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Brut
A propulsive, electrifying novel about a hitman who is forced to take an impossible job, by the rising literary sensation and comedian Sam Tallent, author of Running The Light
Robert Beaujolais forfeited the last years of his youth to the Marines, watching his friends die. Beaujolais survived, but civilian life made him regret it. Compared to the truth of war, peace fit him like a casket. At least he was in love, even if he was the only one who could admit it. They were together - until they weren't.
Then, out of nothing, the architects of the world offer Beaujolais a job in the blood business. They prefer to call it arbitration, but Beauj knows murder - killing is his calling - and as an arbiter, Beauj is the ultimate judge.
But when Beaujolais botches a simple hit in San Francisco, his shadowy employers manifest to remind him that he is, in fact, capable of dying. Beauj is given a kill or be erased. The destination is Paris; the target is Europe's last remaining godfather, the Archangel of Florence.
A blistering tale of love and violence, Brut is the story of a man measuring the circumference of his soul in bulletholes. Is his or any other life worth saving? Only the arbiter can decide.
Robert Beaujolais forfeited the last years of his youth to the Marines, watching his friends die. Beaujolais survived, but civilian life made him regret it. Compared to the truth of war, peace fit him like a casket. At least he was in love, even if he was the only one who could admit it. They were together - until they weren't.
Then, out of nothing, the architects of the world offer Beaujolais a job in the blood business. They prefer to call it arbitration, but Beauj knows murder - killing is his calling - and as an arbiter, Beauj is the ultimate judge.
But when Beaujolais botches a simple hit in San Francisco, his shadowy employers manifest to remind him that he is, in fact, capable of dying. Beauj is given a kill or be erased. The destination is Paris; the target is Europe's last remaining godfather, the Archangel of Florence.
A blistering tale of love and violence, Brut is the story of a man measuring the circumference of his soul in bulletholes. Is his or any other life worth saving? Only the arbiter can decide.
349 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 22, 2026
About the author
Sam Tallent
3 books254 followersKnown for whip-quick wit and rollicking improvisations, Sam Tallent is one of the sharpest, most original rising talents in comedy today. For the last 10 years, he has performed at least 45 weekends annually across America, Canada and France. Called "the absurd voice of a surreal generation" by the Denver Post, Sam is beloved by fans of contemporary comedy. He was a New Face at the 2019 Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, he won his battle on Comedy Central's Roast Battle, hosted the Denver episode of VICELAND's Flophouse and appeared on the Chris Gerhard Show to impress a girl. His critically acclaimed debut novel Running the Light - heralded as the “definitive novel about stand up comedy” (Marc Maron, WTF) - was published by Too Big to Fail Press in 2020 and his short fiction has been published on VICE.com and in BIRDY magazine. He lives in Colorado with his wife and his dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
October 1, 2026
I have mostly stopped reading Crime/Noir thrillers because there are so many of them and they are almost all the same derivative brand of boring. I took a chance on this one anyway and am happy to report that it paid off.
This feels like something original, a truly unique entry into the (kinda) antihero hit man canon, with gorgeously drawn sense of place and outstanding atmosphere.
It’s also just a good story, with enough character nuance to set it apart from most books in the genre and a lot of interesting backstory. Our protagonist is not exactly what you’d call a great guy, but he’s not a bad guy by any stretch either, and therein lies the most interesting parts of this novel.
The story is intense and keeps propelling you on, punctuated with bits of subtle and observant humor.
I didn’t love the ending, but the book is still very much worth a read, especially if you like crime novels but are kind of fed up with how many of them all feel the same.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
This feels like something original, a truly unique entry into the (kinda) antihero hit man canon, with gorgeously drawn sense of place and outstanding atmosphere.
It’s also just a good story, with enough character nuance to set it apart from most books in the genre and a lot of interesting backstory. Our protagonist is not exactly what you’d call a great guy, but he’s not a bad guy by any stretch either, and therein lies the most interesting parts of this novel.
The story is intense and keeps propelling you on, punctuated with bits of subtle and observant humor.
I didn’t love the ending, but the book is still very much worth a read, especially if you like crime novels but are kind of fed up with how many of them all feel the same.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Did Not Finish
September 16, 2026I really like Sam as a comedian so I was excited to check this book out but it quickly faded as I started reading. I thought that it might start to pick up but a quarter of the way in I had to DNF. I lost any interest in continuing to see where this story went.
I feel like there is/could be a good story here and the premise is something I would enjoy but the writing feels like its trying to be too much and there is no depth to the world or characters he has built.
I feel like there is/could be a good story here and the premise is something I would enjoy but the writing feels like its trying to be too much and there is no depth to the world or characters he has built.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was a surprise. Be patient and you will be rewarded. Also, no spoilers from me. Beaujolais is an assassin, a man who kills at the direction of the mysterious Uncle but he's also a man dealing with grief. Now after a mistake during a hit, Uncle takes him to Paris where he's been contracted to kill Massimo, an organized crime leader, by the latter's daughter. She's quite the character and you will also wonder whether to trust her. This moves back and forth in time to tell part of Beaujolais's story, the story of his relationship with Benny. It's graphically violent in spots, there's untranslated French and Italian, and it's at times a bit confusing (and overwritten) but wow does it pack a punch. There is a bit of humor (as one would expect from Tallent) but not a lot. I know it won't be for everyone but it hooked me and kept me turning the pages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I really enjoyed this.
September 22, 2026
Brut feels like a gritty, ironic look at American masculinity and all the weird baggage that comes with it. It takes all those old ideas about being tough, competent, violent when necessary, emotionally shut down, self-reliant, and asks what they look like when there’s not really anything noble holding them together anymore.
You can feel Hemingway, westerns, noir, war books, road novels, all that traditionally male literary stuff sitting underneath it. But Tallent’s prose is way messier and more excessive than Hemingway, in a good way mostly, with these really nasty, funny, grotesque images that keep turning people into animals or bodies into objects.
