I doubt self-reflection has been a big part of her life prior to these events—and it might not be a huge component after. But she does do some now—and that's no small thing.
I've gone on a lot about character, self-discovery, and whatnot—and you may be saying to yourself that this is a far cry from the "sweaty, fast-paced neo-noir" "[p]eopled with bent cops, grizzled reporters, hardened drug dealers, eccentric sidekicks, and sexy librarians" that the back of the book promises. You're absolutely right to do that. I can only blather on like that because I'm late with this post—if I'd written this immediately (as intended), I'd have focused on that kind of thing and maybe devoted a paragraph to the things I've started to explore above. But I've had time to ponder.
"Sweaty" is an incredibly apt word. I kept thinking greasy and grimy for some reason while reading—just a present and real sense of wanting to wipe your hands off on something throughout. It's like that hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you know why the lights are dim and you don't care what kind of dodgy things happen in the kitchen because the food is great. "Fast-paced: might be an exaggeration, but it is propulsive—once the "murder" comes into play, there's a momentum that carries you forward and you can't get off. Like the moment the roller coaster starts to move and you get the sense that nothing can stop it now.
There's both a rawness and a cleanness to the prose that makes you know that Phillips sweated over every line—possibly every syllable. It was absolutely worth it—it's been five years since I first read Phillips, and he's put them to good use (and the memory of the quality of that writing has remained with me longer than other books I read that year). The power of what he's given the readers is going to linger in your subconscious.
This is one of the noir-est books I've read in 2023—a statement that would hold up in almost any year you read it—solidifying my impression of Runamok Crime as an imprint to stalk. Fans of Jordan Harper, Eli Cranor, or Vern Smith would do well to pick this up.
Disclaimer: I received this ARC from the publisher, but my opinions are my own and honest.
October 2, 2023
This is a book from talented author Matt Phillips that pulls no punches. It follows Creeley from her running away from a bad childhood and when we meet her years later, she is a mule for a drug lord from Portland. On one of her runs she discovers that her mother has been in prison for murder. She reluctantly visits her mother in prison and believes she is innocent of the crime she was incarcerated for. This starts Creeley on a hunt looking for any clues she can to prove her mother’s innocence. Along the way she meets many unsavory characters some who try and help her and others who want to keep the past buried.
Not many likeable characters abound and they all have flaws and sordid pasts. Mr. Phillips brings them to life in a realistic way. This is a very well written novel and I definitely recommend it.
Not many likeable characters abound and they all have flaws and sordid pasts. Mr. Phillips brings them to life in a realistic way. This is a very well written novel and I definitely recommend it.
September 3, 2023
After reading 4-5 Matt Phillips novels, I thought I'd figured him out. A solid crime novelist mining the underbelly of San Diego much like Elmore Leonard did Detroit in the 1970s. Offbeat stories and characters, crisp dialogue, plus all the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. Highly recommended.
But I wasn't prepared for A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD.
Right out of the gate, this book is a leap forward in style and story. Tough, jagged sentences sketch out the life and crimes of Creeley Nash in a few pages, and we have some short flashback chapters throughout the novel that fill in some of the blanks, but after 15-20 pages we are thrown headfirst into the action.
Phillips has branched out from San Diego - but not so far that he's on unfamiliar ground (I'm guessing). The scene is Palm Springs, and you get a real sense of the town. The scuzzy dive bars, the McMansions in the desert, the tweaker flophouses - and everything in between.
I won't say too much about the plot. It's best to go in as cold as possible and let it unravel. But...it is definitely more twisty and labyrinthine than anything else I've read by Phillips. Just when you think you've got it worked out, the rug is pulled from under your feet.
For me, it is always about characters in a book- and there are some great ones here. Some only pop up for a brief chapter, others stay the course, but they all come together to create a low down and dirty tapestry of noir. Crooked cops, grizzled journalists, sketchy dealers. Everything is weaved together perfectly into a cocktail of crime and corruption that chugs along nicely, with an ending that is bittersweet perfection.
The best thing I've read by Matt Phillips, and definitely one of the best books I've read this year.
But I wasn't prepared for A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD.
