Bite Harder: A Sequel to Hard Bite

by Anonymous-9

Some say he’s a serial killer. Others say he’s a vigilante doing what police can’t or won’t do. What’s certain is that Dean Drayhart, a paraplegic, will soon sit on death row for killing hit-and-run-drivers in Los Angeles. But not if the Mexican Mafia gets hold of him and those he loves first. Dean may be broken in body but his fierce spirit is determined to protect his pet monkey named Sid and girlfriend Cinda — out there running hard and fast from the law. Hardboiled, funny, relentless, and unexpectedly tenderhearted BITE HARDER delivers riotous action all the way to a bombshell climax that could only have been written by Anonymous-9, the self-declared mad scientist of crime fiction.

Praise for BITE HARDER …

“Bite Harder is part screwball comedy, part killer crime story entirely unlike anything else out there. It is unique and vicious and bloody funny but what kept me turning pages deep into the night was its heart. I loved Hard Bite, and Bite Harder is even better, stronger, wilder.” —Josh Stallings, Beautiful, Naked & Dead, Anthony Award nominee

“Brilliant, brutally funny, so real you can taste it. Starring the finest serial-killing helper monkey in all fiction.” —Douglas Lindsay, author of The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson, soon to be a major motion picture starring Emma Thompson and Robert Carlyle

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

HARD BITE and BITE HARDER are coming home. For years now, the e-books and the paperbacks have been split between publishers in UK and the US. Now, I'm proud that the whole family will be with Down & Out Books, helmed by Eric Campbell.

The name "Anonymous-9" came about because I wasn't sure if my experimental stories would be accepted. But they were. Tragic, comic and hardboiled are words that apply to my work. Uncanny Books released my Lovecraftian tribute of action, adventure and horror called DREAMING DEEP. In 2014 I self-published CRASHING THROUGH MIRRORS, a hardboiled novelette set in the music biz of Los Angeles. It was named a Top Crime Read of 2014 alongside Joe Lansdale, Karin Slaughter and Matthew McBride by Just a Guy Who likes to Read book review blog.

HARD BITEl features a paraplegic serial killer who targets hit and run drivers in Los Angeles with the aid of a helper monkey named Sid. It was named one of the Top 5 Debut Novels of 2013 by MYSTERY PEOPLE. The follow-up was BITE HARDER which won a 2014 Readers' Choice Award for Best Indie Novel (Down & Out Books) from The House of Crime and Mystery, Canada.

I live in Los Angeles, party in Texas and love to hear from Goodreads people who like the same books I do.

Reviews

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an absolute riot! I loved every second of this novel from the first word to the last punctuation mark! Following Dean Drayhart on his rather strange adventure was worth the read! Now I want to read every other novel by Anonymous-9 due to her amazing view on comedy and how she speaks to the audience and readers through her characters.

The only problem I found with this book is I found the plot to be short and not very exciting. While how the author wrote about the plot was exciting, trying to escape and get a monkey did not seem to be an amazing plot (since the finale of the novel didn't have the conflict removed all that much. It just seemed to leave the novel on a cliffhanger).

I hope this small plot problem I have is due to the fact that there will be another novel in this series. If the series stops at this book, I would find it to be a very poor finale, but if there is another book that will help clear up the plot and conflict, then the novel makes sense.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and I hope there will be more about Dean coming out soon!

Five out of five stars for good action, character development and comedy.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Ctgt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I was given an ARC by the author.(Thanks Anonymous-9)
If you have read any of my earlier reviews of her titles you know I've been a fan since I read The 1st Short Story Collection several years ago and A-9 would have had to drive this baby off a cliff for me not to enjoy the story.

Dean, Cinda and everybody's favorite helper monkey Sid are back, but not in the same way. Dean is in the slammer while Cinda and Sid are on the run. We also get a much closer look at the whacked out drug dealing Malalinda family.

I initially gave this 4 stars but after mulling for a day decided to move it to 5. The big problem with any ongoing series with recurring characters is the author falling back on a tried and true formula trying to milk that cow as long as possible. Instead of waving a magic wand to wipe away the consequences of the first book, the author buckled in and wrote a very enjoyable, and different, second book. I also thought the writing had a bit more flow to it which made the story move along at nice pace. Trying to write an animal POV can be dangerous but I enjoyed the moments behind the eyes of Sid and was pleased with the development of the relationship between Dean and Cinda. When I combined all these factors, I had to bump the rating up a notch.

All in all a great follow up and I can't wait for the next book.