It’s occasionally feels like it’s making fun of masculinity, but it’s also showing how strange and hollow some of those old masculine codes look in black and white. That’s the strangest part for me, and strange not in a bad way necessarily. It feels like a book written for modern men and about modern masculinity, but one that keeps critiquing both even as it pulls you further into their world.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this advance ARC in return for an honest review.
I can not emphasize this enough, Brut by Sam Tallent ( for his sake I hope this is a nom de plum ) is one of THE worst books I have ever read. I must have been in a masochistic mood to actually finish this poorly written book rather than DNF it, which I meant to do on several occasions.
This was identified as "General Fiction (Adult) | Humor & Satire | Mystery & Thrillers." It was neither humorous, nor satirical, nor was it a mystery or a thriller. The only mystery was why this book was not labeled as LBGQT+ as I did not expect to be reading a book about a gay hit man, who spends half the book either naked or reminiscing about his dead gay lover ( sorry, spoiler ) Benny with whom he survived the US Marine Corp with, and eventually lived and loved with.
I can not in good conscious recommend this to anyone, even readers looking for books about gay hitmen.
#Brut #NetGalley
I can not emphasize this enough, Brut by Sam Tallent ( for his sake I hope this is a nom de plum ) is one of THE worst books I have ever read. I must have been in a masochistic mood to actually finish this poorly written book rather than DNF it, which I meant to do on several occasions.
This was identified as "General Fiction (Adult) | Humor & Satire | Mystery & Thrillers." It was neither humorous, nor satirical, nor was it a mystery or a thriller. The only mystery was why this book was not labeled as LBGQT+ as I did not expect to be reading a book about a gay hit man, who spends half the book either naked or reminiscing about his dead gay lover ( sorry, spoiler ) Benny with whom he survived the US Marine Corp with, and eventually lived and loved with.
I can not in good conscious recommend this to anyone, even readers looking for books about gay hitmen.
#Brut #NetGalley
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2026
Very interesting premise but was not a fan of the writing. Was extremely choppy, especially at the beginning. Parts moved so fast that it felt like whiplash. Word choice felt like it was trying to pretend to be intellectual when in reality it was just pompous. Thought it could just not be my style and push through. Got a little over half through and decided it was feeling like a chore to read as opposed to enjoyable.
October 7, 2026
Only made it 20% in then had to stop. It’s like someone just read the dictionary & thesaurus and wanted to show off to everyone how many cool words they know. Book was unnecessarily wordy.
Review of advance copy
I received this book as an advanced reader’s copy, and since it comes out in August 2026, there’s still time for some solid editing!! Holy WOW, does it need editing. I only made it to ~50 pages into the story, but a significant amount of what I read is heavily detailed descriptions that don’t add anything to the story. First I gave it the benefit of the doubt (the MC’s an assassin so maybe he’s very observant?) but nobody thinks like these descriptions.
Example: “between drifts of white foam, the water rolled in a humping patchwork of cerulean and cobalt and cornflower and cyan, shades, and hues of infinite splendor, the total pallet of blue and it’s variations augmented by the differing intensities of daylight breaching the cloud cover above.”
See? It’s redundant, and it doesn’t stop. The worst offender is: “he popped his collar against the brisk night, dodging doddering disco dinosaurs and raging midnight scions, schools of joybound berserkers darting in and out of the bars on Clay Street, like hummingbirds, chasing the nectar of the final last good thing.” (Joybound isn’t a word by the way, and that alliteration is killer.)
Finally, there’s a VERY racist description of two supposedly Asian men, where I finally gave up on the book. Maybe the MC is racist but I just can’t; this is a terrible way to describe anyone: “ as soon as he collected his bag from the belt, two men in black jackets swarmed. When was the color of almond flour, a yellow jaundice hue, slight of frame with quick eyes and a bristle of short cropped red hair that dissolved into a skin fade above his ears. The other was a piggish, hulking bruiser, Hmong or Mongolian, his fat cheeks bulging – he looked like a full grown adult baby.”
Hey again, Random House, there’s still time to change this one up.
Example: “between drifts of white foam, the water rolled in a humping patchwork of cerulean and cobalt and cornflower and cyan, shades, and hues of infinite splendor, the total pallet of blue and it’s variations augmented by the differing intensities of daylight breaching the cloud cover above.”
See? It’s redundant, and it doesn’t stop. The worst offender is: “he popped his collar against the brisk night, dodging doddering disco dinosaurs and raging midnight scions, schools of joybound berserkers darting in and out of the bars on Clay Street, like hummingbirds, chasing the nectar of the final last good thing.” (Joybound isn’t a word by the way, and that alliteration is killer.)
Finally, there’s a VERY racist description of two supposedly Asian men, where I finally gave up on the book. Maybe the MC is racist but I just can’t; this is a terrible way to describe anyone: “ as soon as he collected his bag from the belt, two men in black jackets swarmed. When was the color of almond flour, a yellow jaundice hue, slight of frame with quick eyes and a bristle of short cropped red hair that dissolved into a skin fade above his ears. The other was a piggish, hulking bruiser, Hmong or Mongolian, his fat cheeks bulging – he looked like a full grown adult baby.”
Hey again, Random House, there’s still time to change this one up.
September 26, 2026
Beautiful prose. He brings the same skilled approach from Running the Light to the topic of international assassins. You see Paris through his eyes. It’s beautiful, violent, terrible. Touching. You’re hungry from the descriptions, you get sick from the descriptions. He just rules. I’m so happy this is a level up in writing for Sam. You can feel the research, the lived experience of a traveling comedian, and a career reading people—spun through the prism of a hitman. Just so cool.
Did Not Finish
October 9, 2026DNF at 45%
October 20, 2026
Pretty good book. I may just be dumb, but I had a hard time following who was saying things when dialogue was happening and that’s really my only (small) complaint.
October 18, 2026
I enjoyed much about this book including the main character but Sam needs a better editor.
