The Fix

by Steve Lowe

Buster's got a mean right hook. Or, he did, until he put Ronnie Piccolo's lights out in the fourth round of a fixed boxing match. See, Buster's also got a mean heroin addiction, and he needs the money. Unfortunately for him, his failure to take a dive runs him afoul of a psychotic bookie, his henchman, and a fucking heavy sledgehammer. Jimmy "Two Tickets To" Paradise knows the sledge well. His career ended a few years back when his weasel of a best friend tried the same scam on the very same bookie. Now he's working in a machine shop, punching the clock, and caring for his pregnant girlfriend. When the same friend shows up on his doorstep, dying of ALS and begging to make amends, Jimmy will take him back to the part of Chicago where the cops take their time and the crooks handle their business with railroad ties. There's a bag full of money waiting where the streetlights are all shot out, where the windows are all boarded up. And swirling around it like blood in a drain is a rogue's gallery of hammer-wielding killers, fast-talking thieves, and mutilated has-beens, all of them looking for revenge, closure, and the mother of all paydays.

142 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2014

About the author

Steve Lowe misses riding Big Wheels in the cul-de-sac. He is the author of a handful of Bizarro books, including MUSCLE MEMORY, KING OF THE PERVERTS, and YOU ARE SLOTH! Hey, look! That's him over there! No, the other way. Yeah, that's definitely him.

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This slim volume packs a hellofa punch. Lowe can write and here he delivers a story so cleanly written that if it weren't abt a bunch of dirty double crossers it would go down like the finest bourbon whiskey, but these guys are bad news so it goes down fast like a cold beer on a hot day.

[David Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read by Lowe, the first being You Are Sloth. Not that it matters but Lowe is definitely a certified bad ass writer in my book. If you enjoy other Broken River Books as much as I do, you will definitely enjoy this book. Based in the seedy underbelly of the sports world where the competition becomes criminal, boxing is the sport where you may get hurt inside the ring or get killed outside the ring if you don't play your cards right. It appears Lowe has a wide range of skills in his pen. I am stoked to read what's next!

[David Barbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Lowe's boxing novel is all about the art of rigging the game, the game of boxing, of money, and of luck. It's a seedy world full of desperate men fighting in the ring and fighting against time, playing a corrupt game where fists meet faces and hammers meet hands. Not reading this one will leave you full of regret, like a shriveled up hand at your side, a deformed reminder of that time you took a chance on your own fix... and lost.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Lowe shows a side that I have not seen before and does it so well. A tactful read with well placed plot lines. The story was abrasive, violent and intriguing in all the ways a good crime book should be. Things do not really come to fruition until the last few pages.

[Joseph Patchen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts with a bang, but see my review on Lurid-lit.com.