[Stephanie Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Bite Harder while on vacation at the beach,it has been a long time since I actually read a book usually I listen to them on my iPod at work but since I have recently lost my job I wanted to read this one I was very excited to do so. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It kept me on my toes wondering what was going to happen to each character, I definitely can't wait for the next book keep writing Anonymous-9 I will be desperately waiting!

[Mysticpt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, another blast of high octane adventure with Dean, Sid, and Cinda! this picks right up where things left off in Hard Bite and the mayhem continues. now i may be just slightly overrating this book (hard to give 4.5 on here), but i totally underrated Hard Bite, so it all works out. if you don't like it, stop reading this review :)
the more i read about these characters, the more i like them. there is never a dull moment in this book. shootouts, gangsters, prison breaks, social commentary, sex workers, you are laughing one minute then racing thru action filled pages as events conspire for one final shootout with the seriously deranged matriarch (you just have to read to believe it) of the Malalinda family and her minions.
not for the faint of heart, but you will not have a more action filled fun read this summer, highly recommended!
and the deal with the devil at the end of this book has me really anticipating the next installment. could be the hardest bite yet!

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was some serious non-stop action boogie. You kind of have to have read HARD BITE in order to full enjoy the BITE HARDER experience because it is a direct sequel in the Lethal Weapon tradition of direct sequels, but it's faster, leaner, more cohesive and an oddly visual little novel that could very well be turned into a graphic novel.

The issues I have with the style in HARD BITE have been ironed out here aside from a few chapters narrated by Dean Drayhart, it's an all-out third person action/pulp novel. The legacy of the paralyzed killer of Los Angeles is starting to draw itself in the publishing world. Although I think this would benefit a graphic novel treatment in order to give justice to its brilliant writing, the novel will please whoever wants to give it a chance.

[Bettyb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bite Harder is a great sequel to Hard Bite. Dean Drayheart and Sid the monkey are two of the best, most unique, characters in crime fiction. I really enjoyed spending more time with them and Cinda, Dean's girlfriend. It is easy to root for this them, even though the odds are usually not in their favor. I loved every word of the book and only wish it could have been longer. I sure hope we see them again.

[Jackmeister · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read, I really enjoyed it and an excellent sequel to Hard Bite, wonderful characters in Dean, Cinda and especially Sid the monkey, it was all happening, car chases, prison breaks, shootouts etc. my favourite quote "In other words we're tits-up in the tank." love it. Someone call Hollywood, movie please!

[Anonymous-9 Anonymous-9 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readers CHoice Award (2014) The House of Crime and Mystery (Canada), "Brilliantly, brutally funny..." says Douglas Lindsay, author of THE LONG MIDNIGHT OF BARNEY THOMSON

[Keith Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dean Drayhart is in prison. He’s a self-confessed serial killer, but with a difference. His wife and child were mowed down in a hit and run, the same accident which left him a paraplegic and barely able to move. Worse, the perpetrator was never caught.

Drayhart wanted revenge and he gained it in the strongest possible fashion, by finding other hit and run drivers in and around Los Angeles who’d escaped justice and killing them. Dean is aided and abetted in his vigilante crimes by an a unique sidekick – a monkey called Sid. He’s highly intelligent and well trained, and when Dean says ‘hard bite’ Sid goes for the victim’s jugular.

But Dean was caught and is now awaiting trial for these crimes, which took place in Hard Bite. However, a crime syndicate run by Maria Orella, wants revenge because Dean killed Maria’s son, another hit and run driver. So in an eye-for-an-eye response the Orellas want to wipe out everything Dean loves – his prostitute girlfriend Cinda, his murderous monkey Sid, and finally Dean himself.

First, they break Dean out of prison, but he manages to slip out of their clutches. Reunited with Cinda, the pair try to find Sid, who’s been on his own since Drayhart was caught. A chase follows with Drayhart pursued across and around Los Angeles by both the law and the Orellas.

It is worth noting that Bite Harder is the sequel to Hard Bite. Although it isn’t necessary to read the first novel it would help as a number of the characters and their motivations are driven by the events previously outlined.

Hard Bite was such a revelation to read, very different from anything else this reviewer had come across. However, Bite Harder doesn’t have that same shock value - and it can’t. It’s like watching Twelve Monkeys or Fight Club for the second time. The big twist is out of the bag. A monkey? And it’s a weapon! However, this is not a criticism. It would have been easy for the author to give up writing about these unusual characters simply because of this point. Thankfully Anonymous-9 didn’t, and she has produced another thoroughly enjoyable novel.