The endless descriptions milked from the teet of a literary bovine thesaurus were at times maddening.
Often I chuckled uncomfortably with douche chills.
I’ll read his next offering in hopes he’s turned it down a couple notches.
Still love his comedy because he is very funny.
The endless descriptions milked from the teet of a literary bovine thesaurus were at times maddening.
Often I chuckled uncomfortably with douche chills.
I’ll read his next offering in hopes he’s turned it down a couple notches.
Still love his comedy because he is very funny.
October 24, 2026
I was really impressed by how pragmatic the prose was to start. Literally putting a “John Wick” type movie in my head that was effective with fast-paced vivid depictions of violence. Then the story kicked in. Very run-of-the-mill. The dialogue got particularly annoying. I can’t say the characters spoke in clichés, but they spoke in ways that no one would ever speak. Every other line felt as if someone would take a drag of a cigarette after then flip the flap of their duster and give a half smirk. Also there were 2/3 page long stretches in Italian. I mean that’s effective in a movie with subtitles, in a book not so much.
Every other page had some witticism or surface level examination of death. It was tough to get through. On top of it all, I didn’t give a shit about any character in this book.
Not a total waste because part 1 was gripping and this thing moved fast enough to prevent it from being a slog. Would not recommend though.
Every other page had some witticism or surface level examination of death. It was tough to get through. On top of it all, I didn’t give a shit about any character in this book.
Not a total waste because part 1 was gripping and this thing moved fast enough to prevent it from being a slog. Would not recommend though.
October 2, 2026
Very solid follow up to Running the Light. Loved the setting and the character Uncle.
October 10, 2026
Didn’t love the ending but a great read overall
October 10, 2026
Sam Tallent is a great comedian who might be a better writer. I can’t wait for his next book.
September 27, 2026
Sam Tallent's Brut was great. I read it in one night and some change.
Robert Beaujolais is a tremendous departure from Billy Ray Schaefer (Running The Light) while maintaining the sinew that holds the two together. Tallent, Billy Ray, and Beaujolais have an awful lot in common: hotels, comedy clubs, managers, rental cars, and bisexual lovers (Lund). Beaujolais spends the book as a faceless entity until he becomes the most important person in the room, a feeling Tallent seems very comfortable writing.
The novel is beautiful. Benny's departure is especially well written.
Uncle is intentionally impossible to pin down, a great depiction of a man who crawled out of the mud to grab the brass ring.
Gianna (Michaels, wink) shows exactly what unearned affluence can do to a person. Her inability to control The Arbiter through her sexuality is a refreshing take on a familiar dynamic.
Sam Tallent wrote a novel for the Bennys while actively servicing the Roberts. Read Brut. More Wide World. Ghoul reigns supreme. Sam finally grabbed the sword with this one.
Robert Beaujolais is a tremendous departure from Billy Ray Schaefer (Running The Light) while maintaining the sinew that holds the two together. Tallent, Billy Ray, and Beaujolais have an awful lot in common: hotels, comedy clubs, managers, rental cars, and bisexual lovers (Lund). Beaujolais spends the book as a faceless entity until he becomes the most important person in the room, a feeling Tallent seems very comfortable writing.
The novel is beautiful. Benny's departure is especially well written.
Uncle is intentionally impossible to pin down, a great depiction of a man who crawled out of the mud to grab the brass ring.
Gianna (Michaels, wink) shows exactly what unearned affluence can do to a person. Her inability to control The Arbiter through her sexuality is a refreshing take on a familiar dynamic.
Sam Tallent wrote a novel for the Bennys while actively servicing the Roberts. Read Brut. More Wide World. Ghoul reigns supreme. Sam finally grabbed the sword with this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Did Not Finish
May 28, 2026Firstly, I’d like to thank Random House and NetGalley for allowing me this early ARC copy of Brit by Sam Tallent.
I started the book Brut with high hopes since I’m a fan of Sam Tallent’s comedy and I’m also an avid book reader. Not very often do you come across comedians who also write fictional novels. I only made it 11% into the book before I knew I needed to step away. I took some time and came back to the book, but ultimately this will be my first DNF of the 2026 year.
This book is written in a very unique way. The structure is there, though choppy, the reader is following a man through a bird’s eye view of his day to day life of a paid assassin. “The Arbiter” as he is called goes through the motions of receiving his client assignments, and then taking said clients out. He starts to slip up after an unexpected run in with a secretary that could have jeopardized his whole career. It wasn’t too long after this that I felt the need to walk away.
I’d describe this book as a poetic fictional journey for those who have the patience to read it. The book is riddled with overly descriptive scenery/characters/thoughts. I can see the creative approach of beginning a scene and then shortly after briskly ending to then immediately cut to a whole different scene, but I believe it’s just not my cup of tea.
This is a full length novel at 368 pages and will be available to read to the public come September 22, 2026. If available for preorder now and you can get it wherever books are sold. Thank you again Random House and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read Brut in advance!
I started the book Brut with high hopes since I’m a fan of Sam Tallent’s comedy and I’m also an avid book reader. Not very often do you come across comedians who also write fictional novels. I only made it 11% into the book before I knew I needed to step away. I took some time and came back to the book, but ultimately this will be my first DNF of the 2026 year.
This book is written in a very unique way. The structure is there, though choppy, the reader is following a man through a bird’s eye view of his day to day life of a paid assassin. “The Arbiter” as he is called goes through the motions of receiving his client assignments, and then taking said clients out. He starts to slip up after an unexpected run in with a secretary that could have jeopardized his whole career. It wasn’t too long after this that I felt the need to walk away.
I’d describe this book as a poetic fictional journey for those who have the patience to read it. The book is riddled with overly descriptive scenery/characters/thoughts. I can see the creative approach of beginning a scene and then shortly after briskly ending to then immediately cut to a whole different scene, but I believe it’s just not my cup of tea.
This is a full length novel at 368 pages and will be available to read to the public come September 22, 2026. If available for preorder now and you can get it wherever books are sold. Thank you again Random House and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read Brut in advance!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2026
one of the most engaging and beautiful books ive read all year. Sam Tallent takes a familiar idea- a hitman with an impossible job- and turns it into a meditation on what it means to be human. The protagonist is a man trapped between worlds, pummeled by grief and loss and hardened by the by the grotesque violence of his service in the marines. In Robert Beaujoleas we have the perfect hitman - a trained assassin with nothing to lose and no one to live for. But as we peel back the layers, and as Beauj does what hes hired for, he is forced to confront the power of his pain
One of the core themes here is how people cope with trauma - particularly the trauma of violence- and the juxtaposition of Beauj and his love Benny deals with this beautifully. Benny, unlike Beauj, wears it all on his sleeve. The sheer insanity of what he faced overseas combined with his shame tied to his sexual orientation was too much for him to bear. He would explode - abuse drugs - he was the embodiment of the chaos that was his life. Beauj wore it all much closer to the chest, partly because he had Benny. Once he lost his tether to reality - once Benny ended his own life - he collapsed into himself and back into the violence that made him "valuable". Benny could see what was underneath Beauj and maybe the weight of keeping him in tact added to the insurmountable pressure of his life.
"They’d both been Over There at the horror show, where all there was to do was watch your friends die. People saving dog meat for their birthdays. Did you hear they use their babies as grenades? After that, life had a way of pushing right up against you. Beauj compartmentalized. Benny deemed his coping performative and cavalier."
"Many people confuse living with enduring but not him. Call it trauma bonding, call it Stockholm Syndrome, call it codependency. He simply called it love."
This is a book of opposites in a lot of ways and one prime example is Robert's time in Paris and his time at Fort Parris. These places represent two disparate but coexisting parts of himself. Those two places also represent Benny and Beauj - also two opposites beautifully coexisting. In both Paris and Parris - he is a soldier doing the killing on behalf of lunatics out for vengeance. In Paris - it is Uncle and Gianna, one in the murder game for money the other for power and boredom, in Parris it is Uncle Sam
Uncle - maybe a play on Uncle Sam (a mastermind of violence and killings to enrich himself, employing an army of trained killers) - is objectively hilarious and his banter is the best part of the story. He pretends to have Beauj's best interests at heart only to backstab him when the money got good enough and the threat level got high enough.
One of the main themes is what pain can do to us - again a play on opposites. Beauj is hired by Gianna to kill her father Massimo, the mob boss of the most important crime family. Acting as Gianna's boyfriend, Beauj gest close enough to Massimo for him to drop some wisdom -
"You want connection, an end to your alone. Love.” Massimo toed the remnants of the passed-away fire. “I am old man. When I am your age, I do not listen to old men. They do not speak loud enough, and now my voice is their voice. So listen to an old man. The things you want, they are my uncle’s coins.”"
“Those in pain forget…they only feel it because…they are alive. No pain, no life. I work my life to keep my daughters from pain. Pain is the one thing they do not have. As adults, they seek it, the reality of it, the truth."
This wisdom here is that you cannot escape pain in this life... but he is romanticizing it. Now you have Benny on the other side who is all consumed by pain in a way that was not his fault. Here pain took away life.
Robert is stuck in the middle - his life was given meaning through Benny and he has to live with the pain of his death... but it is in this pain that he is able to feel and be alive - this is the connection he was searching for. His realization at the very end of the book, when he committed his own version of suicide (i think) is this fact.
Really good stuff
One of the core themes here is how people cope with trauma - particularly the trauma of violence- and the juxtaposition of Beauj and his love Benny deals with this beautifully. Benny, unlike Beauj, wears it all on his sleeve. The sheer insanity of what he faced overseas combined with his shame tied to his sexual orientation was too much for him to bear. He would explode - abuse drugs - he was the embodiment of the chaos that was his life. Beauj wore it all much closer to the chest, partly because he had Benny. Once he lost his tether to reality - once Benny ended his own life - he collapsed into himself and back into the violence that made him "valuable". Benny could see what was underneath Beauj and maybe the weight of keeping him in tact added to the insurmountable pressure of his life.
"They’d both been Over There at the horror show, where all there was to do was watch your friends die. People saving dog meat for their birthdays. Did you hear they use their babies as grenades? After that, life had a way of pushing right up against you. Beauj compartmentalized. Benny deemed his coping performative and cavalier."
"Many people confuse living with enduring but not him. Call it trauma bonding, call it Stockholm Syndrome, call it codependency. He simply called it love."
This is a book of opposites in a lot of ways and one prime example is Robert's time in Paris and his time at Fort Parris. These places represent two disparate but coexisting parts of himself. Those two places also represent Benny and Beauj - also two opposites beautifully coexisting. In both Paris and Parris - he is a soldier doing the killing on behalf of lunatics out for vengeance. In Paris - it is Uncle and Gianna, one in the murder game for money the other for power and boredom, in Parris it is Uncle Sam
Uncle - maybe a play on Uncle Sam (a mastermind of violence and killings to enrich himself, employing an army of trained killers) - is objectively hilarious and his banter is the best part of the story. He pretends to have Beauj's best interests at heart only to backstab him when the money got good enough and the threat level got high enough.
One of the main themes is what pain can do to us - again a play on opposites. Beauj is hired by Gianna to kill her father Massimo, the mob boss of the most important crime family. Acting as Gianna's boyfriend, Beauj gest close enough to Massimo for him to drop some wisdom -
"You want connection, an end to your alone. Love.” Massimo toed the remnants of the passed-away fire. “I am old man. When I am your age, I do not listen to old men. They do not speak loud enough, and now my voice is their voice. So listen to an old man. The things you want, they are my uncle’s coins.”"
“Those in pain forget…they only feel it because…they are alive. No pain, no life. I work my life to keep my daughters from pain. Pain is the one thing they do not have. As adults, they seek it, the reality of it, the truth."
This wisdom here is that you cannot escape pain in this life... but he is romanticizing it. Now you have Benny on the other side who is all consumed by pain in a way that was not his fault. Here pain took away life.
Robert is stuck in the middle - his life was given meaning through Benny and he has to live with the pain of his death... but it is in this pain that he is able to feel and be alive - this is the connection he was searching for. His realization at the very end of the book, when he committed his own version of suicide (i think) is this fact.
Really good stuff
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy of this new novel about a man trying with a particular gift, a broken soul, one chance to make it right, and a lot of dead bodies left in his wake.
My reading adventures have taken me to a lot of places, genres that I once loved, but either grew out of, grew tired of, or just never seemed to change. One of those was Men's Adventure. I feel that should be all capitals, for that is what the books were. I loved Mack Bolan, the Executioner, and The Destroyer the most. Oh and The Survivalist. Death Lands, Death Merchant, Able Team, SOBs, and more. Romance books for men, full of men taking on the burden of keeping us safe, killing the enemies of everyone. Or just killing. I read other thrillers too, but for the longest time Men's Adventure was the first section I hit in used bookstores. Until one day I got tired of it. Maybe it was movies. Hong Kong films, heroic bloodshed epics filling the blanks in my mind. Maybe watching Le Samurai, and discovering the cool thinking killer, not the hot blooded patriot. I'm not sure. I am still drawn to stories like this, stories of killers and people finding themselves in violence. And when a book is as well written as this one, I enjoy the heck out of it. Brut by Sam Tallent is the story of a man, who found himself and lost much to violence, enjoying a life free of responsibility, until things go wrong and he must question himself, and what he does, and try to make things right.
A man travels the Midwest, his past forgotten, his present costing him 5,000 dollars with a fake identification and a past he tries not to remember. The man refers himself as the Arbiter, taking care of problems with knife or blade. It is a lonely existence but one that sustains the man until things start to go wrong. A pistol doesn't fire right. And he uses his real name in a motel. Robert Beaujolais was once a marine, until war taught him much about himself, showed him who he was in more ways than one, and stole his past from him. Beaujolais makes another mistake, messing up a simple assignment, making a mess for a group that does not like messes. Instead of eliminating Beaujolais, he is tasked with one high value target. In Europe. Beaujolais is sent to end the life of criminal kingpin, with success giving him more chances to kill, and failure meaning the end. Or maybe even something more.
A novel about the evil that men do, mixed with a bit of why people do what they do. This is a lean thriller, a bit of Pinnacle or Pan publishing from the 1970's with a touch of French cinema. Beaujolais is a deeper character, one that comes clear in the beginning, a man who lives a life of contradictions, doing things that are frowned on by society, both in action and in love. Say Day of the Jackal meets Hugh Laurie's Gun Collector with a bit of Patrick Modiano. Tallent is a comedian by trade, which I think gives him a deeper insight to what many people think and feel. Situations seem real, when things go wrong, when things start to go right, and then really wrong again. The writing is removed, distant, but as Beaujolais shares his past, we feel what changed him, what made killing his only thing, the one thing that he is good at, even if the mistakes are starting to mount up.
A story with a lot going on, and one hard to clarify. I liked the character, I liked the work, and liked the world that Beaujolais passed through. Some of the writing might have been a little purple, but it worked. There is a bit of action, usually brutal and ugly, and again works well. A strong book, and and author I would like to read more of.
My reading adventures have taken me to a lot of places, genres that I once loved, but either grew out of, grew tired of, or just never seemed to change. One of those was Men's Adventure. I feel that should be all capitals, for that is what the books were. I loved Mack Bolan, the Executioner, and The Destroyer the most. Oh and The Survivalist. Death Lands, Death Merchant, Able Team, SOBs, and more. Romance books for men, full of men taking on the burden of keeping us safe, killing the enemies of everyone. Or just killing. I read other thrillers too, but for the longest time Men's Adventure was the first section I hit in used bookstores. Until one day I got tired of it. Maybe it was movies. Hong Kong films, heroic bloodshed epics filling the blanks in my mind. Maybe watching Le Samurai, and discovering the cool thinking killer, not the hot blooded patriot. I'm not sure. I am still drawn to stories like this, stories of killers and people finding themselves in violence. And when a book is as well written as this one, I enjoy the heck out of it. Brut by Sam Tallent is the story of a man, who found himself and lost much to violence, enjoying a life free of responsibility, until things go wrong and he must question himself, and what he does, and try to make things right.
A man travels the Midwest, his past forgotten, his present costing him 5,000 dollars with a fake identification and a past he tries not to remember. The man refers himself as the Arbiter, taking care of problems with knife or blade. It is a lonely existence but one that sustains the man until things start to go wrong. A pistol doesn't fire right. And he uses his real name in a motel. Robert Beaujolais was once a marine, until war taught him much about himself, showed him who he was in more ways than one, and stole his past from him. Beaujolais makes another mistake, messing up a simple assignment, making a mess for a group that does not like messes. Instead of eliminating Beaujolais, he is tasked with one high value target. In Europe. Beaujolais is sent to end the life of criminal kingpin, with success giving him more chances to kill, and failure meaning the end. Or maybe even something more.
A novel about the evil that men do, mixed with a bit of why people do what they do. This is a lean thriller, a bit of Pinnacle or Pan publishing from the 1970's with a touch of French cinema. Beaujolais is a deeper character, one that comes clear in the beginning, a man who lives a life of contradictions, doing things that are frowned on by society, both in action and in love. Say Day of the Jackal meets Hugh Laurie's Gun Collector with a bit of Patrick Modiano. Tallent is a comedian by trade, which I think gives him a deeper insight to what many people think and feel. Situations seem real, when things go wrong, when things start to go right, and then really wrong again. The writing is removed, distant, but as Beaujolais shares his past, we feel what changed him, what made killing his only thing, the one thing that he is good at, even if the mistakes are starting to mount up.
A story with a lot going on, and one hard to clarify. I liked the character, I liked the work, and liked the world that Beaujolais passed through. Some of the writing might have been a little purple, but it worked. There is a bit of action, usually brutal and ugly, and again works well. A strong book, and and author I would like to read more of.
October 10, 2026
I’m a fan of Sam Tallent, the comedian, and Sam Tallent, the traveler, but probably a bigger fan of Sam Tallent, the author. Running the Light was a peek into the world of a road dog comedian and was dripping with insider knowledge and an edge that only a true craftsman could hone. So I was particularly curious how this title about a gay hit man would fair.
Our protagonist Robert “Bouj” Boujelais lacks the undeniable charisma that Billy Ray Schafer exuded. We inhabit the perspective of a tortured husk exploring the world from job to job. Tallent manages to make this not feel like a trudge through the sludge world Bouj inhabits but more of a jaunt through a wasteland. Uncle fills the Schafer role, a garrulous vessel of depravity and hilarity, as charming as he is deadly. Gianna, the mysterious femme fatale, has seemingly endless layers as we get deeper into the narrative. Benny is both maddening and heartbreaking, a portrait of a torrential man. The cast of side characters that pepper the narrative feel like they’re more than a background character or plot vehicle. He gives so many of them a chance to be a Coen-esque side story that steals a scene.
Sam’s ability to construct prose that delivers you into a real, breathing world is unparalleled. His description of San Francisco streets and Parisian cobblestones absolutely transports the reader to these spots. Reading it made me long to be in Bouj’s shoes. Uncle offers aid to our understanding with his philosophical waxing and Bouj brings us to each setting as we see it through his cold eyes.
We follow Bouj in his journey across the world. We get lost in foreign streets and foreign tongues. We feel the hot blood splashing on our own face as we read. We get lost in confusion with Bouj. I literally felt like i could not put it down for stretches. At times I would set it down and pick it back up every five minutes. It was a compelling story. By the time I reached Part 3 I honestly had no clue where the story was going to end up. We had breadcrumbs and patterns of behavior for our characters but i felt like i was fully in the mystery and conspiracy with Bouj. It kept me curious to the very last page.
At times I felt a bit lost washed up in loquacious diction that it can teeter over the edge to verbose. In scenes of high action I found myself needing to re read it to understand what’s happening. To be clear I’m not saying that’s a failure on the part of the writer but perhaps more of an issue with my reading.
All that is to say that this was an enjoyable reading experience. I think Sam really found his voice with this step outside the comedy world. I’m so excited to see what comes next.
Our protagonist Robert “Bouj” Boujelais lacks the undeniable charisma that Billy Ray Schafer exuded. We inhabit the perspective of a tortured husk exploring the world from job to job. Tallent manages to make this not feel like a trudge through the sludge world Bouj inhabits but more of a jaunt through a wasteland. Uncle fills the Schafer role, a garrulous vessel of depravity and hilarity, as charming as he is deadly. Gianna, the mysterious femme fatale, has seemingly endless layers as we get deeper into the narrative. Benny is both maddening and heartbreaking, a portrait of a torrential man. The cast of side characters that pepper the narrative feel like they’re more than a background character or plot vehicle. He gives so many of them a chance to be a Coen-esque side story that steals a scene.
Sam’s ability to construct prose that delivers you into a real, breathing world is unparalleled. His description of San Francisco streets and Parisian cobblestones absolutely transports the reader to these spots. Reading it made me long to be in Bouj’s shoes. Uncle offers aid to our understanding with his philosophical waxing and Bouj brings us to each setting as we see it through his cold eyes.
We follow Bouj in his journey across the world. We get lost in foreign streets and foreign tongues. We feel the hot blood splashing on our own face as we read. We get lost in confusion with Bouj. I literally felt like i could not put it down for stretches. At times I would set it down and pick it back up every five minutes. It was a compelling story. By the time I reached Part 3 I honestly had no clue where the story was going to end up. We had breadcrumbs and patterns of behavior for our characters but i felt like i was fully in the mystery and conspiracy with Bouj. It kept me curious to the very last page.
At times I felt a bit lost washed up in loquacious diction that it can teeter over the edge to verbose. In scenes of high action I found myself needing to re read it to understand what’s happening. To be clear I’m not saying that’s a failure on the part of the writer but perhaps more of an issue with my reading.
All that is to say that this was an enjoyable reading experience. I think Sam really found his voice with this step outside the comedy world. I’m so excited to see what comes next.
October 5, 2026
A delicious and dark delight.
We follow the shell of a violent man doing what he does best. An antihero, something like a sociopath, a task to complete.
Tallent carries us along with a voice of his own, providing pleasure to the witness of this bleak character. His prose are trim yet filling, like a simple meal of the best ingredients. He is generous in what settings and scenes his story provides. Some modern Americana, the wonders of Paris for the first time, the unattainable luxuries of jets and penthouse apartments.
The structure decisions, those choices that have no right or wrong answer, really seemed to find their divine design. The scenes follow a three part dance: Beauj now, the past, and the cryptic correspondence of texts and emails.
You could taste the food and feel the cold drinks, that was the worst part about this, because it was not really there of course. His dialogue (and the rest of the writing) always follows that 'rule of cool' effortlessly, causing me to smirk in my own private 'hell yeah's as I swept through the novel. As a now refined non-smoker, non-trouble maker, it can be nice to relive the past through the senses of this fictional man. Never has a cigarette sounded so good.
I really appreciated the realism of the Italian and French untranslated dialogue here and there. A very unique way to do things. My mom speaks French, I once worked with Italians, so I was able to guess at a word or phrase here and there, but ultimately I was as out of the know as Beauj was. But those who are fluent can feel a sense of secrecy when knowing exactly what was being said. In a way, this aspect of the book was a great encourager for language learning and appreciation.
The action, the violence, often the weak point of literature, was a pillar within this book. So many of the specific descriptions of strikes and gunshots were completely singular and expressed in fresh ways I have never seen before. It was exhilarating.
The plotting and twists and turns were both tense and believable. Bravo. And of course, the small humanities along the way provided some respite alongside the brutality.
Thank you Sam. I can't wait for the next one.
I love the absurdity that one of my favorite comedians is also one of my favorite modern authors. I listened to Running the Light last year, and it was easily a top 3 experience of the year. It was so much fun to see him in Tampa a few weeks ago and I knew that this book was a gonna be a fucking blast.
We follow the shell of a violent man doing what he does best. An antihero, something like a sociopath, a task to complete.
Tallent carries us along with a voice of his own, providing pleasure to the witness of this bleak character. His prose are trim yet filling, like a simple meal of the best ingredients. He is generous in what settings and scenes his story provides. Some modern Americana, the wonders of Paris for the first time, the unattainable luxuries of jets and penthouse apartments.
The structure decisions, those choices that have no right or wrong answer, really seemed to find their divine design. The scenes follow a three part dance: Beauj now, the past, and the cryptic correspondence of texts and emails.
You could taste the food and feel the cold drinks, that was the worst part about this, because it was not really there of course. His dialogue (and the rest of the writing) always follows that 'rule of cool' effortlessly, causing me to smirk in my own private 'hell yeah's as I swept through the novel. As a now refined non-smoker, non-trouble maker, it can be nice to relive the past through the senses of this fictional man. Never has a cigarette sounded so good.
I really appreciated the realism of the Italian and French untranslated dialogue here and there. A very unique way to do things. My mom speaks French, I once worked with Italians, so I was able to guess at a word or phrase here and there, but ultimately I was as out of the know as Beauj was. But those who are fluent can feel a sense of secrecy when knowing exactly what was being said. In a way, this aspect of the book was a great encourager for language learning and appreciation.
The action, the violence, often the weak point of literature, was a pillar within this book. So many of the specific descriptions of strikes and gunshots were completely singular and expressed in fresh ways I have never seen before. It was exhilarating.
The plotting and twists and turns were both tense and believable. Bravo. And of course, the small humanities along the way provided some respite alongside the brutality.
Thank you Sam. I can't wait for the next one.
I love the absurdity that one of my favorite comedians is also one of my favorite modern authors. I listened to Running the Light last year, and it was easily a top 3 experience of the year. It was so much fun to see him in Tampa a few weeks ago and I knew that this book was a gonna be a fucking blast.
October 15, 2026
The Mother of All Slow Burns
I love Sam Tallent as a comedian. He is wickedly smart and quick witted. Those traits are put on display in his writing.
Brut for me, was a tale of two tapes. On one side, Sam writing is eloquent almost to a fault. His prose are beautiful and raw, and his pension for manipulating the English language is awe inspiring.
On the other end, I felt as though the story moved slower than a snails pace, and there was too much emphasis on a love story that had no bearing on the central plot of the story at hand. Character development, as serviceable as it was, lacked depth and intrigue. Especially when it came to secondary characters, but Beuj himself falls victim to this as well. I would definitely have like more on his upbringing and what made him who he was, other than just the glimpses of the shell shock that consumes him.
The final act of the book was thrilling, and his relationship with the shopkeeper showed a human side of Beuj that was rarely on display other than in his relationship with Benny. For me, it was the most refreshing part of the story, and, as his act of final atonement, sets up the final act beautifully.
The ending saved this one for me. Although vague through the final pages, Sam really makes you see it through Beuj’s eyes which I have a certain reverence for.
I love Sam Tallent as a comedian. He is wickedly smart and quick witted. Those traits are put on display in his writing.
Brut for me, was a tale of two tapes. On one side, Sam writing is eloquent almost to a fault. His prose are beautiful and raw, and his pension for manipulating the English language is awe inspiring.
On the other end, I felt as though the story moved slower than a snails pace, and there was too much emphasis on a love story that had no bearing on the central plot of the story at hand. Character development, as serviceable as it was, lacked depth and intrigue. Especially when it came to secondary characters, but Beuj himself falls victim to this as well. I would definitely have like more on his upbringing and what made him who he was, other than just the glimpses of the shell shock that consumes him.
The final act of the book was thrilling, and his relationship with the shopkeeper showed a human side of Beuj that was rarely on display other than in his relationship with Benny. For me, it was the most refreshing part of the story, and, as his act of final atonement, sets up the final act beautifully.
The ending saved this one for me. Although vague through the final pages, Sam really makes you see it through Beuj’s eyes which I have a certain reverence for.
October 26, 2026
This is a Really Good Book.
I don't want to give away too much about the plot, but basically a modern day assassin makes a big mistake and finds himself in a precarious situation. He has a lot of baggage that is flashed back over the course of the story so we learn his depth as the story advances.
The characters in this book are great. I found myself thinking about a lot of them in random moments outside of reading the book. The suspense around them was very enticing without feeling too annoyingly cliff hangery.
This book spends significant time in Middle America, San Francisco, and Paris. The book felt very immersive and I easily lost myself in it many times.
There are a lot of deep human themes - love, loss, spirituality, morality, and more. They are explored well and done in interesting and unique ways. I think these themes give the book so much more depth than simply a crime drama.
I have a couple of downsides. The exposition felt a bit too fluffy at times and did take me out of it. Additionally, while the setting was normally very strong and immersive, I did find myself lost in a couple pivotal moments which really left me lost. I also didn't love the ending, but maybe that's not a bad thing. I am still pondering it a day later.
I don't want to give away too much about the plot, but basically a modern day assassin makes a big mistake and finds himself in a precarious situation. He has a lot of baggage that is flashed back over the course of the story so we learn his depth as the story advances.
The characters in this book are great. I found myself thinking about a lot of them in random moments outside of reading the book. The suspense around them was very enticing without feeling too annoyingly cliff hangery.
This book spends significant time in Middle America, San Francisco, and Paris. The book felt very immersive and I easily lost myself in it many times.
There are a lot of deep human themes - love, loss, spirituality, morality, and more. They are explored well and done in interesting and unique ways. I think these themes give the book so much more depth than simply a crime drama.
I have a couple of downsides. The exposition felt a bit too fluffy at times and did take me out of it. Additionally, while the setting was normally very strong and immersive, I did find myself lost in a couple pivotal moments which really left me lost. I also didn't love the ending, but maybe that's not a bad thing. I am still pondering it a day later.
July 31, 2026
I received an ARC of this book via NetGallery from the publisher.
I was drawn in and interested in this book by both the cover and the description. Not my typical read, but I enjoy a good book in this genre from time to time. It was a very slow-burn book, and heavily descriptive. Though I felt it had a solid resolution and ending.
One piece that would have bugged me a lot if it weren’t for reading it on Kindle was the heavy use of Italian and French dialogue. The story is 99% from the main character, Beaujolais', POV and it makes sense having conversations that he is not privy to as he also does not speak these languages. Though having at times a whole page or two that I wouldn't have known what was happening/being discussed without a translate feature was an odd choice.
There is a lot of jumping around between current events and past events, mixed with emails and texts. It got a bit confusing here and there, and the texts read very adolescent and not like those of grown adult men.
Overall, it was a good read and if a slow-burn, professional and more realistic (I'd imagine) hitman story is your cup of tea then definitely give this a go. Don't go in thinking every little question will have an answer as I've mentioned, you're reading from a singular character’s POV.
I was drawn in and interested in this book by both the cover and the description. Not my typical read, but I enjoy a good book in this genre from time to time. It was a very slow-burn book, and heavily descriptive. Though I felt it had a solid resolution and ending.
One piece that would have bugged me a lot if it weren’t for reading it on Kindle was the heavy use of Italian and French dialogue. The story is 99% from the main character, Beaujolais', POV and it makes sense having conversations that he is not privy to as he also does not speak these languages. Though having at times a whole page or two that I wouldn't have known what was happening/being discussed without a translate feature was an odd choice.
There is a lot of jumping around between current events and past events, mixed with emails and texts. It got a bit confusing here and there, and the texts read very adolescent and not like those of grown adult men.
Overall, it was a good read and if a slow-burn, professional and more realistic (I'd imagine) hitman story is your cup of tea then definitely give this a go. Don't go in thinking every little question will have an answer as I've mentioned, you're reading from a singular character’s POV.
October 6, 2026
I love Sam Tallent's comedy and have been meaning to read Running the Light for years, so I was really excited to get an opportunity to read this early. It was pretty great! He narrates the audiobook too, and he really does a fantastic job. I especially had fun with the Uncle character. I think the only things for me that didn't 100% land are that the Benny flashback chapters are very choppy and dreamlike, so I found them a bit hard to follow. There's also a character who shows up towards the end that I didn't fully understand the point of and it kind of threw off the momentum a bit. It was all super well written, though. This is definitely one of the better books I've read this year. The really interesting thing about this is that it doesn't really feel like he wrote it at all. Like, his comedic voice is so different from this and I'm not sure which one I like more. I definitely can't wait to read what he writes next.
October 23, 2026
Anyone else read this because of Anthony J’s recommendation? I really gotta stop doing that bc although he’s a solid comedian, his book recs are mostly terrible. Anyway, this book was absolute epitome of pretentious. It’s unclear whether the author just loves his thesaurus or used AI throughout to come up with literally hundreds of words/phrases no one would ever say in an effort to come across as… I dunno, eloquent I guess? There were so many laugh out loud moments not because they were intended to be funny but due to the word choices. I don’t know whether he thinks it makes the book better, but it doesn’t. Just seems like a dude who loves sniffing his own farts. I somehow got over halfway through and gave up.
October 3, 2026
This is a beautifully written book that captured my attention from day one, even though I am a serial DNFer. I’m genuinely surprised by some of the poor reviews, but not everyone appreciates ornate descriptions. If $10 words or the presence of a gay MC make you uncomfortable, this might not be for you. The language is so expressive and really helps color in the picture. I was moved to both nausea and tears by it, and I mean that in the best way.
I haven’t decided yet if I love the ending, but there are 330+ other pages that wowed me, so it’s still five stars for me. If Sam T keeps writing them, I’ll keep reading them.
I haven’t decided yet if I love the ending, but there are 330+ other pages that wowed me, so it’s still five stars for me. If Sam T keeps writing them, I’ll keep reading them.
September 25, 2026
Brut is the second novel by stand-up comedian Sam Tallent, and like his debut, Running The Light, the writing is exceptional and the story is patently brutal. Though Tallent is a comic—and some of Brut is very funny—at its core, the novel is a queer love story featuring a former marine turned assassin (called here an arbiter) who is tasked with killing a prominent crime figure in Paris. The prose and the carnage are engrossing, and the
central character is ceaselessly fascinating. That a novel this bleak is also so vastly entertaining is a testament to the author’s immense gifts.
central character is ceaselessly fascinating. That a novel this bleak is also so vastly entertaining is a testament to the author’s immense gifts.
October 12, 2026
Come for the plot and the punchlines, but stay for the existential musings. The final line is particularly haunting and has rattled around in my brain for a few days now.
Tallent is building an interesting project about squandered potential and lives gone awry. Both of his novels force their protagonists to reckon with not only their dead-end lives but also the cold truth that their own choices are what led them down those roads. Brut was well worth the wait, and I look forward to whatever's next.
Tallent is building an interesting project about squandered potential and lives gone awry. Both of his novels force their protagonists to reckon with not only their dead-end lives but also the cold truth that their own choices are what led them down those roads. Brut was well worth the wait, and I look forward to whatever's next.
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