Right out of the gate, this book is a leap forward in style and story. Tough, jagged sentences sketch out the life and crimes of Creeley Nash in a few pages, and we have some short flashback chapters throughout the novel that fill in some of the blanks, but after 15-20 pages we are thrown headfirst into the action.
Phillips has branched out from San Diego - but not so far that he's on unfamiliar ground (I'm guessing). The scene is Palm Springs, and you get a real sense of the town. The scuzzy dive bars, the McMansions in the desert, the tweaker flophouses - and everything in between.
I won't say too much about the plot. It's best to go in as cold as possible and let it unravel. But...it is definitely more twisty and labyrinthine than anything else I've read by Phillips. Just when you think you've got it worked out, the rug is pulled from under your feet.
For me, it is always about characters in a book- and there are some great ones here. Some only pop up for a brief chapter, others stay the course, but they all come together to create a low down and dirty tapestry of noir. Crooked cops, grizzled journalists, sketchy dealers. Everything is weaved together perfectly into a cocktail of crime and corruption that chugs along nicely, with an ending that is bittersweet perfection.
The best thing I've read by Matt Phillips, and definitely one of the best books I've read this year.
December 20, 2023
A Good Rush of Blood is a terrific neo-noir crime novel from Matt Phillips. It's well plotted, but full of such interesting characters that I found myself reading it at a slower pace because I enjoyed spending so much time with them. Creely, a lonely early 40s drug runner is dispatched on a job to Palm Springs, CA, the town she ran away from as a teenager. There, she learns that her former prostitute mother, who she hasn't had contact with in decades, has been in prison for a murder she almost certainly didn't commit. Here, Creely decides to stop running from her past and find out who really did the murder her mother is serving time for. Along the way she encounters dirty Palm Springs cops, outlaw bikers, and even, to her surprise, a girlfriend. This is not the celebrity/retiree Palm Springs so many of us are used to. Creely spends her time mostly in the dark, seedy, lower class elements of the city and Matt Phillips makes these locations come alive. It's the best novel I've ever encountered set in this location. I definitely plan to keep track of Matt Phillips other work. Great book.
January 7, 2024
I was awarded a copy of this book as a giveaway and asked to give an honest review so here goes:
Thank you Mr. Phillips for the opportunity to review your work but I could not finish it after enduring it for the first 100 pages.
I am not against profanity. I believe it builds a character if used in conversations or in first person narrative. But this book was written in 3rd person narrative and instead of building the fictional character, it builds character for the author. If I read a news article that says “ A f*ing murder happened today at a sh**y neighborhood by a bunch of a*holes” I am NOT going to think a bunch of shady perpetrators are involved in a homicide. I am going to think that news reporter should be fired as of yesterday.
That is why I could not tolerate reading the rest of the lack of a story. I am so sorry. I wanted so much to like this book only because I was trusted to review it but I just couldn’t.
Thank you Mr. Phillips for the opportunity to review your work but I could not finish it after enduring it for the first 100 pages.
I am not against profanity. I believe it builds a character if used in conversations or in first person narrative. But this book was written in 3rd person narrative and instead of building the fictional character, it builds character for the author. If I read a news article that says “ A f*ing murder happened today at a sh**y neighborhood by a bunch of a*holes” I am NOT going to think a bunch of shady perpetrators are involved in a homicide. I am going to think that news reporter should be fired as of yesterday.
That is why I could not tolerate reading the rest of the lack of a story. I am so sorry. I wanted so much to like this book only because I was trusted to review it but I just couldn’t.
October 6, 2023
I loved Matt Phillips' new book (release date = Nov. 1). His MC, Creeley Nash, hooked me from the start & kept me turning pages as she searches for the truth behind the murder that put her estranged mother behind bars. This is a great ride through dangerous turf in the Southwestern deserts, from AZ to Palm Springs. Highly recommend!
October 16, 2023
This is my first introduction to Matt Phillips. But it will not be my last.
Phillips sets the tone fast here with this crime noir, slow burn novel of letting loose to find the real killer Creely Nash's long forgotten Mother is in prison for. There is a few stretches of the plot but Phillips makes up for this in his gritty desert noir.