The author excels at setting up tussles among her creations. What’s interesting is that Drayhart spends much of the novel conflicted. He wants to be caught. He’s seriously disabled and is desperate to be set free, reunited with his wife and daughter. They’re the only reason he took up a life of crime. But then again he has a positive relationship with Cinda and Sid – if you ignore the fact the former is a prostitute, the second a killer primate. The Orellas are a mix of bright (Maria) and dumb (the children), but all are clear on one thing: Drayhart must die. They’re slightly slapstick, which suits the mood of this noir-ish affair.

Finally, the author also successfully puts us in the mind of Sid. We are able to witness what he thinks and feels. And this is what she does best, creating this mix of grit, sadness, positivity and humour out of which pops a story.

It’s thoroughly good fun, go get it…

Originally reviewed for Crime Fiction Lover.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

The publisher Blasted Heath was started a few years ago by the excellent crime writer Allan Guthrie, of whom I am a big fan. The books that Blasted Heath put out were almost uniformly excellent and I bought every one.

I’m glad I developed that habit, because who knows if I would have found HARD BITE, the book that BITE HARDER is a direct sequel to, otherwise?

I loved HARD BITE tons and bunches. I wrote a review for it that you can find here… someplace. A very positive review, in which I praised the breezy pace and the dark comic moments. I think I likened Anonymous-9 to Carl Hiassen.

As soon as HARD BITE 2: BITE HARDER (and is anyone else immediately put in mind of DIE HARD 2 here? Was it actually subtitled DIE HARDER, or was that just a great marketing tag line?) became available, I was all over it.

I won’t recap the plot of either book here, because I hate when people do that in book reviews and you can just scroll up and read a professional summarizer/recapper do a better job of it anyway. I will say, though, that the characters are funny, fallible and fully fleshed. They are complex and relatable and it is obvious that Anonymous-9 cares about each and every one of them, even the ones that meet terrible, violent ends (yeah, about half the cast).

She cares about them enough to let them breathe. She gives them the leash to wander around, sniff bushes and pee on fire hydrants (dog analogy, in case you think that was a crazy weird aside and yeah, cliche as it might be, dogs love them some sweet fire hydrant action), but in no way does that allow for the story to become meandering or unfocused. Because it’s anything but - again, the pace is breezy, making for a quick, satisfying (pulpy) read.

It’s a read that I thoroughly enjoyed, if that hasn’t become clear. If you enjoyed HARD BITE, you will definitely enjoy HARDER. If you haven’t read either, I recommend that you just buy both now - they’re cheap as hell and I think a back-to-back read would be immensely satisfying; while HARD is a complete, satisfying story, HARDER picks right up where it leaves off and develops into a righteous second act.

Will there be a third? I dunno. But I look forward to reading, and writing a review for a possible future BITE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bite Harder caught my attention on Just A Guy Who Likes To Read, I left a comment and a few days later the author contacted me requesting a review and I decided to give it a shot based on the premise, and Josh's praise.

Dean Drayhart is a paraplegic amputee, having been severely injured when a hit and run driver ploughed into he and his family on a crosswalk. Drayhart's young daughter didn't survive, nor did his marriage, and with little left to lose, Drayhart, along with Sid, his helper monkey/assassin, and Cinda, a prostitute with a heart of gold, embarked on a vigilante spree across L.A., in Hard Bite executing hit and run drivers who thought they had gotten away with their crimes. Bite Harder is the sequel, though it works well enough as a stand alone.

It opens with Dean arrested for the murder of his last target, Ambrose Malalinda, the youngest son of a local drug-dealing crime family who mowed down a father of four. The Malalinda family have already twice attempted to exact their own revenge on Dean by first attacking the police transport during his transfer, which resulted in the death of Ambrose's older brother Mateo, and then arranging Dean be stabbed to death in his cell. With both attempts thwarted the apoplectic Malalinda matriarch, Orella, takes matters into her own hands and arranges to hijack Dean during a manufactured medical emergency but things quickly go wrong and Dean, reunited with Cinda and looking for Sid, is on the run.

Fast paced and action packed with plenty of humour, bordering on the slapstick at times, Bite Harder is an entertaining read. The characterisation is good, Dean is a well developed protagonist, though the author is fairly reliant on stereotypes for most of the supporting cast. The writing is solid, using both a first and third point of view, but personally I would prefer character's don't address the reader directly, as Dean does on occasion.

