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Uncle Dust
Dustin loves to rob banks. Dustin loves to drink. Dustin loves his women. Dustin loves loyalty. He might even love his adopted nephew Jeremy. And, he sometimes gets a little too enthusiastic in his job doing collections for local bookies--so, sometimes, he loves to hurt people. Told in the first person, Uncle Dust is a fascinating look inside the mind of a hard, yet very complicated criminal.
314 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 14, 2015
Dustin doesn’t hold down an ordinary job – he robs banks to pay the bills. It’s a compulsive cycle with him. Generate some dollars, spend them, steal some more. When we meet Dust he is between jobs, working his way through a suitcase of cash. He’s living with Theresa and her 10-year-old son, Jeremy, in some nameless town in America.
The domestic thing doesn’t suit Dust, ultimately he leaves everyone, but there’s something about the boy. He’s small for his age and gets bullied at school. Despite himself, Dust develops a connection and starts to help the kid. He’s convinced there’s something dubious about Theresa’s ex, Davis. Maybe he’s abusing Jeremy, so Dust makes it his personal goal to make sure Davis stays clear.
But Dust’s self-imposed car crash syndrome soon kicks in. As the money depletes, so does his relationship with Theresa and he ends up in bed with bar tender Olivia. While he plans a new heist, against his better judgement, he takes a job collecting gambling debts on behalf of local gang boss, Tenny. It’s soul destroying work beating up losers for their cash but Dust convinces himself it’s temporary, just to tide him over.
Then Dust’s bank job goes horribly wrong and he takes a bullet. He decides enough is enough and it’s time to get out, however to do so means taking on Tenny and more than likely signing his own death warrant…
Cynicism drips out of Dust’s every pore. Here is a man who hates – no, loathes – everything about the world, particularly himself. Ultimately he destroys everything he comes into contact with. He drinks heavily, cannot stay faithful to the particular woman he is with at the time, and money dribbles through his fingers. He’s perhaps the single most dislikable protagonist I’ve come across. And that’s part of the problem with Uncle Dust. It’s difficult to feel any empathy for an anti-hero who has barely a single redeemable feature to justify the ‘hero’ part of the description. Even his apparent relationship with the boy Jeremy is flawed. I struggled to find a hook to make me care about him or even any of the other characters. The one exception is his ex-con friend, Rico, who finds Dust jobs. He’s the only person who doesn’t end up being one of his victims.
Difficulty connecting with Dust starts from the get-go. For instance, he has a suitcase of cash stashed at Theresa’s, but $200 is missing. It’s not a large sum, but Dust then spends page upon page trying to find out who took it. A few bucks were taken by Jeremy, but that’s it. This brings him into contact with Theresa’s ex, Davis. Immediately all thought of the cash is forgotten. Okay, the missing money leads us to another major character, but was it worth getting so worked up over only to abruptly move on?
Uncle Dust is written in the first person, which should does bring you closer to the action, but it seems to make the character separation all the more defined. There’s no outline of Dust’s appearance and I couldn’t describe him if asked. It’s a way through the novel before his name is even mentioned. The town where the action occurs is also unstated.
The storyline feels like series of unfolding events, one after the other, as Dust meanders through life, hating everything. There are only so many times we can be shown how awful he is at relationships. That said, the narrative is very well constructed and the gritty, seedy aspects of life get right under your fingernails. Rob Pierce’s writing itself is strong and commanding. If you are a reader who likes your noir a darker shade of black, Uncle Dust could be it. However, as can happen with characters this extreme, it’s too difficult to empathise with Dust himself.
Originally reviewed for Crime Fiction Lover.
The domestic thing doesn’t suit Dust, ultimately he leaves everyone, but there’s something about the boy. He’s small for his age and gets bullied at school. Despite himself, Dust develops a connection and starts to help the kid. He’s convinced there’s something dubious about Theresa’s ex, Davis. Maybe he’s abusing Jeremy, so Dust makes it his personal goal to make sure Davis stays clear.
But Dust’s self-imposed car crash syndrome soon kicks in. As the money depletes, so does his relationship with Theresa and he ends up in bed with bar tender Olivia. While he plans a new heist, against his better judgement, he takes a job collecting gambling debts on behalf of local gang boss, Tenny. It’s soul destroying work beating up losers for their cash but Dust convinces himself it’s temporary, just to tide him over.
Then Dust’s bank job goes horribly wrong and he takes a bullet. He decides enough is enough and it’s time to get out, however to do so means taking on Tenny and more than likely signing his own death warrant…
Cynicism drips out of Dust’s every pore. Here is a man who hates – no, loathes – everything about the world, particularly himself. Ultimately he destroys everything he comes into contact with. He drinks heavily, cannot stay faithful to the particular woman he is with at the time, and money dribbles through his fingers. He’s perhaps the single most dislikable protagonist I’ve come across. And that’s part of the problem with Uncle Dust. It’s difficult to feel any empathy for an anti-hero who has barely a single redeemable feature to justify the ‘hero’ part of the description. Even his apparent relationship with the boy Jeremy is flawed. I struggled to find a hook to make me care about him or even any of the other characters. The one exception is his ex-con friend, Rico, who finds Dust jobs. He’s the only person who doesn’t end up being one of his victims.