Phillips sets the tone fast here with this crime noir, slow burn novel of letting loose to find the real killer Creely Nash's long forgotten Mother is in prison for. There is a few stretches of the plot but Phillips makes up for this in his gritty desert noir.
November 13, 2023
This is a well thought through mystery/crime thriller. The story is very detailed - almost to the extent that all of the people involved got a bit confusing. I felt there were a few things and characters that were part of the book that really didn't need to be there, and didn't add to the story. But I enjoyed it overall. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 22, 2023
I received this book as part of LibraryThing’s early reviewer program in exchange for an honest review.
A Rush of Good Blood was an entertaining read. The grittiness and pacing and action were good and there was real heart to it. But I wish there had been more “meat” to the detection and felt that Creely was never in any real danger. Still I’d read something else by the author.
A Rush of Good Blood was an entertaining read. The grittiness and pacing and action were good and there was real heart to it. But I wish there had been more “meat” to the detection and felt that Creely was never in any real danger. Still I’d read something else by the author.
November 29, 2023
This book had a lot of drama to keep you wondering what was next, who done it and why. Creeley was a badass but still had emotions. She was a relatable character in some ways. If you like reading books about crimes being covered up, drug runners, badasses with power and no fear, than this book is for you!
October 13, 2023
I would like to thank Matt Phillips for sending me an eArc of his new book. I have read several books by Phillips and I believe this is his best, although all of them are good. If you enjoy a gritty tale of crime fiction noir, than this is for you.
November 21, 2023
Excellent grimy noir. All sorts of sketchy characters, and a solid mystery throughout.
Read
September 14, 20253.5
April 1, 2025
First introduction to Matt Phillips. Such a good page turner with twist and turns. The MC in the book freely Nash is searching for answers, behind the murder of her estranged mother behind bars. There corrupt cops,drug dealers,motorcycle gangs.
December 31, 2023
I received this book for free in a giveaway on StoryGraph.
A Good Rush of Blood is an engaging desert murder thriller. It moves fast and bounces you across various settings in Palm Springs. The plot is exciting and largely unpredictable. You don't always know where it's going, but you do want to see it ends up. The main character does nonsensical things where her motivations are not really articulated, but hey, it keeps things interesting and she's volatile enough that it's easy to assume she doesn't really need any. I found the conclusion to be a bit hurried and thrown together, especially considering the intricacies of the rest of the book. The characters come off as exaggerated caricatures frequently, with sayings that are just a bit too folksy by half. The gay characters were written in a way that their main personality trait is "I AM GAY. DID YOU KNOW THIS CHARACTER IS GAY?" and it plays on stereotypes. And there is SO much cursing, which normally doesn't bother me, but the sheer volume of it gets old quickly, and distracting from the actual dialogue. This is in part why I thought throughout the book "No one talks like this. And every single person certainly does not talk like this." It just seems like "fuck" becomes a replacement for writing creative or interesting lines. I also maintain no one uses the term "fairy" to describe gay people and no one talks this lewdly about their sex lives to their parents, to their daughter or about their dead son. Even in a family as splintered as the main character's! What really took me aback was the shockingly casual racist comments peppered in. It's only a few instances, and maybe it's there to emphasize how crude the characters are, but I didn't find it particularly useful to the storyline and it seriously did not improve the book in anyway. The thing I enjoyed the least about this book, by far, is how every female character is described. There was not a single female character that was not written by a horny man. Did you know women have breasts? Did you know the main character wears a G-string? Did you know the main character is hot and every male character has to leer at her boobs? You will!