A quick, aggressive and darkly funny read, I enjoyed Bite Harder, and I'm glad I gave it a shot.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Just Wow!

It's hard to believe but "Bite Harder" is a quirky, rip-roaring, fun read that improves on its excellent predecessor, "Hard Bite".

The action picks up where we left off in "Hard Bite". Dean Drayhart, a paralyzed serial-killer vigilante is in jail and the psychotic matriarch of a drug syndicate is still hungry for revenge. (One of her children is a victim of Dean Drayhart and his partner in crime, Sid the helper monkey.)

In "Bite Harder" a more reflective, fatalistic Drayhart emerges and Cinda (Dean's gal pal), Sid, and the Malalinda clan are treated to even greater character development.

There are no slow parts. "Bite Harder" is non-stop action and flowing story line. No punches are pulled and this book is filled with plenty of laughs, mayhem, tension, and bloody action galore along the way to a satisfying conclusion. Without revealing too much of the plot, there is room for yet another volume in this tale of understandably sympathetic (?) violence, and a world where the line between right and wrong are all but erased.

In my opinion, the author is at her best in detailing the seedy underside of L.A. and injecting humorous dialogue and cleverly biting observations.

From Hard Bite:
A few hours later Maria Stamos arrives. In her early forties, she is expensively dressed in a black Carolina Herrera suit and four-inch heels. A Latin version of the classic ice queen. Killer body, shame about the face flits through Burnham's mind. It's not that she isn't pretty, it's the expression—he's seen kinder faces on feral cats.

From Bite Harder:
I'm forgetting where we are. Crazy Town. Los Angeles, California. They don't abort crazy here, they clone it.

Having read all of the authors published works to date, I can honestly state that she just keeps getting better and better.

Dare I say it - All hail the new Empress of L.A Noir!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The murderous mayhem continues where HARD BITE left off in a tale of vengeance, redemption, death, and loss. Equal parts humanist and animal instinct, author Anonymous-9 delivers another shot of pure pulp goodness.

The lead character Dean Drayhart, a paraplegic as a result of a hit and run that also ripped his family apart, is further explored via flashbacks of his former family life. The omnipresent sense of sadness and sloping slide towards acceptance really give Dean a completely three dimensional feel. He's no longer the tortured soul hell bent on revenge, rather, he's more about preserving the lives of those close to him, Sid (helper monkey) included, as he struggles to free himself of the shackles of the Mexican Mafia.

Where HARD BITE focused on Dean's quest to rid the demons of his past by becoming an unlikely serial killer, BITE HARDER targets Dean as the victim of the Mexican Mafia's blood lust as a result of Dean having murdered one of their own. It's a nice flip of the script from the books' predecessor.

BITE HARDER is a lethal mix of black humour, heart, and hard bites. A self contained story that fits in with a broad spanning pulp narrative that leaves room for further installments while still delivering a satisfying read of a uniquely engrossing vigilante.

Review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...

[Mike Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok. The first book I thought was amazing and there is no let down with this one. This book takes place just after Hard Bite and the title Bite harder is very fitting! A great book, could not put it down, even while sitting on the beach with all the hotties in bikinis running around. loved it and Anonymous-9 has again provided me with one of my top reads again this year. Thank you Elaine!!

[Chuck Barksdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a prison hospital, the Medical Services building at Los Angeles County jail. There are innocent men in prison here. Men falsely convicted of murders they didn’t commit. I am not one of them. You’d think a cripple couldn’t take revenge but you would be wrong. Uh oh, had to read that sentence twice did you, the one with the word crippled in it? Yes I’m talking to you reading this. I’m a living reminder that life does awful stuff to some people. I’m not going to use nice terms for my horror show. I have zero interest in making you feel comfy, asshole ………….. sorry, buddy. I’m sorry. You’re not reading this to get sucker punched. I lose it sometimes. Keep reading, please? At least stick around for the laffs.

Bite Harder is a sequel that continues the story of Dean Drayhart and all the other entertaining (but not always likeable) characters found in Hard Bite. You could read and enjoy this book without reading the first book, but I would not recommend that since you would be missing a great book, and my favorite book of 2012. I was fortunate to have been one of the first people given a chance by Elaine Ash (Anonymous-9) to read and review Hard Bite for goodreads (I’m even acknowledged at the end of Bite Harder!), but now many others have read it and this sequel, and both are getting the great praise that they deserve by many reviewers and authors.

