Punch Line

by Joey Slinger

From Punch Line: It quickly became obvious that Ballantine missed his wife in a terrible way. No sooner had a decent interval of mourning passed than he began making plans to track down and kill the three assholes who had scared her to death. For a man who was eighty-one years old and who, as far as he could remember, had never caused even the slightest physical harm to any other human being, a murder spree took him into realms beyond any he had ever imagined.Ballantine considers himself a mediocre murderer at best, but such modesty doesnt fool his fellow guests, a typical nursing home population of lawyers, druggists, computer buffs, electronics geeks, knitting ladies, boiler-room operators, self-proclaimed messiahs, money launderers, school principals and arms dealers. To them, Ballantine is a man of action who galvanizes their hold over life and death.Does it matter that Dixon, the all-powerful manager of The Cloister, and Borofsky, an over-the-hill cop, may be on to them? Of course not. After all, what could they do to rein in a bunch of dying peoplekill them?Tightly plotted and utterly original, this hilarious novel breaks all boundaries to deliver a fast-paced adventure thats sure to have you falling off your chair laughing.

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Michelle F · Rating 3 out of 5]

The world needs more kickass stories about octogenarians to contrast all the mushy drama yuck that tends to feature those closer to natural death. Punch Line tries to run with this, which is an admirable endeavor, even if it gets tripped up right off the starting line.

This was a crazy fun idea about a Senior Citizen Hit Squad. It lost a whole bunch in execution (har har), but was still kind of confusingly enjoyable. Super funny at times, irredeemably absurd at others, I find that all of the things I liked about it are quickly overbalanced by weightier criticisms. There is above all a jagged confusion in the presentation. The hopeful in me thinks that this was intentional...a whole-story mirroring of a slow, confounding descent into dementia? I dunno. I'm glad I read it for the concept, but I can't imagine trying to pimp it out to someone else.

[Erika Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty hilarious. Old people turning into a hit squad.
This book isn't life changing in any way, but it was fun to read and I will keep it on my book shelf and recommend it to people if they are wanting a light fun read.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise with senior citizens who join forces to become an organized crime gang.I found this book took me awhile to read because it was easy for me to put down.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hilarious and frightening in equal measure--the best satire I've read in ages.

[Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridiculous premise, irregular chronology, but hilarious (if you have a dark sense of humour).

[Tracee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this but in the end it was not enough to take my mind off of things. The author’s choice of language was mostly just vile making it unenjoyable.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely different. Enjoyed it.