A Good Rush of Blood is an engaging desert murder thriller. It moves fast and bounces you across various settings in Palm Springs. The plot is exciting and largely unpredictable. You don't always know where it's going, but you do want to see it ends up. The main character does nonsensical things where her motivations are not really articulated, but hey, it keeps things interesting and she's volatile enough that it's easy to assume she doesn't really need any. I found the conclusion to be a bit hurried and thrown together, especially considering the intricacies of the rest of the book. The characters come off as exaggerated caricatures frequently, with sayings that are just a bit too folksy by half. The gay characters were written in a way that their main personality trait is "I AM GAY. DID YOU KNOW THIS CHARACTER IS GAY?" and it plays on stereotypes. And there is SO much cursing, which normally doesn't bother me, but the sheer volume of it gets old quickly, and distracting from the actual dialogue. This is in part why I thought throughout the book "No one talks like this. And every single person certainly does not talk like this." It just seems like "fuck" becomes a replacement for writing creative or interesting lines. I also maintain no one uses the term "fairy" to describe gay people and no one talks this lewdly about their sex lives to their parents, to their daughter or about their dead son. Even in a family as splintered as the main character's! What really took me aback was the shockingly casual racist comments peppered in. It's only a few instances, and maybe it's there to emphasize how crude the characters are, but I didn't find it particularly useful to the storyline and it seriously did not improve the book in anyway. The thing I enjoyed the least about this book, by far, is how every female character is described. There was not a single female character that was not written by a horny man. Did you know women have breasts? Did you know the main character wears a G-string? Did you know the main character is hot and every male character has to leer at her boobs? You will!
January 9, 2024
2.5⭐
I won this book in a Storygraph giveaway, so here's my review.
I'll be honest and say I actually did enjoy the first few chapters of the book very much. The writing style for me was quite different from most of the books I read recently. It was rough and unfiltered, but seemed to work considering the background of the characters. However, as the story progressed it became increasingly annoying and lacking originality. It was one thing to see the people related to the MC's drug biz talk all crass but it gets too far fetched when literally every single person talks like that. I mean, I refuse to believe there's some place out there where everyone uses the word "fuck" like breathing oxygen. It's not just overused, it's like the author didn't even bother with creative expressions, everything was elaborated with a massive "fuck". It honestly lacked so much in providing an individual voice to every character because the dialogue was so hell-bent on being crass. Like why were Kimmie and Amber, two completely normal people, who had literally no connection to the bad guys or the whole ordeal talking like that. I mean Amber was literally a librarian, you'd at least expect her to have a more refined vocabulary than that.
The MC felt pretty promising to me intially. Rough around the edges, having learnt to survive in a tough and unconventional way. But all of that illusion fell apart when every single man/woman who even remotely interacts with her became obscenely attracted to her. So you're telling me this woman who's aged forty is being fantazied and desired by literally every man and woman, and she's like completely aware of it, so much so that she almost seems vain about it. Like let's be real here for a moment, women usually start getting insecure about themselves in their mid-thirties and this lady here is actually so stuck-up it's like gurl chill! Like not everyone can want to bang you, but that's just what it is in this book. Also how everything just conveniently falls in place for her. You'd think she would have trouble running and hiding from her boss whose money and drugs she's been gatekeeping. Like dude's supposed to be like a dangerous criminal, but hey everyone he sends after her ends up being taken care of by the sheer force of "universe". She literally doesn't even do anything and everything's conveniently taken care of. It's like anyone who meets her becomes so enamored by her at the very first glance and is willing to break bones for her, even going so far as to kill for her. Her friendships felt so cardboard and just pure convenience, there was absolutely no emotion to it. She was willing to risk the lives of her "friends" for her idea of supposedly playing hero and saving her innocent mother's life who she never even had a real connection with. Talk about being bizarre. There are no false leads, everyone just ridiculously bends to her will and spills the beans like she's some truth goddess who can extract honesty from their deepest, darkest pits of being. And these are dangerous people we're talking about here, people who seem to have been killing other people up until then to keep their secrets from being out and they barf it out just like that for her, for Miss. Creeley-Absurd-Nash. Had there been some resistance, it wouldn't have felt so artificial, but everything just seemed to fall from heaven right into Creeley's hands. So sorry, but I don't dig that.
Honestly, this everything-revolves-around-her thing started to get so on my nerves, that the mystery unraveling didn't even excite me for a minute. Ngl I was actually relieved when the book ended, but the last lines just added up to my disappointment. This book started off incredibly promising, but ended up being a serious let down. Even the whodunnit was so lame and predictable that the essence of a mystery-thriller was completely lost. 2.5⭐ solely for the first 100 pages cause they really did get me hooked, moving forward though the rest of the book is just a drag.