Difficulty connecting with Dust starts from the get-go. For instance, he has a suitcase of cash stashed at Theresa’s, but $200 is missing. It’s not a large sum, but Dust then spends page upon page trying to find out who took it. A few bucks were taken by Jeremy, but that’s it. This brings him into contact with Theresa’s ex, Davis. Immediately all thought of the cash is forgotten. Okay, the missing money leads us to another major character, but was it worth getting so worked up over only to abruptly move on?
Uncle Dust is written in the first person, which should does bring you closer to the action, but it seems to make the character separation all the more defined. There’s no outline of Dust’s appearance and I couldn’t describe him if asked. It’s a way through the novel before his name is even mentioned. The town where the action occurs is also unstated.
The storyline feels like series of unfolding events, one after the other, as Dust meanders through life, hating everything. There are only so many times we can be shown how awful he is at relationships. That said, the narrative is very well constructed and the gritty, seedy aspects of life get right under your fingernails. Rob Pierce’s writing itself is strong and commanding. If you are a reader who likes your noir a darker shade of black, Uncle Dust could be it. However, as can happen with characters this extreme, it’s too difficult to empathise with Dust himself.
Originally reviewed for Crime Fiction Lover.
January 31, 2015
Rob Pierce really nails his central character -- Dust is by turns likable, despicable, and pitiable -- and his dialogue. He sets Dust up with a series of other fine characters, and their interplay crackles. The balance between family drama and crime drama is adroit.
At times I thought of Edward Bunker's work, especially "Straight Time". But in the end, I found that "Uncle Dust" had most in common with the movie "Five Easy Pieces" -- mainly, the restless anti-hero whose anger is barely contained and for whom the love of a good woman is not enough. "Uncle Dust" has its own unique sensibility, though. Dust lives by his own curious code of ethics and is constantly torn by warring impulses to do good and to be utterly selfish.
At times I thought of Edward Bunker's work, especially "Straight Time". But in the end, I found that "Uncle Dust" had most in common with the movie "Five Easy Pieces" -- mainly, the restless anti-hero whose anger is barely contained and for whom the love of a good woman is not enough. "Uncle Dust" has its own unique sensibility, though. Dust lives by his own curious code of ethics and is constantly torn by warring impulses to do good and to be utterly selfish.
February 5, 2015
Absolutely fun noir. Deep, dark, thrilling; it'll leave you feeling a bit dirty, but if you're anything like me you'll be alternating between a smile and a grimace the whole way through.
July 2, 2017
Read all my reviews at davidnemeth.net.
If you have raised a child, you know how difficult it is. Now imagine you come by a kid because you are fucking his mother and your day job is robbing banks, welcome to the world to Rob Pierce's Uncle Dust (All Due Respect Books).
To put it bluntly, Dust is an asshole. Pierce presents Dust with all his flaws — drinking, huge commitment issues, and money. Dust does have a few good qualities like keeping his business world separate from his personal world and having a small spot for Theresa's 10-year-old son.
Any affection that Dust may have for a kid or a woman can suddenly disappear because what Dust loves the most is robbing banks. If he's not robbing banks, he's in a dormant state, a monster prowling the city streets, drinking heavily to dampen the missing rush — no feelings are better than any feelings.
Uncle Dust is a howl of a book filled with energy, drinking, fucking and crime. This is the first volume of Pierce's unnamed series about the lives of men who flourish in felonies and get off on their lawlessness. Pierce's writing is just as ferocious and unrelenting as the men he depicts. As Dust puts it he is trying "to find a rush then try to find the next; don’t slow down, don’t come down." Uncle Dust never comes down.
If you have raised a child, you know how difficult it is. Now imagine you come by a kid because you are fucking his mother and your day job is robbing banks, welcome to the world to Rob Pierce's Uncle Dust (All Due Respect Books).
To put it bluntly, Dust is an asshole. Pierce presents Dust with all his flaws — drinking, huge commitment issues, and money. Dust does have a few good qualities like keeping his business world separate from his personal world and having a small spot for Theresa's 10-year-old son.
It ain’t like I like kids. Mainly I don’t like people running around batshit when I’m trying to think. Theresa, for all her great fuckable qualities, didn’t have a clue what a boy needs. Mainly, out of the tiny fucking apartment. Don’t isolate him from the rest of the world, he does that too much without your help. Don’t make him afraid of where he has to live.
Any affection that Dust may have for a kid or a woman can suddenly disappear because what Dust loves the most is robbing banks. If he's not robbing banks, he's in a dormant state, a monster prowling the city streets, drinking heavily to dampen the missing rush — no feelings are better than any feelings.
