Cassandra

by Todd Robinson

Boo et Junior ne se sont pas quittés depuis l’orphelinat. Aujourd’hui adultes, ils sont videurs dans un club de Boston. Avec leurs deux cent quinze kilos de muscles et leurs dix mille dollars de tatouages, ça leur va plutôt bien de jouer les durs. Mais quand on leur demande de rechercher la fille du procureur de Boston qui a disparu, ils vont devoir recourir à autre chose qu’à leurs biceps. Que la gamine fasse une fugue, soit. Il faut bien que jeunesse se passe. Mais quand elle se retrouve sous l’emprise de ses mauvaises fréquentations, c’est une autre histoire.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Noir, Mystery Thriller, The United States Of America, Thriller

336 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 18, 2012

Reviews

[Ctgt · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished this book I gave it four stars and as a few days passed, I came back and changed it to a 5 star book. No, it's not great literature but you know what, I loved this book and for me that's what the rating system is about. Reading for me, is entertainment, the author doesn't have to unlock some great mystery of life for me to enjoy the book. Sorry if you don't like my rating or my rationale, but there it is.

The main character, Boo and his best friend, Junior, are bouncers at The Cellar and they also run a small security business hiring out muscle to other clubs and venues. They met at St. Gabriel's Home for Boys and have been together ever since. I really enjoyed the dialogue between these two, I found it believable and humorous. The character of Junior isn't rounded out too well, but Boo was more complex and there is something in his past that sits in the background throughout the whole story.

The story begins with Boo and Junior being hired to find a missing/runaway girl, although they are given very little to go on, including the name of who hired them. At this point the reader as well as the characters themselves are trying to figure out why two bouncers with no detective experience would be hired for the job.

The story has many familiar angles with a powerful DA, the local Irish mafia and plenty of low life supporting characters. Frankly, the plot doesn't really offer much that we haven't seen in other crime stories, but for me, it was the characters and how they moved through the plot that made this so enjoyable.

I read this book in two days and am ready for more. Loved it!

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was juggling about whether or not I should give this novel a 3 or a 4 stars ranking, but I figured out I could not penalize such a well-writen story for not abiding by my peculiar standards of morality. THE HARD BOUNCE is a very good, if a little worn hardboiled novel about Boo and Junior two legal system kids who have taken justice in their own hands as far as their own lives are involved.

I wasn't crazy about Boo and his self-righetous crap, but Todd Robinson is a good enough writer to keep his protagonist in check and displaying the ravages of his ill-advised values on the people he loves. Needless to say, I liked Junior and amazing psychotic sidekick Twitch quite a lot more than I liked Boo and I thought they were necessary in keeping their boy in check.

THE HARD BOUNCE doesn't stray too far from the hardboiled formula and kind of gets heavy handed morally at times, but it's a novel that knows what it is and what it's good at. It has clarity of purpose.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Executive Summary: A pretty good mystery that got a lot better around the halfway point. 3.5 stars.

Audiobook: Dylan Lynch does a good job. He speaks clearly and adds a little something with his Boston/Irish accent to give it a little more flavor. Audio is a good option here.

Full Review
One of my goals this year was to read a little less SFF and get a bit more variety. This book was recommended to me as a good mystery book. At first I was kind of underwhelmed by it, but I liked it a lot more as the book went on.

The main character is a bouncer. Somehow he gets hired to look for a missing girl. I still don't think that makes a whole lot of sense, although eventually I stopped caring about it too much.

I really liked meeting the various friends of our "Bouncer with a heart of gold" and learning how he came to meet them back when he was a ward of the state.

I really thought this story was going to go along in one direction, and I was starting to get bored by it. Thankfully the author went in a direction I wasn't really expecting and the story seemed to get better as it did.

All and all a pretty good, short mystery book that I'm glad I picked up.

[John Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a much needed antidote to Angus Wilson’s Hemlock and After.
Crime busting at its grittiest in the persons of Boo and Junior and some of their associates from St Gab's (see below).

Boo and Junior were incarcerated within the care system (St Gabs), scarred for life. They bonded and survived.

Together they provide tough edged security and more. They are commissioned to find a missing girl whose Daddy is rich, powerful and keen to keep his nose clean. Boo in particular is tenacious in the search. He and his partner will stop at very little, particularly where child abusers are concerned.