I won this book in a Storygraph giveaway, so here's my review.
I'll be honest and say I actually did enjoy the first few chapters of the book very much. The writing style for me was quite different from most of the books I read recently. It was rough and unfiltered, but seemed to work considering the background of the characters. However, as the story progressed it became increasingly annoying and lacking originality. It was one thing to see the people related to the MC's drug biz talk all crass but it gets too far fetched when literally every single person talks like that. I mean, I refuse to believe there's some place out there where everyone uses the word "fuck" like breathing oxygen. It's not just overused, it's like the author didn't even bother with creative expressions, everything was elaborated with a massive "fuck". It honestly lacked so much in providing an individual voice to every character because the dialogue was so hell-bent on being crass. Like why were Kimmie and Amber, two completely normal people, who had literally no connection to the bad guys or the whole ordeal talking like that. I mean Amber was literally a librarian, you'd at least expect her to have a more refined vocabulary than that.
The MC felt pretty promising to me intially. Rough around the edges, having learnt to survive in a tough and unconventional way. But all of that illusion fell apart when every single man/woman who even remotely interacts with her became obscenely attracted to her. So you're telling me this woman who's aged forty is being fantazied and desired by literally every man and woman, and she's like completely aware of it, so much so that she almost seems vain about it. Like let's be real here for a moment, women usually start getting insecure about themselves in their mid-thirties and this lady here is actually so stuck-up it's like gurl chill! Like not everyone can want to bang you, but that's just what it is in this book. Also how everything just conveniently falls in place for her. You'd think she would have trouble running and hiding from her boss whose money and drugs she's been gatekeeping. Like dude's supposed to be like a dangerous criminal, but hey everyone he sends after her ends up being taken care of by the sheer force of "universe". She literally doesn't even do anything and everything's conveniently taken care of. It's like anyone who meets her becomes so enamored by her at the very first glance and is willing to break bones for her, even going so far as to kill for her. Her friendships felt so cardboard and just pure convenience, there was absolutely no emotion to it. She was willing to risk the lives of her "friends" for her idea of supposedly playing hero and saving her innocent mother's life who she never even had a real connection with. Talk about being bizarre. There are no false leads, everyone just ridiculously bends to her will and spills the beans like she's some truth goddess who can extract honesty from their deepest, darkest pits of being. And these are dangerous people we're talking about here, people who seem to have been killing other people up until then to keep their secrets from being out and they barf it out just like that for her, for Miss. Creeley-Absurd-Nash. Had there been some resistance, it wouldn't have felt so artificial, but everything just seemed to fall from heaven right into Creeley's hands. So sorry, but I don't dig that.
Honestly, this everything-revolves-around-her thing started to get so on my nerves, that the mystery unraveling didn't even excite me for a minute. Ngl I was actually relieved when the book ended, but the last lines just added up to my disappointment. This book started off incredibly promising, but ended up being a serious let down. Even the whodunnit was so lame and predictable that the essence of a mystery-thriller was completely lost. 2.5⭐ solely for the first 100 pages cause they really did get me hooked, moving forward though the rest of the book is just a drag.
November 29, 2023
I really wanted to like this more than I did, and I loved it at first.
A Good Rush of Blood. I can’t say that I like the title. I dislike the title. I don’t get it. I lost this file on my open document that I use for notes, and I hadn’t written down the title on this essay, and goddamned if I could remember the name. It took me forever to track it down.
The first eleven chapters of this were brilliant. I was talking it up to friends, right and left. Unfortunately, this only brought me to page 58. This novel started to go off the rails for me the moment the main plot reared its ugly head: trying to get her mother’s murder conviction reversed. Her mom was a nasty pig who deserved to rot in prison for the way she brought up her daughter, or didn’t bring her up, basically throwing the kid to the wolves.