It was Saturday, and I needed a bank. I knew Rico could get me work, but it wouldn’t be as safe and easy as collecting, and it wouldn’t give me the rush I wanted. There was nothing like a good solo heist, the teller’s fear mixing with mine, the rush of escape—freedom.
Then the wind-down, isolation somewhere, knowing I was as safe as I could get, and I might be dead if I felt safe at all. Every sense alert, not trusting anyone, ready for whatever came along. Whoever. Maybe that was another reason I needed this. I’d been with Theresa too long, it was time to hide away a while. She wanted some of what I had, but she wanted a safer version, a version with the edge off. She wanted me cool. I needed to burn.
Uncle Dust is a howl of a book filled with energy, drinking, fucking and crime. This is the first volume of Pierce's unnamed series about the lives of men who flourish in felonies and get off on their lawlessness. Pierce's writing is just as ferocious and unrelenting as the men he depicts. As Dust puts it he is trying "to find a rush then try to find the next; don’t slow down, don’t come down." Uncle Dust never comes down.
February 3, 2015
I will be the first to admit that one could question my ability to be objective about a book put out by All Due Respect Books. I mean, come on…look back to the way I raved about them in my Best of 2014 section. Check out how I fawned over them in my last review of All Due Respect 5. I am a shill for ADR, right? Well…not really…I just recognize greatness in the present and have the ability to acknowledge the birth of a future giant in the noir publishing world as they are just getting rolling. Does that make me unique? Just read all the other great reviews they are collecting and you will see that I am merely one of the many who are jumping on the ADR bandwagon before it gains so much speed it leaves me choking on fumes.
Uncle Dust by Rob Pierce is a future noir classic. The character just oozes realism and is the epitome of the 21st century noir character. Dusty is a man who can never seem to win, but he is in touch with his emotions and recognizes his failings and does try to do the right thing in certain situations.
Dusty is a bank robber who just seems to be biding time between jobs as he spends his day playing family man to a girlfriend and her son, Jeremy. But his interactions with Jeremy are the ones that trouble him the most. He has a desire to do right by the boy, from teaching him to defend himself against bullies, to defending him against the dangers that his mother’s former boyfriend may or may not actually present. He is deeply troubled because as a bank robber, he can have no roots. But as a man learning to love having a hand in raising Jeremy, he knows he needs to be grounded in a life in which his presence can be counted on. Jeremy recognizes this conflict in Dustin’s reality and his desire to change and he asks Dustin, “You don’t do anything forever, do you?” “Some kids in school have dads and the dads stay forever. It’s like there’s forever people and there’s people like us.” Strong indication of a character that wants to live in a fairy tale world, but lives in the noir world I love to read about. All Dustin can say to reconcile the differences between these two worlds is “Sometimes it makes sense to leave.”
I loved the way Pierce uses his words to paint the picture of Dusty’s internal struggles of how he sees the world and himself. “It worried me. I didn’t know why a woman like Theresa would have to settle. The competition must have been bigger a**holes than me”. The self-reflection that Dusty possesses throughout the story really made this one great read.
As Dusty battles his own demons and tries to come to grips with who he is, both for himself and for his future with a woman and boy he is learning to love, Pierce consistently shows us how Dusty is destined to lose. No matter how much he aches to become more than who he is, in the end he knows “I’d spent my whole life becoming someone you didn’t want to f**k with, it was hard to change that look now”. If noir is a character that destiny has pegged as a bottom dweller, I submit to you, Dusty, a noir character that may be on the bottom in many ways, but has helped lift this novel to the top.
Strong plot, strong characters, and another strong offering by ADR books. Grab a copy ASAP!
Uncle Dust by Rob Pierce is a future noir classic. The character just oozes realism and is the epitome of the 21st century noir character. Dusty is a man who can never seem to win, but he is in touch with his emotions and recognizes his failings and does try to do the right thing in certain situations.
Dusty is a bank robber who just seems to be biding time between jobs as he spends his day playing family man to a girlfriend and her son, Jeremy. But his interactions with Jeremy are the ones that trouble him the most. He has a desire to do right by the boy, from teaching him to defend himself against bullies, to defending him against the dangers that his mother’s former boyfriend may or may not actually present. He is deeply troubled because as a bank robber, he can have no roots. But as a man learning to love having a hand in raising Jeremy, he knows he needs to be grounded in a life in which his presence can be counted on. Jeremy recognizes this conflict in Dustin’s reality and his desire to change and he asks Dustin, “You don’t do anything forever, do you?” “Some kids in school have dads and the dads stay forever. It’s like there’s forever people and there’s people like us.” Strong indication of a character that wants to live in a fairy tale world, but lives in the noir world I love to read about. All Dustin can say to reconcile the differences between these two worlds is “Sometimes it makes sense to leave.”