Fast moving, good story line, laddish, but I struggled with the Boston brogue quite frequently.Some well drawn characters. Recommended to those who like a very down to earth read in crime busting genre.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boo and Junior don't solve crimes gathering forensics and using a lot of deductive reasoning. They're more like china shop bulls plowing ahead and smacking folks around until they get what they want. Except... they've got a softer side. It's what makes both so compelling as characters. It'd probably be easier to craft 2-D knockabouts traversing the seedy underworld of Boston; instead Robinson fleshes his heroes out, gives them stones to shoulder, which make them easy to root for. They are wounded thugs, with guiding lights to stomp out injustice motivating their decision, however ill-advised. In a sense, if Boo and Junior can save the girl, they can save themselves. Not that Robinson has a heavy hand or plays the obvious cards. Maybe they just got a soft spot for orphans. Either way, Robinson nails it in this debut novel, which is fast-paced and riotously funny. I'm hoping this turns into a series because Boo and his sidekick Junior are the kind of guys you want to follow on adventures. Kick-ass fiction is always better when there's some humanity shining through the bleak.

[John Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of good stuff here but the writing is just over the top with endless "noir" metaphors and comic book actions. It seems that on every page someone is slamming someone else into a wall and screaming at the top of their lungs. There are countless concussions and bullets flying. It's as if the author doesn't trust the story to carry itself.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot in this book was just completely all over the place. Started out pretty solid with a weird/interesting twist, but then I got the sense that the author wrapped things up faster than he meant to and didn't know where to go from there.

Our protagonists are a couple of bouncers who run a security firm that kind of pulls all the bouncers together and assigns them to different bars and clubs. Our lead guy isn't stupid, but he grew up in the system and hit the streets at eighteen; so street smart, but not a professor. He's approached by a city official with a missing persons case that the official doesn't want going public and despite being wholly unequipped and inexperienced, he and his best friend take the job.

It felt like the author was going for hard-boiled, complete with messed up background for the protagonist, but didn't want to do the usual detective thing so went a different direction. Interesting premise, but kind of flopped on the execution.

And the bit that just had me rolling my eyes was Boo's relationship with Kelly. She shows up as an assistant to our city official, there to present the job offer to Boo. He insults her on first impression (oh, you're a lady in a suit, uncomfortable being alone in an unfamiliar bar after midnight, so you must have a stick up your ass), she gets understandably pissed at him for judging her out of hand. But then does a complete 180 literally the next day, shows up to his bar to talk to him, gets totally smashed and makes a pass at him. That of course starts them into a passionate relationship that they consummate at completely odd moments (oh man, you've been shot in the knee and you're leg is all in stitches and you're recuperating; lets have sex!). Boy howdy does this author know how to write believable interpersonal interactions. And to top that off, the whole relationship had about zero relevance to the plot.

Not the worst book I've ever read, but I'm boggling over it's nomination for an Anthony award this year.

[Cath Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So my holiday reads weren't exactly lightweight... ...but they were awesome especially as they were both picked for me by Rob Hart, my podcast partner, from the shelves of Mysterious Bookshop in Tribeca where he works.
 
Since Rob lives in New York and I live in Norway, it was a special treat to not only get to meet him, but to take away two fantastic books to devour in between travelling and sightseeing.
 
If I had to pick a favourite it would be Todd Robinson's The Hard Bounce which while deeply hardboiled has a vein of humour running through it which lightens the emotional load. Vachss Shella is probably more accomplished, but it's a shade of noir too dark yet to have been named. I loved it, but I could only read it a few pages at a time, in case my mental faculties developed frostbite.
 
We're hoping to get Todd on the podcast sometime to talk about his interesting and bumpy road to publication. That should be a blast.

[Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. Todd Robinson is editor of a publication of Noir short stories called Thuglit. His writing style reflects his exposure to this publication. The dialogue is crisp, funny, believable, and often very touching. The Hard Bounce was nominated for several best first novel awards when it was originally published. Robinson introduces the reader to the most memorable cast of anti-heroes I have encountered in a while. The common denominator is that they all grew up in the same Boston based foster home where you either had to do something useful (fix electronics, pick pocket, etc.) or be intimidating. Now adults, Boo and Junior are both bouncers at a local dive bar. They get hired by a local politician to find his daughter because they are familiar with the Boston party scene for young people (Beantown is a giant college town after all). The thing I enjoyed most about this novel is that, probably because of his exposure to Thuglit, Robinson's bad guys are REALLY nasty. Consequently, when Boo and Junior get physical with some of the ner' do wells, you really feel good about it. Who wouldn't want to slap around a confirmed pedophile? This is a violent book, but the violence is not without a purpose. If you like Jordan Harper, Frank Bill, Matthew McBride, or even Harry Crews, you will enjoy Todd Robinson. I look forward to reading more of his work. I know I say this with a lot of my reviews, but man, this would make a great movie- Quinton Tarantino perhaps?