As the quotation above indicates, Dean Drayhart is now in prison for murder. Orella Malalinda, a crazed drug trafficker and the mother of one of Dean’s targets (hit and run drivers who killed), is even more crazy over not only killing Dean in revenge, but also killing his killer monkey Sid. (You have to read the first book…) Dean’s prostitute girlfriend Cinda is now working in a diner but still willing to help Dean in any way she can. When the Malalinda’s family attempt to break Dean out of prison so they can kill him goes, wrong, the action really heats up in this very enjoyable sequel.

[Rory Costello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anonymous-9 sure can write action. This story just rockets along and feels very cinematic. It's not an empty Michael Bay-type spectacle, though -- the fights and chases rest on a foundation of character. The unusual central figures -- Dean, Cinda, and of course Sid the monkey -- remain endearing (though I wish it didn't take quite as long for Sid to appear). Touches like the interaction between Sid and the folks at a senior center, as well as Sid and the other monkey, are heartwarming.

The door is open for Round 3 of these adventures, and that is welcome, considering how good this sequel is.

[Joseph Patchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like your adrenalin chased with lots of voltage you'll BITE HARDER. See my review on lurid-lit.com.

[Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to have another adventure with Dean and Sid.

[Elizabeth A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we last saw Dean Drayhart and Sid, the lead duo in Anonymous-9’s critically-acclaimed Hard Bite, Dean was in jail and Sid’s fate was unclear. And while one could read Bite Harder without first having read Hard Bite, Bite Harder is a sequel in the very truest sense of the word—events pick up literally where those of the first book left off and expand upon them—so I do think to get the most out of Bite Harder one should first read Hard Bite.

To that end, a quick recap of the premise of Hard Bite is in order.

Dean Drayhart used to be a normal guy, until a hit-and-run driver destroyed everything he held dear—his daughter was killed, he was maimed and paralyzed, and his marriage disintegrated. Stuck in a funk, things took an interesting turn when Dean was provided with a service animal, Sid, an extremely well-trained capuchin monkey.

Together, the two turned into vigilantes, unleashing vengeance on hit-and-run drivers across LA—on the command of “hard bite” from Dean adorable little Sid will rip someone’s jugular out with his not so adorable fangs. Unfortunately, one of their targets/victims happened to be the son of Orella Malalinda, matriarch of a Mexican drug cartel, and needless to say things got very messy—many died, Dean ended up arrested, and Sid was in the wind. Cue Bite Harder.

Dean now sits in jail in LA awaiting trial and his near-certain destiny with death row. Sid, it turns out, was rescued by Cinda, Dean’s sometimes girlfriend, who spirited him upstate, where she now works as a waitress while Sid, fur dyed black in disguise, helps out during the day at an assisted living facility. Orella Malalinda, still seeking vengeance for her son, orders a hit on Dean as he sits helpless in jail. When that’s unsuccessful—it’s impossible to find good help these days—she arranges his kidnapping—yes, kidnapped from jail—and Cinda is spurred to return and try to rescue Dean before Malalinda can stage her morbid coup de grâce.

If it sounds like a bit of a wild ride, that’s because it is. As she did in Hard Bite, Anonymous-9 has crafted in Bite Harder a wonderfully warped set of circumstances. It takes a skilled and confident author to make a paraplegic vigilante and his hit monkey believable, and Anonymous-9 does so without breaking stride, or a sweat. Nestled in amongst the car chases, shootouts and monkey smackdowns, however, is an interesting and complex psychological study.

Whereas the Dean of Hard Bite was a loose cannon gleefully pursuing his vigilante action with the confidence of the deathly wronged and truly righteous, the Dean who emerges in Bite Harder is far more conflicted and introspective. On the one hand, as strong of mind as he may be, there’s no getting around the fact Dean is a sad sack physically. He’s tired, and not sure he has the strength to try and ride things out anymore. After all, the whole reason he started down the vigilante path in the first place was because he had nothing left to live for—his daughter is dead, his wife gone. But…now there’s Sid and Cinda. What does he owe them? And beyond simply owing them, he cares about them. Enough to fight on? It makes for an interesting psychological rock and hard place.

As is the case with most sequels, Bite Harder is stripped down and moves at a much faster pace, the setup having been taken care of in the first outing. The action hits redline right from the jump and pretty much never lets up, but no matter how bombastic it gets at times, Anonymous-9 never lets the human element get too far from the forefront. That combination of action and heart allows for an enjoyable dose of occasionally over-the-top mayhem that all the same never lets the reader forget there are real, often brutal, consequences to the choices the characters make. Even when that character only weighs eight pounds and has fangs and a tail.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Dean Drayheart is certainly an original one. Not a lot of parapalegic serial killers out there. Bite Harder comes after Hard Bite and although you don't have to read it to understand this one, you will enjoy it more if you do.