I loved the way Pierce uses his words to paint the picture of Dusty’s internal struggles of how he sees the world and himself. “It worried me. I didn’t know why a woman like Theresa would have to settle. The competition must have been bigger a**holes than me”. The self-reflection that Dusty possesses throughout the story really made this one great read.
As Dusty battles his own demons and tries to come to grips with who he is, both for himself and for his future with a woman and boy he is learning to love, Pierce consistently shows us how Dusty is destined to lose. No matter how much he aches to become more than who he is, in the end he knows “I’d spent my whole life becoming someone you didn’t want to f**k with, it was hard to change that look now”. If noir is a character that destiny has pegged as a bottom dweller, I submit to you, Dusty, a noir character that may be on the bottom in many ways, but has helped lift this novel to the top.
Strong plot, strong characters, and another strong offering by ADR books. Grab a copy ASAP!
February 13, 2015
“After enough beers, a leather jacket makes a fine blanket.”
This book grabbed my attention immediately. The cover’s fantastic. The title is superb. The publisher is All Due Respect. What more could I ask for?
I guess the answer to that is a story to match.
To my delight, the book did more than live up to my expectation.
I loved Uncle Dust. It’s a noir story of real depth.
Uncle Dustin tells the tale himself. He’s a small-time bank robber, a debt collector, an ex-con and a drinker. He’s the kind of character that you might find in a lot of novels, but author Rob Pierce does a wonderful job of exploring the whole of him rather than making his work the central line of the plot. Sure, there are some great and very engaging set-pieces as Dust shakes down a bank or deals with a failed gambler who can’t pay the bills. There are even some of the wonderful side-shows, like the doctor who’ll patch up a wounded criminal on the sly. I’d have been happy enough with all of that.
What really shines out for me is the way Dust’s relationships are explored.
He’s a fabulous creation, brought up in tough times that have moulded the way he sees the world and caused him damage that puts him beyond repair.
Dust is in a family situation when we meet him. Theresa presses most of his buttons in the way he’d like and her son Jeremy is in need of some direction.
The father-son relationship is particularly well explored. Jeremy is a victim. The only things he seems to be interested in are fantasy card games. Dust is happy to guide him in the direction of becoming tougher, but Dust is unable to keep to any boundaries. When he finds that Jeremy is still in contact with one of Theresa’s ex-partners, Davis, the emotions smoulder and burn. Things become much more complicated when Dust finds out that Davis controls some of the more sinister fantasy games in town and that his intentions for Jeremy may not be entirely pure.
The world is always going to go wrong for Dust. His life is always going to create wrecks along the way. As Pierce drives us forward, what isn’t clear is who is going to get hurt when the next smash happens or just how bad their injuries will be. What makes the book so engaging for me is that it’s impossible not to root for him, which makes his erring judgement really hard to handle.
Uncle Dust is told with a really strong voice. The dialogue is about perfect. The snappy lines and images are a real treat. Dust’s capacity to intimidate is alarming. The story has a number of facets that work really well together. All in all, it’s a really great book. You should try it.
This book grabbed my attention immediately. The cover’s fantastic. The title is superb. The publisher is All Due Respect. What more could I ask for?
I guess the answer to that is a story to match.
To my delight, the book did more than live up to my expectation.
I loved Uncle Dust. It’s a noir story of real depth.
Uncle Dustin tells the tale himself. He’s a small-time bank robber, a debt collector, an ex-con and a drinker. He’s the kind of character that you might find in a lot of novels, but author Rob Pierce does a wonderful job of exploring the whole of him rather than making his work the central line of the plot. Sure, there are some great and very engaging set-pieces as Dust shakes down a bank or deals with a failed gambler who can’t pay the bills. There are even some of the wonderful side-shows, like the doctor who’ll patch up a wounded criminal on the sly. I’d have been happy enough with all of that.
What really shines out for me is the way Dust’s relationships are explored.
He’s a fabulous creation, brought up in tough times that have moulded the way he sees the world and caused him damage that puts him beyond repair.
Dust is in a family situation when we meet him. Theresa presses most of his buttons in the way he’d like and her son Jeremy is in need of some direction.
The father-son relationship is particularly well explored. Jeremy is a victim. The only things he seems to be interested in are fantasy card games. Dust is happy to guide him in the direction of becoming tougher, but Dust is unable to keep to any boundaries. When he finds that Jeremy is still in contact with one of Theresa’s ex-partners, Davis, the emotions smoulder and burn. Things become much more complicated when Dust finds out that Davis controls some of the more sinister fantasy games in town and that his intentions for Jeremy may not be entirely pure.
The world is always going to go wrong for Dust. His life is always going to create wrecks along the way. As Pierce drives us forward, what isn’t clear is who is going to get hurt when the next smash happens or just how bad their injuries will be. What makes the book so engaging for me is that it’s impossible not to root for him, which makes his erring judgement really hard to handle.