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of thug lit, though this delighted me.

Boo and Junior have been best friends since their less-than-stellar time at an orphanage in Boston. And as grown adult bouncers (still in Boston), they're still as tight as ever—which is precisely where this book shines. Robinson has an exquisite sensibility for character and dialogue that's unique, believable, violent, and touching all at the same time. I absolutely loved both characters.

If you can get past the oh-so-nasty violence, though a lot of it is justified due to a certain pedophile that Boo and Junior have to deal with, give this novel a shot. You won't be disappointed. A super-fun, and often touching, propulsive read.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of thug lit, though this delighted me.

Boo and Junior have been best friends since their less-than-stellar time at an orphanage in Boston. And as grown adult bouncers (still in Boston), they're still as tight as ever—which is precisely where this book shines. Robinson has an exquisite sensibility for character and dialogue that's unique, believable, violent, and touching all at the same time. I absolutely loved both characters.

If you can get past the oh-so-nasty violence, though a lot of it is justified due to a certain pedophile that Boo and Junior have to deal with, give this novel a shot. You won't be disappointed. A super-fun, and often touching, propulsive read.

[Ombeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je lis peu de polar, mais j'ai vraiment adoré Boo et Junior ! Un duo improbable pour résoudre une enquête sensible !

J'ai beaucoup aimé l'écriture, mais surtout je n'ai pas pût le lâcher jusqu'à la fin. L'intrigue est vraiment bien mené et les personnages attachant ! J'enchaine immédiatement sur la suite !

[Dana King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Todd Robinson has been known for years to those on the inside as Big Daddy Thug, the founder and driving force of Thuglit, one of the most respected noir fiction web sites. (Also the only man alive cool enough to close a rejection letter with, “I’ll go fuck myself now.”) Few have spent the time, effort, and dedication to create not only their own vision, but to help other writers create theirs. There had to be a book of his own in this guy somewhere.

You bet your ass there was. He called it The Hard Bounce. Ain’t nothing easy in a Big Daddy Thug joint.
Boo Malone runs a bar security company with his partner, Junior. Raised in the same orphanage, Boo and Junior have had each other’s backs for as long as either needed someone to have his back. It’s a shoestring operation, working out of the back of one of the bars, but business is growing and both are about as well satisfied as these two are likely to get. They’re irritated when a good-looking but stiff young woman comes to them with a job, but won’t tell them who the real employer is. They’re pissed when they see she came with an ex-cop for backup. It’s a wandering daughter job they know they shouldn’t accept, but the money—and other considerations—are too good.

The Hard Bounce is a PI story without the PIs. The bows to Hammett at the outset set the tone. (Robinson never uses the phrase “wandering daughter job,” but that’s what it is: a powerful man’s kid is missing. No one ever says, “We didn’t really believe you. We believed your two hundred dollars,” either, but that’s exactly what happens. They were offered more than the job should have been worth, but enough more they didn’t mind.) On the plus side, Boo and Junior don’t have to worry about losing their licenses; they don’t have any. Armed with their wits and a small cadre of friends from the orphanage, they’ll find the girl, and, as in any great PI story, a lot more.

The core that holds the book together is the rapport between Boo and Junior. There is nothing they wouldn’t do for each other, though neither can assume sacrifices will be made without comment. They’re funny in the male-bonding, insulting way, even in dire circumstances, though Robinson know the way to keep The Hard Bounce from becoming another cookie-cutter buddy action story is to keep the humor when under the gun more along the lines of whistling through a graveyard.

The characters around them play well. Each fills a role; none were obviously created to do only that. Boo and Junior have the psycho sidekick, but he’s used mostly as an advisor, or a reminder of how they don’t want to handle the problem.