Dean is being hunted by the Malalinda family to avenge the death of Ambrose, son to Orella and brother of Luis. Orella is the head of a Mexican mafia family and is growing crazier by the moment. So crazy that her son Luis doesn't want to tell her that her third son was killed while trying to capture Dean at the end of the Hard Bite.

Dean was incarcerated by the end of Hard Bite and with a failed attempt on his life behind bars, the Malalindas stage a prison break. What fun is setting up a jailhouse murder when Orella can sit centre-stage to watch her son's murderer get what is coming to him.

I enjoyed every moment of reading both of these stories - Anonomous-9 is a really good writer who kept me glued to the pages. The only thing I wasn't happy about was the ending. Things work out well for Sid but I need to know more about Dean and Cinda. How can it all end like this? Perhaps we need another story - Third Bite's The Charm?

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bite Harder starts pretty much where Hard Bite ended and I think it’s fair to say that the books should be read in sequence. If you need to catch-up, this is no bad thing as Hard Bite is excellent - original, witty, smart, dark, and hard with a soft-centre. Bite Harder has the same traits, though the balance of the plot is more action orientated, with a little less reflection, and told from multiple perspectives as the various characters seek or flee each other, eventually converging on an epic finale. The pace is high throughout, there’s plenty of twists and turns in the plot, and the narrative is laced with black comedy. I would have liked the cop thread to be filled out a little, spent a bit more time with the folks in the old people’s home, and also got a little more back story with regards to a couple of characters, but these are minor quibbles. Bite Harder is a lot of hard hitting fun and hopefully Dean, Sid and Cinda will reunite for a new adventure shortly.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! Just as good as Hard Bite, which is saying a lot. I love a series where the characters grow and change, as Dean and Cinda (and even Sid!) did here. Though I read the books as a lark, I would highly recommend them to anyone with a wicked sense of humor, a taste for some violence in their thrillers, and a willingness to step out of the comfortable realm of their reading.

[Larry Dunlap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second book in series about the two most unlikely anti-heroes in literary history. Dean, a paraplegic victim of a hit and run, and his helper Capuchin monkey, Sid, take on the chore of eliminating as many hit and run drivers as they can find before they get caught. Somehow the black humor makes this work. This book is a bit more serious than the first one, as Dean is broken out the the Twin Towers prison in LA, and Sid on the lam! Great read! Hope there's more to hear from this pair.

[Josh Karaczewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wild ride from Anonymous 9. A lot of fun.

[John Payton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some say he’s a serial killer. Others say he’s a vigilante doing what police can’t or won’t do. What’s certain is that Dean Drayhart, a paraplegic, will soon sit on death row for killing hit-and-run-drivers in Los Angeles. But not if the Mexican Mafia gets hold of him and those he loves first. Dean may be broken in body but his fierce spirit is determined to protect his pet monkey named Sid and girlfriend Cinda—out there running hard and fast from the law. Hardboiled, funny, relentless, and unexpectedly tenderhearted BITE HARDER delivers riotous action all the way to a bombshell climax that could only have been written by Anonymous-9, the self-declared mad scientist of crime fiction. “Bite Harder is part screwball comedy, part killer crime story entirely unlike anything else out there. It is unique and vicious and bloody funny but what kept me turning pages deep into the night was its heart. I loved Hard Bite, and Bite Harder is even better, stronger, wilder.” —Josh Stallings, Beautiful, Naked & Dead, Anthony Award nominee “Brilliant, brutally funny, so real you can taste it. Starring the finest serial-killing helper monkey in all fiction.” —Douglas Lindsay, author of The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson, soon to be a major motion picture starring Emma Thompson and Robert Carlyle

**

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as fun as the first one, since the man and the monkey were separated and the book dwelled too much on the druglord family.

[Karin Montin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great follow-up to Hard Bite. The plot is wild, with lots of action and wry humour. Likeable vigilante Dean Drayhart narrates most of the book, but sections are in the third person and Sid the monkey's point of view is amazingly well presented. I'm hoping for a third book featuring Dean, Sid and Cinda.

[James Hatz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good follow up to Hard Bite. Just leave your credibility at the door and enjoy it as an escape.