Uncle Dust is told with a really strong voice. The dialogue is about perfect. The snappy lines and images are a real treat. Dust’s capacity to intimidate is alarming. The story has a number of facets that work really well together. All in all, it’s a really great book. You should try it.
January 20, 2015
On the surface, "Uncle Dust" – short for Dustin -- is your average blue collar worker who enjoys kicking back with a beer and a shot when he’s not on the job.
But underneath his working class façade, Dustin’s lifestyle isn’t that straightforward. As he tells Theresa, the woman he’s living with, “You and me, we ain’t even complicated and we’re complicated.”
You see, "Uncle Dust" is a bank robber.
Dust is the protagonist in Rob Pierce’s premiere novel, a bleak noir about a criminal whose crimes are simple, but whose home life is as twisted as a coil of cheap garden hose.
Complicating his existence are his tortured relationships with a variety of people: his live-in lover and her ten year old son; a cocktail waitress he is boffing; and a former girlfriend with a history of family tragedy that he is trying to help. Adding to the complexity are his relationship with his former bank robbing buddy, Rico, a thug given to pyrotechnic bursts of violence, and with the loan shark and sports book operator that Dust collects for between bank jobs.
Dust is a tough guy, but tough isn’t enough in his world. He craves the rush of the crimes he commits but has lost track of why he does them. He needs money to escape the grasp of his loan shark boss but doesn’t seem to be able to get ahead. He’s a mess who is headed for disaster.
When a robbery he commits goes sour, it is the beginning of the end for Dust, and every choice he makes afterward brings him closer to his doom.
Pierce has done one of the most difficult things in genre fiction: he has drawn a fully realized character who isn’t remotely likeable, but whose story is riveting nevertheless. His novel about this unlikely “hero” is a classic of a genre in which every outcome is nightmarish and every choice results in grief.
“Uncle Dust” is the latest of a series of neo-pulp books issued by All Due Respect, a noir imprint that just began operations last year. The novel, Pierce’s first, is bleak and sardonic and reminds the reader of the work of Cornell Woolrich and David Goodis.
This book seems much too good to be a debut novel. If you are like me, you will finish it with a sigh and find yourself looking forward to Pierce’s next novel with impatience.
But underneath his working class façade, Dustin’s lifestyle isn’t that straightforward. As he tells Theresa, the woman he’s living with, “You and me, we ain’t even complicated and we’re complicated.”
You see, "Uncle Dust" is a bank robber.
Dust is the protagonist in Rob Pierce’s premiere novel, a bleak noir about a criminal whose crimes are simple, but whose home life is as twisted as a coil of cheap garden hose.
Complicating his existence are his tortured relationships with a variety of people: his live-in lover and her ten year old son; a cocktail waitress he is boffing; and a former girlfriend with a history of family tragedy that he is trying to help. Adding to the complexity are his relationship with his former bank robbing buddy, Rico, a thug given to pyrotechnic bursts of violence, and with the loan shark and sports book operator that Dust collects for between bank jobs.
Dust is a tough guy, but tough isn’t enough in his world. He craves the rush of the crimes he commits but has lost track of why he does them. He needs money to escape the grasp of his loan shark boss but doesn’t seem to be able to get ahead. He’s a mess who is headed for disaster.
When a robbery he commits goes sour, it is the beginning of the end for Dust, and every choice he makes afterward brings him closer to his doom.
Pierce has done one of the most difficult things in genre fiction: he has drawn a fully realized character who isn’t remotely likeable, but whose story is riveting nevertheless. His novel about this unlikely “hero” is a classic of a genre in which every outcome is nightmarish and every choice results in grief.
“Uncle Dust” is the latest of a series of neo-pulp books issued by All Due Respect, a noir imprint that just began operations last year. The novel, Pierce’s first, is bleak and sardonic and reminds the reader of the work of Cornell Woolrich and David Goodis.
This book seems much too good to be a debut novel. If you are like me, you will finish it with a sigh and find yourself looking forward to Pierce’s next novel with impatience.
February 8, 2015
A Bukowski-esque bank robber, is Uncle Dust. I enjoyed this novel very much and would like to encounter Dust again. (Not in real life - he is a woman's worst nightmare, but that is also why I love reading Bukowski)
January 12, 2018
Uncle Dust is unlike the majority of crime fiction that I've read as it's a character study without an event or mystery surrounding it. Dustin is a bank robber and career criminal just looking for his next thrill, but it comes at the expense of those around him. I found myself hoping that Dustin would do the "normal" thing just once, but his brain is wired differently and he sees something suspect in all situations. He's not an easy character to like, but he is easy to be compelled by as the story progresses.
The writing is as raw and hardboiled as can be and pulls you into the scenarios that Dustin finds himself in. I'd recommend this book for fans of crime fiction as it's not the type of crime novel I've often encountered and sure others fans of the genre would enjoy the experience.
There is a sequel, With the Right Enemies, which was published last year that I will read shortly.
