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Max & Angela #1-3
Supermax: The Max and Angela Trilogy
A pitch-black crime comedy from two of the hottest thriller writers on either side of the Atlantic, Supermax is a bloody, bawdy odyssey of drug dealing, adultery, and murder for fans of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, and Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho.
When a small-time businessman who’s a legend in his own mind (that would be Max) hatches a plan with his sexpot secretary (that’s Angela) to murder his wife and live happily ever after, you might think everything would go smoothly – but Max and Angela are in for the ride of their lives, as an escalating series of bad decisions and worse luck plunges them into a tsunami of crime and depravity featuring IRA hitmen, an aspiring serial killer, a wheelchair-bound blackmailer, trigger-happy drug dealers, and the warring factions in one of the world’s deadliest prisons.
Award-winning authors Ken Bruen (JACK TAYLOR) and Jason Starr (THE NEXT TIME I DIE) set out to write the wildest crime saga of all time, and the three novels that resulted – originally published as BUST, SLIDE, and THE MAX – earned rave reviews and nominations for the Barry and Anthony Awards. Long unavailable in their original print editions, these cult classics are now collected for the first time ever in a single volume, bringing Max and Angela’s high-octane odyssey back to blow the minds of a new generation of readers.
When a small-time businessman who’s a legend in his own mind (that would be Max) hatches a plan with his sexpot secretary (that’s Angela) to murder his wife and live happily ever after, you might think everything would go smoothly – but Max and Angela are in for the ride of their lives, as an escalating series of bad decisions and worse luck plunges them into a tsunami of crime and depravity featuring IRA hitmen, an aspiring serial killer, a wheelchair-bound blackmailer, trigger-happy drug dealers, and the warring factions in one of the world’s deadliest prisons.
Award-winning authors Ken Bruen (JACK TAYLOR) and Jason Starr (THE NEXT TIME I DIE) set out to write the wildest crime saga of all time, and the three novels that resulted – originally published as BUST, SLIDE, and THE MAX – earned rave reviews and nominations for the Barry and Anthony Awards. Long unavailable in their original print editions, these cult classics are now collected for the first time ever in a single volume, bringing Max and Angela’s high-octane odyssey back to blow the minds of a new generation of readers.
608 pages, Paperback
Published November 11, 2025
About the author
Ken Bruen
122 books862 followersKen Bruen was an Irish writer of hardboiled and noir crime fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 11, 2026
This reads like a classic Hard Case Crime book.
The ending of each of the stories contained within the anthology were very gripping. I would speed through the last 50 pages of each book. But the stories otherwise allowed for a lot of chances to lose interest through character internal monologues that went on longer (and broader) than they should have.
The authors had fun though and that shines through.
The ending of each of the stories contained within the anthology were very gripping. I would speed through the last 50 pages of each book. But the stories otherwise allowed for a lot of chances to lose interest through character internal monologues that went on longer (and broader) than they should have.
The authors had fun though and that shines through.
May 22, 2026
A trilogy of noir crime novels by Jason Starr and Ken Bruen, an unusual pairing, originally published by Hard Case Crime in 2006-2008.
BUST
--------
Max Fisher, the sleazy, breast-obsessed CEO of a small network consulting firm, hires a hitman to kill his wife so he can marry his buxom Greek-Irish secretary, Angela Petrakos. But turns out the hitman is actually Angela's Irish boyfriend, a psychopath named Dillon, and they're both plotting to fleece him for everything he's worth. To complicate things, a paraplegic tries to blackmail Max and Angela, threatening to expose their affair and murder plot to the police.
This is a fast-paced and cynical crime trilogy that's sleazy, unpredictable, violent, and atmospheric, like a good B movie. I laughed out loud a few times. Rating: 4 stars.
Now on to the next two books in the trilogy, SLIDE and THE MAX.
SLIDE
--------
Wildly implausible follow-up to BUST. The jokes comes more frequently, but only about half of them hit. The plot is completely unbelievable. The Irish serial killer Slide seems like a carbon copy of Dillon from the first book.
Angela starts the book in Ireland, and Max starts it in a hotel in Alabama, but readers know their paths will cross again.
This volume is just as audaciously violent and unpredictable as the first, but the violence seems more gratuitous and sadistic. Starr and Bruen introduce more characters, but none has staying power. Consequently, the body count escalates dramatically. The authors are just having fun. Slide formulates a plan to kidnap one of the Rolling Stones for a huge ransom, but he mistakenly kidnaps an Irish crime writer, presumably Ken Bruen. Rating: 3 stars.
Now onto the concluding volume, THE MAX.
THE MAX
------------
This volume starts with Max Fisher incarcerated in Attica Correctional Facility in western New York, and Angela Petrakos has rented a villa on Santorini, a Greek island. But of course fate reunites them when Angela flees Greece, and seeks out Max for money.