The mayor of Palm Springs is in love with a very low rent crack whore? OK, got it. But let’s back up a bit. Creeley (dumb name) left home when she was a kid, in a boxcar. Now she’s forty and a drug runner for a lowlife who terrifies her. She learns her mom is in prison for life. She visits her mom who says she’s innocent. Either way, why would she give a shit? Then we learn about a vast conspiracy involving crooked cops and aforementioned crack whore-loving politician. Why do we care? I can’t speak for other readers, but I don’t care one bit. It's a mystery, folks, just like Scooby Do.
The murder took place in 1996, twenty-five years ago, yet many of the cops are still on the force and everyone remembers everything. It just seems like the math didn’t work, not for me. Maybe Ray would have been a cop way back then, but probably not a homicide detective. Maybe, but it just seemed to far back and forgotten. Even a sleepy town like Palm Springs would have had many more homicides come along to grab people’s attention.
Then there’s the whole bit about how all men are ghastly pigs who do nothing but harm women and treat them like crap, unless they’re gay because those guys are swell, or lesbians, because they are never jealous or mistreat their partners. I’ve never mistreated a woman and most of the men around me can say the same. I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen, just that LOTS of men get it and treat women with total respect while also having sex with them.
I hated the Kimmie character who reminded me of the sassy little gay lapdogs the women had in Sex and the City, with his hip-talk of shit like “You okay, girl?” “Ain’t no thing.” Ugh. Way to much of a stereotype and cliché.
The protagonist goes from living in terror of Animal, to basically daring him to kill her. She gets extremely lucky a couple times and starts thinking she’s Wonder Woman.
A Good Rush of Blood. I can’t say that I like the title. I dislike the title. I don’t get it. I lost this file on my open document that I use for notes, and I hadn’t written down the title on this essay, and goddamned if I could remember the name. It took me forever to track it down.
The first eleven chapters of this were brilliant. I was talking it up to friends, right and left. Unfortunately, this only brought me to page 58. This novel started to go off the rails for me the moment the main plot reared its ugly head: trying to get her mother’s murder conviction reversed. Her mom was a nasty pig who deserved to rot in prison for the way she brought up her daughter, or didn’t bring her up, basically throwing the kid to the wolves.
The mayor of Palm Springs is in love with a very low rent crack whore? OK, got it. But let’s back up a bit. Creeley (dumb name) left home when she was a kid, in a boxcar. Now she’s forty and a drug runner for a lowlife who terrifies her. She learns her mom is in prison for life. She visits her mom who says she’s innocent. Either way, why would she give a shit? Then we learn about a vast conspiracy involving crooked cops and aforementioned crack whore-loving politician. Why do we care? I can’t speak for other readers, but I don’t care one bit. It's a mystery, folks, just like Scooby Do.
The murder took place in 1996, twenty-five years ago, yet many of the cops are still on the force and everyone remembers everything. It just seems like the math didn’t work, not for me. Maybe Ray would have been a cop way back then, but probably not a homicide detective. Maybe, but it just seemed to far back and forgotten. Even a sleepy town like Palm Springs would have had many more homicides come along to grab people’s attention.
Then there’s the whole bit about how all men are ghastly pigs who do nothing but harm women and treat them like crap, unless they’re gay because those guys are swell, or lesbians, because they are never jealous or mistreat their partners. I’ve never mistreated a woman and most of the men around me can say the same. I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen, just that LOTS of men get it and treat women with total respect while also having sex with them.
I hated the Kimmie character who reminded me of the sassy little gay lapdogs the women had in Sex and the City, with his hip-talk of shit like “You okay, girl?” “Ain’t no thing.” Ugh. Way to much of a stereotype and cliché.
The protagonist goes from living in terror of Animal, to basically daring him to kill her. She gets extremely lucky a couple times and starts thinking she’s Wonder Woman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2024
To say I was disappointed by this book would be an understatement. When I first read the plot I was excited to read it and really thought I could love it.
However from the beginning of the book I knew it would be hard to finish.
My biggest issue with this book is the writing, I found it quite plain and by time annoying. The amount of words like "f*ck", "f*cking", or "sh*t" is astonishing, I get that it is set in a "dealer/gangster" world but sometimes it is just too much.
The whole book is unrealistic, and here I am not talking about the plot itself because books aren't always made to be a mirror of reality, but I am talking about the characters, it truly feels like they all have the same personality and all act the same and speak the same with small variations for example Amber or Kimmie, the gay character.
Now that I'm talking about him, as someone who herself is part of the lgbtq+ community, I can say it was a bad representation of gay people in fact I felt more like it was a mockery.
Kimmie's whole personnality is that he is gay and for the lesbian thing that happen in the book (without spoilers of course) I felt like it was just a weird man fantasm.
I felt like the description in the book were rushed and badly written, it's hard to focus when you have more insults than words to describe a scene.
The thing that gave me the ick throughout the book is how sexualized the main character is (every women is but since Creeley is the main character and we follow her obviously we notice it more with her) it's like every occasion was taken to comment on her body or sexual life with obviously inappropriate things men said or did to her.
There was also a clear judgment of her mother who was a sex worker and when Creeley said that she never had sex so she wasn't a sl*t like her mother... I get that sometimes characters can think twisted things and that it is not necessarily what the author think but on that matter it felt a bit too real in my opinion, it's like women always need to be pure despite their age.
The writing took me off so much that I just did not care anymore about the plot which was really messy itself.
I don't think I ever read a single chapter of this book without being pissed off by what was said in it there were a lot of problematic things and quoting all of them would take me hours.
The ending had me rolling my eyes from how cliché it sounded it was like "everything always ends well we live in a happy world after all".
Thank god I did not buy this book and received it as a giveaway on storygraph otherwise it would’ve been a loss of money adding to the loss of time it was.
However from the beginning of the book I knew it would be hard to finish.
My biggest issue with this book is the writing, I found it quite plain and by time annoying. The amount of words like "f*ck", "f*cking", or "sh*t" is astonishing, I get that it is set in a "dealer/gangster" world but sometimes it is just too much.
The whole book is unrealistic, and here I am not talking about the plot itself because books aren't always made to be a mirror of reality, but I am talking about the characters, it truly feels like they all have the same personality and all act the same and speak the same with small variations for example Amber or Kimmie, the gay character.
Now that I'm talking about him, as someone who herself is part of the lgbtq+ community, I can say it was a bad representation of gay people in fact I felt more like it was a mockery.
Kimmie's whole personnality is that he is gay and for the lesbian thing that happen in the book (without spoilers of course) I felt like it was just a weird man fantasm.
I felt like the description in the book were rushed and badly written, it's hard to focus when you have more insults than words to describe a scene.
The thing that gave me the ick throughout the book is how sexualized the main character is (every women is but since Creeley is the main character and we follow her obviously we notice it more with her) it's like every occasion was taken to comment on her body or sexual life with obviously inappropriate things men said or did to her.
There was also a clear judgment of her mother who was a sex worker and when Creeley said that she never had sex so she wasn't a sl*t like her mother... I get that sometimes characters can think twisted things and that it is not necessarily what the author think but on that matter it felt a bit too real in my opinion, it's like women always need to be pure despite their age.
The writing took me off so much that I just did not care anymore about the plot which was really messy itself.
I don't think I ever read a single chapter of this book without being pissed off by what was said in it there were a lot of problematic things and quoting all of them would take me hours.
The ending had me rolling my eyes from how cliché it sounded it was like "everything always ends well we live in a happy world after all".
Thank god I did not buy this book and received it as a giveaway on storygraph otherwise it would’ve been a loss of money adding to the loss of time it was.
October 11, 2024
"A Good Rush of Blood" is a rock-solid entry in the crime genre, and I found it incredibly hard to put it down once I was settled in for the ride. What would I call it? California noir? Neo-noir? A big ol' helping of the gritty underbelly of society with a healthy dose of literary aspirations threaded through? The mystery around Creeley Nash's mother's conviction for murder is compelling, but the internal journey Creeley takes to understand her past and how it has formed her is just as compelling.
Others have summarized the plot in their reviews, so I'll stick with what is admirable from a craft standpoint:
- Creeley Nash is an excellent anti-hero. Vulgar-mouthed drug runner, so emotionally closed off she might as well live behind a poured concrete wall...yet she puts her own life in danger to exonerate her mother, which says something about her character, considering Mama Nash is no June Cleaver.