The writing is as raw and hardboiled as can be and pulls you into the scenarios that Dustin finds himself in. I'd recommend this book for fans of crime fiction as it's not the type of crime novel I've often encountered and sure others fans of the genre would enjoy the experience.
There is a sequel, With the Right Enemies, which was published last year that I will read shortly.
January 24, 2015
Rob Pierce Shines With Uncle Dust
Uncle Dust, an impressive debut novel from author Rob Pierce and the latest smash hit offering from All Due Respect Books, breaks new ground in the Crime/Noir genre.
Dustin, AKA Dust, a career bank robber, is doing the domestic thing between heists. He is staying with Theresa and Jeremy. Theresa is a single mother, and Jeremy is her 10 year old son who lacks a father figure. Dust becomes entangled in their lives and we find him juggling the concerns of helping a 10 year old stand up to bullies and win at Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments while also dealing with the complexity of his relationship with Theresa, the stress of a new job as a gambling debt collector for a shady boss, while also planning his next heist.
This novel surprised me in great ways at every turn. The heist/caper genre is well established, and you know what to expect. Without spoilers, I can say that the usual tropes of this genre are exploited and subverted methodically. You never know what is going to happen, and what does happen meets the reader’s expectations in unexpected ways. It reads as a gritty character study of Dust, a hardened criminal who is presented with choices and opportunities to change direction or stay true to who he is. He is a man who attempts to right wrongs (real or imagined) of those he cares about. Full of grit and realism, Uncle Dust pulls no punches. I’m not sure that I liked Dust by the end of the story, but I’m also not sure that I was supposed to. In short, Dustin is one of the most memorable characters to emerge from this genre since Richard Stark’s Parker.
Flawlessly executed, Uncle Dust should move to the top of your list if you are a fan of hard crime/noir fiction. Rob Pierce is a writer I look forward to seeing more from in the near future. I suspect there are more masterpieces yet to come from him.
Uncle Dust, an impressive debut novel from author Rob Pierce and the latest smash hit offering from All Due Respect Books, breaks new ground in the Crime/Noir genre.
Dustin, AKA Dust, a career bank robber, is doing the domestic thing between heists. He is staying with Theresa and Jeremy. Theresa is a single mother, and Jeremy is her 10 year old son who lacks a father figure. Dust becomes entangled in their lives and we find him juggling the concerns of helping a 10 year old stand up to bullies and win at Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments while also dealing with the complexity of his relationship with Theresa, the stress of a new job as a gambling debt collector for a shady boss, while also planning his next heist.
This novel surprised me in great ways at every turn. The heist/caper genre is well established, and you know what to expect. Without spoilers, I can say that the usual tropes of this genre are exploited and subverted methodically. You never know what is going to happen, and what does happen meets the reader’s expectations in unexpected ways. It reads as a gritty character study of Dust, a hardened criminal who is presented with choices and opportunities to change direction or stay true to who he is. He is a man who attempts to right wrongs (real or imagined) of those he cares about. Full of grit and realism, Uncle Dust pulls no punches. I’m not sure that I liked Dust by the end of the story, but I’m also not sure that I was supposed to. In short, Dustin is one of the most memorable characters to emerge from this genre since Richard Stark’s Parker.
Flawlessly executed, Uncle Dust should move to the top of your list if you are a fan of hard crime/noir fiction. Rob Pierce is a writer I look forward to seeing more from in the near future. I suspect there are more masterpieces yet to come from him.
September 20, 2020
No Dust settling on this!
Loved this . Brutal, harsh, in your face. Brash and bold. This is as gritty as anything I've ever read. Dust is unique and completely absorbing. Like the booze he drinks, it's sometimes harsh going down, but the result is all that matters. I'm already looking forward to the next chapter!
Loved this . Brutal, harsh, in your face. Brash and bold. This is as gritty as anything I've ever read. Dust is unique and completely absorbing. Like the booze he drinks, it's sometimes harsh going down, but the result is all that matters. I'm already looking forward to the next chapter!
October 10, 2017
A bit scattershot -- the book focuses on one thing then another. But that's the character.
Not an easy read, as you are in the head of a nut-job the entire time. More drinking than in a Fredric Brown novel.
Not an easy read, as you are in the head of a nut-job the entire time. More drinking than in a Fredric Brown novel.
August 23, 2018
The writing was fine, but the story depressed the heck out of me.
August 31, 2015
Dustin, aka Dusty, tends to be a loner. At the same time he sort of wants a family. Not a 24 hour 7 day a week family, but a family he could use as sort of cover in between jobs. Teresa and her son Jeremy fit that bill.
.
The problem with inserting yourself into a family is that, if you are not very careful, their issues and problems become your problems and issues. Teresa’s problem, even if she does not know it is her old boyfriend, Davis. Jeremy’s problem is that he is a fourth grader getting seriously bullied at school, and looking for a father figure.
Dusty can help with those problems but he demands total and complete loyalty. That means the person who took Dusty’s hard earned money out of the suitcase stashed in the hall closet better return it quickly. Dusty is between bank jobs and there wasn’t enough for someone to go lifting a few bills out in the first place. It is also a matter of respect as what Dusty has is his and he has total and last say over it.
The search for the missing money is the first step on an intriguing trail in the life of Dusty, career criminal. Robbing banks and collecting on debts is just part of what he does. Violence fueled by many factors is just part of his personae. While the bank robbery brings a sense of adrenaline and purpose, something he rarely finds in other pursuits, it also serves as a means of peace and taking the edge of off the day to day stressors. A complicated man who finds a few minutes peace when he can find it whether it is with a bottle, a woman, or by beating the heck out a loser who didn’t pay his gambling debts, Dusty is constantly in search of something better. That search has ramifications for him as well as everyone he has any contact with in Uncle Dust: A Novel by Rob Pierre.
This is a very complicated read that features a rather unlikeable hero. Dusty craves the rush of what he does and has a grasp, at least to a certain point, on why he does it. Prone to violence and yet the violence is often on behalf of or because of someone he cares about. It is a bleak life and yet some of his most violent moments when he is using or abusing people are when he feels the most alive. He claims to not cares about others and yet is often is doing things to help others.
The result is a complicated trip in the hard boiled mind of a criminal who is fairly aware of his behavior and is unable to change. There is a certain redemptive quality at points in the read and which is often destroyed by the choices Dusty is later compelled to make. Published by All Due Respect Books, this is not a light or easy read and certainly is not for everybody. Uncle Dust is a very good read as well as an intriguing character study. When so many authors take the clichéd angle in such situations, Rob Pierce has done something truly different and well worth reading.
Uncle Dust
Rob Pierce
http://www.uncledust.com
All Due Respect Books
http://www.allduerespectbooks.com
January 2015
ASIN# B00SGGKHOE
E-Book (also available in paperback)
314 Pages
$2.99
Material supplied by the publisher at time of publication in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
.
The problem with inserting yourself into a family is that, if you are not very careful, their issues and problems become your problems and issues. Teresa’s problem, even if she does not know it is her old boyfriend, Davis. Jeremy’s problem is that he is a fourth grader getting seriously bullied at school, and looking for a father figure.
Dusty can help with those problems but he demands total and complete loyalty. That means the person who took Dusty’s hard earned money out of the suitcase stashed in the hall closet better return it quickly. Dusty is between bank jobs and there wasn’t enough for someone to go lifting a few bills out in the first place. It is also a matter of respect as what Dusty has is his and he has total and last say over it.
The search for the missing money is the first step on an intriguing trail in the life of Dusty, career criminal. Robbing banks and collecting on debts is just part of what he does. Violence fueled by many factors is just part of his personae. While the bank robbery brings a sense of adrenaline and purpose, something he rarely finds in other pursuits, it also serves as a means of peace and taking the edge of off the day to day stressors. A complicated man who finds a few minutes peace when he can find it whether it is with a bottle, a woman, or by beating the heck out a loser who didn’t pay his gambling debts, Dusty is constantly in search of something better. That search has ramifications for him as well as everyone he has any contact with in Uncle Dust: A Novel by Rob Pierre.
This is a very complicated read that features a rather unlikeable hero. Dusty craves the rush of what he does and has a grasp, at least to a certain point, on why he does it. Prone to violence and yet the violence is often on behalf of or because of someone he cares about. It is a bleak life and yet some of his most violent moments when he is using or abusing people are when he feels the most alive. He claims to not cares about others and yet is often is doing things to help others.
The result is a complicated trip in the hard boiled mind of a criminal who is fairly aware of his behavior and is unable to change. There is a certain redemptive quality at points in the read and which is often destroyed by the choices Dusty is later compelled to make. Published by All Due Respect Books, this is not a light or easy read and certainly is not for everybody. Uncle Dust is a very good read as well as an intriguing character study. When so many authors take the clichéd angle in such situations, Rob Pierce has done something truly different and well worth reading.
Uncle Dust
Rob Pierce
http://www.uncledust.com
All Due Respect Books
http://www.allduerespectbooks.com
January 2015
ASIN# B00SGGKHOE
E-Book (also available in paperback)
314 Pages
$2.99
Material supplied by the publisher at time of publication in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
July 14, 2017
Absolutely noir. This book is in many ways in feel and attitude a throwback to fifties-era noir. It has a sensibility (although not as poetic) like a Goodis novel of Dustin (Uncle Dust) ping ponging around town and drinking himself to death. Be forewarned this book is a character study much more than a plot- driven story. Dustin is a ban robber and a loan collector for a bookie. Going out collecting is just a job for him, but he likes punching people. The narrative takes us readers inside Dustin's skull as he sinks further and further into oblivion. No job is satisfying. He has a jealous relationship with Theresa and feels sometimes fatherly to her geeky Pokemon-playing son to the point where he trains him to take on the bullies. And he can never drink enough Scotch. Drink after drink until he passes out.