Starr and Bruen introduce several new characters, including Sebastian, Angela's British boyfriend, and Paula, a crime novelist intent on writing a true crime book about Max. Tensions boil in Attica, leading to a violent prison riot and breakout in which dozens of people are killed.
The authors also poke fun at the the publishing industry and other bestselling crime novelists, including James Patterson, Lee Child (pen name of Jim Grant) and Laura Lippman.
I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two. The story is unbelievably outrageous, but the violence, sex, and constant jokes keep things interesting. Rating: 2.5 stars
SUMMARY
-------------
This was an enjoyable noir crime trilogy. Fast-paced, funny, with plenty of New York color. The violence was over-the-top and became increasingly sadistic. Starr and Bruen make a good team; it was difficult to identify who wrote which chapters. Their ability to shift character perspectives and delve deep into each character's psychology was impressive.
Overall rating: 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
NOTE: There's a fourth volume in the series called THE PIMP, but I think I'll stop here. I've had enough of Max and Angela.
BUST
--------
Max Fisher, the sleazy, breast-obsessed CEO of a small network consulting firm, hires a hitman to kill his wife so he can marry his buxom Greek-Irish secretary, Angela Petrakos. But turns out the hitman is actually Angela's Irish boyfriend, a psychopath named Dillon, and they're both plotting to fleece him for everything he's worth. To complicate things, a paraplegic tries to blackmail Max and Angela, threatening to expose their affair and murder plot to the police.
This is a fast-paced and cynical crime trilogy that's sleazy, unpredictable, violent, and atmospheric, like a good B movie. I laughed out loud a few times. Rating: 4 stars.
Now on to the next two books in the trilogy, SLIDE and THE MAX.
SLIDE
--------
Wildly implausible follow-up to BUST. The jokes comes more frequently, but only about half of them hit. The plot is completely unbelievable. The Irish serial killer Slide seems like a carbon copy of Dillon from the first book.
Angela starts the book in Ireland, and Max starts it in a hotel in Alabama, but readers know their paths will cross again.
This volume is just as audaciously violent and unpredictable as the first, but the violence seems more gratuitous and sadistic. Starr and Bruen introduce more characters, but none has staying power. Consequently, the body count escalates dramatically. The authors are just having fun. Slide formulates a plan to kidnap one of the Rolling Stones for a huge ransom, but he mistakenly kidnaps an Irish crime writer, presumably Ken Bruen. Rating: 3 stars.
Now onto the concluding volume, THE MAX.
THE MAX
------------
This volume starts with Max Fisher incarcerated in Attica Correctional Facility in western New York, and Angela Petrakos has rented a villa on Santorini, a Greek island. But of course fate reunites them when Angela flees Greece, and seeks out Max for money.
Starr and Bruen introduce several new characters, including Sebastian, Angela's British boyfriend, and Paula, a crime novelist intent on writing a true crime book about Max. Tensions boil in Attica, leading to a violent prison riot and breakout in which dozens of people are killed.
The authors also poke fun at the the publishing industry and other bestselling crime novelists, including James Patterson, Lee Child (pen name of Jim Grant) and Laura Lippman.
I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two. The story is unbelievably outrageous, but the violence, sex, and constant jokes keep things interesting. Rating: 2.5 stars
SUMMARY
-------------
This was an enjoyable noir crime trilogy. Fast-paced, funny, with plenty of New York color. The violence was over-the-top and became increasingly sadistic. Starr and Bruen make a good team; it was difficult to identify who wrote which chapters. Their ability to shift character perspectives and delve deep into each character's psychology was impressive.
Overall rating: 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
NOTE: There's a fourth volume in the series called THE PIMP, but I think I'll stop here. I've had enough of Max and Angela.
November 21, 2025
I reread "Bust", which is the first of three novels in this volume.
Ken Bruen was an Irish crime writer who told hardboiled stories with allot of violence, alcohol and drugs. He died in March of this year. Jason Starr is an American crime writer who tells hard guy stories. Starting in 2006 they collaborated on four novels featuring Max Fisher and Angela Petrakos. The books were published as original paperbacks by Hard Case Crime publishing. Hard Case has recently re-released the first three books in an omnibus volume titled "Supermax".
I read them as they came out between 2006 and 2008. I enjoyed them enough that I am happy to reread them. One of the blurbs on this volume says "if Quenton Tarantino is looking for another movie project, this novel with its shocking violence and black comedy would be a perfect candidate." That sounds right.
Jason Starr has an introduction to this volume. He says that when he and Bruen began writing they agreed that "neither one of us wanted to redeem any characters.". They held to that.
Max Fisher is a crooked, selfish, amoral jerk who owns a computer networking company in New York City. He wants to kill his wife because it is too expensive to divorce her. Angela Petrakos is a sexy Irish girl with fake boobs She is also completely amoral. She has a boyfriend Dillon who is violent, crazy and not too bright. Bobby Rosa is in a wheelchair after being shot by the boyfriend of a girl he is seeing. He is sleazy, greedy and very weird. None of these four characters are redeemed in the novel.