Robinson is also able to avoid the primary pitfall of so much neo-noir, writing The Hard Bounce with sufficient darkness to be taken seriously, not so much you’ll feel dirty after reading it. The bad guys are no more gratuitously bad than is believable. Robinson’s not in the titillation business. He is in the grit business, and no one gets through the story without at least some sticking to them.

Robinson spent almost ten years to find a publisher willing to give The Hard Bounce a chance. It was time well-spent. Such a road is an honorable beginning for a writer. James Lee Burke had the same book rejected 111 times over a period of nine years; Elmore Leonard endured 84 rejections to make the move from Westerns to crime. Robinson has not only created a story and characters to fully engage even a picky reader, he may well have created a franchise with some legs.

[Erik Carl son · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young girl is missing. Her father, fearful the scandal will rock his mayoral bid, hires two bouncers to find her and bring her home. What ensues is a brass-knuckle tour of Boston through the eyes of men who know what rocks to look under.

Protagonist Boo Malone and partner Junior are chivalrous tough guys, hardcore knights defending their lands but never falling into the realm of unlikable brutes – even when they are slamming a fist into a drunk’s face in front of his kids. Their appeal, in that opening scene, is immediate and allows us to vicariously react to every drunken slob we’ve endured; Pure perfect projection.

This connection to Boo and Junior ‘s actions become frustrating when the case begins and we are forced to watch as they stumble violently about looking for clues. Boo’s quest reminded me of Westlake novels in which neophyte detectives make every effort to stay ahead of the con. The end result is an overwhelming desire to play armchair private-eye as Boo constantly make matters worse through assaults and repeated poor decisions. It is nerve-wracking and page-turning. I spent half the book wondering if Robinson would actually allow his protagonist to fail.

Boo and Junior are blue-collar heroes with torn up knuckles and faded blue jeans. Their world is filled with knocking heads, throttling junkies, and cleaning puke. They are men attempting to feed a future on a past fueled by brutality. They know they are being played but unsure of how to avoid it. The Hard Bounce feels all the more real for it. In a post-Spencer/Eddie Coyle world, Robinson puts Boston back on the map. I can only hope that this is the start of a brutal-ful new series.

[J.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a standard P.I. novel plot: rich powerful man asks the wisecracking gumshoe to find and bring back his troubled young daughter. P.I. goes looking, poking around and asking questions, until someone beats him up or takes a shot at him and he discovers that things aren't as they seem, and things get more complicated from there.

In Todd Robinson's original take on the well-worn plot, however, the protagonist and his sidekick aren't P.I.'s, they're bouncers for downscale bars. They're professional kickers of asses, and they're as apt to dish out a beating with their questions as to take one--but only if the lowlife in question deserves it. And in their quest to find the girl, Boo Malone and Junior McCullough find plenty of folks who deserve it. They're saved from being portrayed as mere leg-breakers by Robinson's sharp, funny dialogue and the characters' fierce, years-long loyalty to each other. You quickly come to really care about the big bruisers and the surrogate family they've cobbled together over years of hard knocks. The book has plenty of twists and surprises, as any good hardboiled adventure should, and it all comes together to a fine, satisfying ending.

Recommended.

[Brandon Nagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Todd Robinson tells a highly enjoyable, hilarious, totally unpredictable story. I have read a lot of his short stories and loved them. I loved the reference to Needle magazine in the book. Needle has been my favorite magazine featuring the best of crime/noir short stories. Fast paced, violent, and great one liners throughout. Highly recommended. If you have never read anything by Todd Robinson before, this is an excellent starting point. Read it.

[Nik Korpon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what crime books should be. Kicking ass and breaking legs.

I laughed as much as I cringed. Robinson hits all the notes, making Boo and Junior as human as they are badass. I can't see why it took this book so long to find a home and if there is any justice in the world, Robinson's next book will drop soon. Or now.

[Jordan Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

An update to the updated PI novel, The Hard Bounce reads like Andrew Vachss after he's had a few drinks and isn't afraid to crack a joke. Robinson mixes hardboiled plotting with sparkling wit, like chasing whiskey with champagne. He better be hard at work on the next Boo and Junior adventure.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember, one man's breezy summary is another man's hated spoiler.

Boo is a club bouncer raised in a school of very hard knocks: an institutional home for abused/neglected/abandoned kids.

He and a longtime friend from the home run a rough company called 4DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Mostly they protect clubs, but they do get a job to find a missing person, who's the relative of a Boston-area public figure.

Porn, drugs, violence are all in the mix. Robinson writes in a tone that is raw and compelling. Boo is smart but revels in his low-class persona. Example: He never went to college.

I didn't understand why he in the end ignores/rejects the preppie young woman he's encountered in the course of his missing-person investigation. I suggest that maybe that's the book's main "hard" bounce - given his conditioning, he just doesn't see a future with someone from a more mundane, upper-middle-class environment.

But perhaps the author's main hard bounce is the notion that even a located missing person doesn't necessarily remain safe.

[Dan Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Altogether we have a bit of confusion here: What is this supposed to be? Comedy? Hard Noir? A mystery? Suspense?
The problem could have been avoided with a bit more editing, but first novels can stand just so much tinkering, especially when the author is used to working in the short form. From that perspective the first, say, third of the book had loads of slapstick and taking the two central characters as seriously hard cases just does not work. Then the prose straightens out somewhat, the broken English falls away, and a few tough guy scenes come off without too much stupid.
For the last part of the story, we have a good dose of serious, a misplaced bit of chivalry and a few swerveling jigs and jogs of plotting. Taken as a whole, this first effort encourages one to try Mr. Robinson again.
Recommended.

[Aarti Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is highly entertaining with Boo and Junior, and Miss Kitty---Junior's car. Plot: basically a politician's teenage daughter goes missing and Boo and Junior are hired to find her. I like how in the big city setting of Boston, the author is able to warmly invite us into a self-contained brash bar scene with brash characters who live in brash apartments and spit brash words back and forth to each other. The dialogue is quick, witty, and unfiltered. Though you want things to go well for Boo, you can feel a heavy cloud hanging over his life, yet you also admire him for his grit and for his desire to do the right thing and see it all the way through. The mystery itself felt like it had some holes at the end, big climaxes and events that are only barely touched on for how they panned out. I wanted more details about people's motives. Overall, this book was fun and memorable.

[thebonebreaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have seen the multiple quotes that I have posted over the past several days, (over on Google+) then you can pretty much guess that I thoroughly enjoyed this book! If you enjoy Pulpy-Noir style Crime Fiction, then I highly recommend this book. (Though I will warn you that some of the subject matter can be intense and there is a ton of foul language!)

My wife is the one who actually came across this book, at a Library Sale, and she read it before me. The amazing thing is that she enjoyed it just as much as I did! (While she was reading it, she kept telling me it was right up my alley... this is definitely my favorite book that she has recommended to me.)

[Beau Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look, I wanted to like Todd Robinson's The Hard Bounce. I really did. I wanted to enjoy the camaraderie, the carnage, and the moments that made me laugh out loud. But I couldn't, not as I hoped, as my love for Boo and Junior got in the way. Good stuff all round. Characters that to some may not be the most desirable, but for me it worked out just fine. Dark, gritty, with some shoulda, woulda, couldas thrown in for good measure.
As ever: Go forth. Seek out. Purchase and enjoy. Fun was had!

[Clémence · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai aimé l'ambiance nocturne de ce polar dans un Boston peuplé de mafieux et de personnages en apparence insondables, en réalité tous malmenés et cassés par la vie.

En revanche la narration ne m'a pas du tout séduite : oui il y a du rythme et des rebondissements, comme dans tout polar hein, mais ça s'arrête là. Aucune complexité, tout est attendu, certains fils sont tirés pour être vite relâchés, et certains retournements ne font juste pas sens.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. The story is not original but the way the author tells the story is unique. Thug literature is different but fun in its own way. The characterizations are excellent and feel authentic. The characters are flawed, impulsive and sometimes do stupid stuff and yet they are people that want to do the right thing. Nice!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grading on the curve - atrocious dialog, a pointless, annoying romance, and a mostly "who cares" back story versus a taut and tawdry kidnap story with a nice twist. Bonus point b/c the record store I managed shared a dumpster with the Rat and Mr. Butch used to keep his guitar in our bag check.

[Val Heed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started it but didn't like his style- too much American slang/ too base!
So abandoned it

[Jaybee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting. Gritty, compelling, and with a likeable protagonist, couldn't ask for more.

[Enora Ly · Rating 2 out of 5]

so bad

[Sibylle Seys smets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un polar original, assez sombre, pas toujours moral, mais plutôt bien fichu, rythmé, parfois drôle, et avec des personnages vraiment attachants. Contrat de divertissement rempli.