- The prose zips along. Phillips does an admirable job of keeping the tempo varied but quick without sacrificing anything in the interest of speed. He expertly weaves in concise little details that add color and shape to the environment and setting.
- The ending and readers' expectation. I won't spoil it, but the ending is a bold choice that only a seasoned author in control of the story could write. As a reader, I expected one thing, got another entirely, but it felt perfectly earned by the story, and I didn't feel cheated. It felt like an honest ending. Now that I know it, I realize that Phillips was leading me there the whole time, just as Creeley was heading there the whole time, and in that way, I end up directly in the protagonist's head by the story's conclusion...which is a hell of a feat, especially for a third person POV (albeit a close one).
The only downside is that it is tough to read if you have a day job, because the chapters whiz by, and at least once, I stayed up too late pushing into one more chapter...then one more...then just one more.
Highly recommend!
Others have summarized the plot in their reviews, so I'll stick with what is admirable from a craft standpoint:
- Creeley Nash is an excellent anti-hero. Vulgar-mouthed drug runner, so emotionally closed off she might as well live behind a poured concrete wall...yet she puts her own life in danger to exonerate her mother, which says something about her character, considering Mama Nash is no June Cleaver.
- The prose zips along. Phillips does an admirable job of keeping the tempo varied but quick without sacrificing anything in the interest of speed. He expertly weaves in concise little details that add color and shape to the environment and setting.
- The ending and readers' expectation. I won't spoil it, but the ending is a bold choice that only a seasoned author in control of the story could write. As a reader, I expected one thing, got another entirely, but it felt perfectly earned by the story, and I didn't feel cheated. It felt like an honest ending. Now that I know it, I realize that Phillips was leading me there the whole time, just as Creeley was heading there the whole time, and in that way, I end up directly in the protagonist's head by the story's conclusion...which is a hell of a feat, especially for a third person POV (albeit a close one).
The only downside is that it is tough to read if you have a day job, because the chapters whiz by, and at least once, I stayed up too late pushing into one more chapter...then one more...then just one more.
Highly recommend!
October 29, 2023
4 stars for a mystery that is full of surprises. There are many twists and turns in this mystery. Creeley Nash is a young woman who delivers drugs for a living. She is reliable and the best drug runner for her boss, "Animal." Then one day she runs into a man that she knew from 25 years ago when she was 14 and he helped her run away from her prostitute mother. Now he tells her that her mother is in prison, convicted of murder. She goes to see her mother, who tells her "I didn't do it". Creeley initially doesn't believe her mother. But then she decides to find out everything that she can about the murder.
This is where the twists and turns in an unpredictable plot start. Creeley does find answers and there is an imperfect ending. One surprise was when she agrees to help a drug dealer steal some money from a man who supposedly has lots of it. She pretends to be willing to spend the night with him. But then she lets in the drug dealer and friends, who severely beat up the man. She then goes back to him for help in solving her mom's case, because he is a cop. Instead of beating her up, he agrees, because he has his own agenda.
There is a fair amount of violence and drug use. Very few of the characters in this book are good people. There are corrupt cops, violent drug dealers, and motorcycle gang members among others.
I won this book in a LibraryThing giveaway. Thanks to Matt Philips and Run Amok Crime for sending me this book.
This is where the twists and turns in an unpredictable plot start. Creeley does find answers and there is an imperfect ending. One surprise was when she agrees to help a drug dealer steal some money from a man who supposedly has lots of it. She pretends to be willing to spend the night with him. But then she lets in the drug dealer and friends, who severely beat up the man. She then goes back to him for help in solving her mom's case, because he is a cop. Instead of beating her up, he agrees, because he has his own agenda.
There is a fair amount of violence and drug use. Very few of the characters in this book are good people. There are corrupt cops, violent drug dealers, and motorcycle gang members among others.
I won this book in a LibraryThing giveaway. Thanks to Matt Philips and Run Amok Crime for sending me this book.
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