This is a powerful evocative tale that shows Dustin's fall. It's dark. It's noir. It's really really good.
This is a powerful evocative tale that shows Dustin's fall. It's dark. It's noir. It's really really good.
February 8, 2016
Dustin is a simple man yet complicated at times. He drinks too much, he is violent, and he isn't into monogamy. In his defense he had a rough time growing up and its not like he tries to hide any of these attributes about himself. Seems like what you see if what you get with Dust. Despite his character flaws there is a part of him that does care for some people and he tries to maintain a sense of honor. Oh yeah, he loves to rob banks. That is his thing. He considers bank robbery his primary type of work, he loves the rush it gives him, and the money too. The book starts out at Theresa's house, a woman that Dustin has shacked up with after a successful bank robbery. The book is written from the perspective of Dustin as he tries to figure out how to move forward with his life. He struggles with finding fulfillment. He lives life pretty recklessly but he is still smart about it. The problem is that no matter how smart you are if you live life the way Dustin does it's bound to catch up with you.
I really enjoyed this book and found myself rooting for Dustin even though I didn't like him very much. It just wasn't meant for Dustin to settle down and be domesticated. Rob Pierce created a fascinating realistic character and I was right there with him the whole time. My only criticism is I feel like there was a lot of repetition of Dustin's thoughts and plans in the story that could of been removed. I think Pierce did this as a way to keep the vibe realistic as real people rerun scenarios, especially stressful ones, over and over in their heads but it drug things out a bit much for me. In the big scheme of things it is a pretty minor criticism though. I have enjoyed everything I have read from All Due Respect books so far and I will definitely read another Rob Pierce book in the future.
I really enjoyed this book and found myself rooting for Dustin even though I didn't like him very much. It just wasn't meant for Dustin to settle down and be domesticated. Rob Pierce created a fascinating realistic character and I was right there with him the whole time. My only criticism is I feel like there was a lot of repetition of Dustin's thoughts and plans in the story that could of been removed. I think Pierce did this as a way to keep the vibe realistic as real people rerun scenarios, especially stressful ones, over and over in their heads but it drug things out a bit much for me. In the big scheme of things it is a pretty minor criticism though. I have enjoyed everything I have read from All Due Respect books so far and I will definitely read another Rob Pierce book in the future.
June 26, 2015
A bank robber discovers that his girlfriend's kid has been stealing from him to buy Magic and Yugioh cards--that's the world Rob Pierce throws us into in Uncle Dust.
The lead character is a quintessential noir antihero, a hard-drinking, hard-hitting criminal and womanizer. But the story is less about what he does and more how he lives with it, and lives with the people around him.
Dustin becomes a mentor to his sometime-girlfriend Theresa's son Jeremy. In a typical Hollywood movie the kid would be an angel or a corruptible scamp. Pierce gives him a personality, and shades the world so that Jeremy's problems won't go away just because he learns how to throw a punch. That honesty is a strength of the writing. Rob Pierce pulls no punches, and he tells a story no one else has--the domestic life of a bank robber.
The lead character is a quintessential noir antihero, a hard-drinking, hard-hitting criminal and womanizer. But the story is less about what he does and more how he lives with it, and lives with the people around him.
Dustin becomes a mentor to his sometime-girlfriend Theresa's son Jeremy. In a typical Hollywood movie the kid would be an angel or a corruptible scamp. Pierce gives him a personality, and shades the world so that Jeremy's problems won't go away just because he learns how to throw a punch. That honesty is a strength of the writing. Rob Pierce pulls no punches, and he tells a story no one else has--the domestic life of a bank robber.
April 12, 2015
While the book is about a bank robber this is less a heist novel and more a character study, though, the actual heists are all well done, brutal, gritty and tense just the way they should be. Uncle Dust is an excellent character, the unique motivations and relationships of a career criminal dedicated to the outlaw lifestyle make for an excellent read in the hands of Pierce. Dust is well drawn, not always likeable, but always interesting.
April 13, 2015
A decent piece of noir, or is this considered "thug lit"? Anyway, not as heavy as I imagined it would be, but if you like reading about bank robbers, bookies, lots of heavy drinking and some beatings, this is for you.
July 19, 2015
Uncle Dust is a hard man to love and an even harder man to like. He's not a great father or husband figure. Not even a great boyfriend. He does like to drink and he does like Iggy & The Stooges and that's alright with me. This book is about "Family, the shit that never goes away."
December 9, 2015
A great noir. A story of a man incapable of love or commitment. Some excellent writing here. Great read.
February 15, 2016
Not my cup of tea!
Only reason I gave this book 2 ** was I actually read the whole thing. Losers I dont need and this was a waste of my time
Only reason I gave this book 2 ** was I actually read the whole thing. Losers I dont need and this was a waste of my time
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