Max is having an affair with Angela, who is his secretary. Angela recommends Dillon for the job of killing Max's wife. The killing is a mess. Bobby gets information that allows him to blackmail Max, then Angela and then Dillon. None of this ends well.
This is a great fast-moving black comedy New York City story. I look forward to rereading the other two novels in this volume.
Ken Bruen was an Irish crime writer who told hardboiled stories with allot of violence, alcohol and drugs. He died in March of this year. Jason Starr is an American crime writer who tells hard guy stories. Starting in 2006 they collaborated on four novels featuring Max Fisher and Angela Petrakos. The books were published as original paperbacks by Hard Case Crime publishing. Hard Case has recently re-released the first three books in an omnibus volume titled "Supermax".
I read them as they came out between 2006 and 2008. I enjoyed them enough that I am happy to reread them. One of the blurbs on this volume says "if Quenton Tarantino is looking for another movie project, this novel with its shocking violence and black comedy would be a perfect candidate." That sounds right.
Jason Starr has an introduction to this volume. He says that when he and Bruen began writing they agreed that "neither one of us wanted to redeem any characters.". They held to that.
Max Fisher is a crooked, selfish, amoral jerk who owns a computer networking company in New York City. He wants to kill his wife because it is too expensive to divorce her. Angela Petrakos is a sexy Irish girl with fake boobs She is also completely amoral. She has a boyfriend Dillon who is violent, crazy and not too bright. Bobby Rosa is in a wheelchair after being shot by the boyfriend of a girl he is seeing. He is sleazy, greedy and very weird. None of these four characters are redeemed in the novel.
Max is having an affair with Angela, who is his secretary. Angela recommends Dillon for the job of killing Max's wife. The killing is a mess. Bobby gets information that allows him to blackmail Max, then Angela and then Dillon. None of this ends well.
This is a great fast-moving black comedy New York City story. I look forward to rereading the other two novels in this volume.
November 30, 2025
This book is a compilation of three novels written together by Ken Bruen and Jason Star: Bust, Slide, and The Max. Together, they are a wild ride that revolves around Max Fisher and Angela Petrokas, as they wreak havoc (and death) among the lives they touch.
Of the three novels, Bust was my favorite, though I found them all entertaining. If you’re looking for an entertaining crime story spanning both sides of the Atlantic, and you don’t mind irredeemable characters, this one might be for you. Another great addition to the Hard Case Crime library!
Of the three novels, Bust was my favorite, though I found them all entertaining. If you’re looking for an entertaining crime story spanning both sides of the Atlantic, and you don’t mind irredeemable characters, this one might be for you. Another great addition to the Hard Case Crime library!
March 8, 2026
This trilogy was a blast! I read a quote from a critic who said Quentin Tarantino should make this into a movie and I couldn’t unhear that as I read these. Great blend of excessive violence and dark humor- as I was reading the last book of the trilogy in the airport yesterday, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud about every ten minutes. I’ll definitely be picking up the next book in the series!
December 26, 2025
Well...I've never read a book that had every character living in a fantasy world inside their own heads. Every character was like that. Delusional.
Full Book review:
https://rottiegirl-2.blogspot.com/202...
Full Book review:
https://rottiegirl-2.blogspot.com/202...
December 24, 2025
I hope the authors got as many laughs relay-writing this Jim Thompson-on-acid noir crime trilogy as I did reading it. But if it doesn't get you laughing right away, you should bag it early on.
November 29, 2025
Supermax : The Max and Angel Trilogy
By Ken Bruen & Jason Starr
This beautifully bound three book series combines: Bust, Slide and The Max into one fanastic book.
Classic crime noir at its best with a man you love to hate as lead, Max Fisher. The sassy money hungry Angela Petrakos, is a perfect female lead.
They will stop at nothing with their schemes and plots to become wealthy and carefree. Leaving a path of destruction and dead bodies along the way.
The story moves at a fast pace told from multiple points of view. Plenty of action, double crossing and a splash of humor. The perfect mix for a (classic) crime thriller. I was hooked from the first page.
Overall I found Supermax very enjoyable. I highly recommended to those who love crime noir. I look forward to reading the fourth book in the series , Pimp.
By Ken Bruen & Jason Starr
This beautifully bound three book series combines: Bust, Slide and The Max into one fanastic book.
Classic crime noir at its best with a man you love to hate as lead, Max Fisher. The sassy money hungry Angela Petrakos, is a perfect female lead.
They will stop at nothing with their schemes and plots to become wealthy and carefree. Leaving a path of destruction and dead bodies along the way.
The story moves at a fast pace told from multiple points of view. Plenty of action, double crossing and a splash of humor. The perfect mix for a (classic) crime thriller. I was hooked from the first page.
Overall I found Supermax very enjoyable. I highly recommended to those who love crime noir. I look forward to reading the fourth book in the series , Pimp.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews