Side Eye

by Steve Brewer

Josh Nieto celebrates his 18th birthday by walking out of Juvenile Detention and into a sweet job as the driver for an elderly loan shark named Malcolm Hunt. But when Hunt's Dixie Mafia past catches up to him, Josh finds himself in the middle of a blood feud. "Steve Brewer’s latest is a bare-bones tale of murder, deceit, and betrayal. A prison-hardened member of the Dixie Mafia has tracked down the man he blames for his incarceration, and he intends to get his pound of flesh. The only person who can save the man’s life is a kid just released from juvenile detention, but he’ll have to risk his freedom to do it." -- Bill Fitzhugh, award-winning author of HUMAN RESOURCES "Fast-paced, fun, and funny, this caper is another must-read from the master." -- Edgar Award-winning author Charlie Price

206 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2017

About the author

STEVE BREWER is the author of more than 30 books, including the recent crime novels UPSHOT and COLD CUTS.

His first novel, LONELY STREET, was made into a 2009 independent Hollywood comedy starring Robert Patrick, Jay Mohr and Joe Mantegna.

Under his pen name Max Austin, Brewer wrote three hard-boiled crime stories set in Albuquerque, NM. The first, DUKE CITY SPLIT, was published by Alibi/Random House in April 2014. DUKE CITY HIT followed in December 2014. DUKE CITY DESPERADO came out in June 2015.

Brewer's short fiction has appeared in the several anthologies, and he's published articles in magazines such as Mystery Scene, Crimespree and Mystery Readers' Journal.

Brewer has taught at the University of New Mexico, the Midwest Writers Workshop and the Tony Hillerman Writers Seminar. He regularly speaks at mystery conventions, and was toastmaster at Left Coast Crime in Santa Fe, NM, in 2011.

He served two years on the national board of Mystery Writers of America, and twice served as an Edgar Awards judge. He's also a member of International Thriller Writers and SouthWest Writers.

A graduate of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Brewer worked as a daily journalist for 22 years, then wrote a syndicated weekly column for another decade. The column, called The Home Front, produced the raw material for his humor book TROPHY HUSBAND.

Married and the father of two adult sons, Brewer lives in Albuquerque, NM.

More at www.stevebrewer.blogspot.com.

BOOKS BY STEVE BREWER
"Lonely Street," 1994, Pocket Books
"Baby Face," 1995, Pocket Books
"Witchy Woman," 1996, St. Martin's Press
"Shaky Ground," 1997, St. Martin's Press
"Dirty Pool," 1999, St. Martin's Press
"End Run," 2000, Intrigue Press
"Crazy Love," 2001, Intrigue Press
"Cheap Shot," 2002, Intrigue Press
"Trophy Husband," 2003, University of New Mexico Press
"Bullets," 2003, Intrigue Press
"Fool's Paradise," 2003, UNM Press
"Boost," 2004, Speck Press
"Sanity Clause," a novella, in "The Last Noel," 2004, Worldwide
"Bank Job," 2005, Intrigue Press
"Whipsaw," 2006, Intrigue Press
"Monkey Man," 2006, Intrigue Press
"Payoff," a short story in the anthology "Damn Near Dead," 2006, Busted Flush
"Cutthroat," 2007, Bleak House
"Limbo," a short story in the Mystery Writers of America anthology "Crimes by Moonlight," 2010, Berkley
"Firepower," 2010, Amazon/Smashwords
"1500 Rules for Successful Living," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords
"Calabama," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords
"The Big Wink," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords
"Lost Vegas," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords
"Party Doll," 2012, Amazon/Smashwords
"A Box of Pandoras," 2012, Amazon/Smashwords
"Showdown," a short story, 2012, Amazon/Smashwords
"Found Money," a short story, 2012, Amazon/Smashwords
"Yvonne's Gone," a short story, 2012, Amazon/Smashwords
"Cemetery Plot," a short story, 2013, Amazon
"Duke City Split," writing as Max Austin, Alibi, 2014
"Duke City Hit," writing as Max Austin, Alibi, 2014
"Duke City Desperado," writing as Max Austin, Alibi, 2015
"Shotgun Boogie," 2016, Amazon
"Homesick Blues," 2016, Amazon
"Side Eye," 2017, Amazon
"Cold Cuts," 2018, Amazon
"Upshot," 2020, Amazon

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple, short book available through Kindle Unlimited subscription. I can't tell if this is meant to be a stand alone, or the first of a possible series - something that could definitely work well.
It may fall into the noir genre, but this one seems like a morality tale to me. Our young hero is just coming out of serving one year in detention as he turns 18 and is handed a job being the driver for an older man who is visually impaired and has Albuquerque connections and a history of his own special kind.
A Mercedes to drive, a pool to swim in, room and board plus good money - seems a bit too good to be true?
He is a loyal, good sort...proven by never giving up his two skateboarding pals who were the ones who wanted to rob and injure a store owner. When they took off he ran into the store to help the bleeding man.
This attribute of his will play a big role in this lively short. There will be dead bodies.

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Brewer does it again, and I still don't know how he does it. Twice a year or so, he delivers another rock-steady, suspenseful crime novel, full of sturdy plotting and characters with sly and surprising depth. Fresh off his standout second novel about Jackie Nolan, a petty criminal perpetually on the run, Brewer is back with a new character that seems built to do the distance in a series — 18-year-old Josh Nieto, a muscular ex-juvenile prison inmate who isn't quite as smart and streetwise as he thinks he is. Those lessons are supplied to him by Malcolm Hunt, a seventysomething man a gorgeous younger wife and a murky past who hires him to be his driver on what appears to be a series of payoff pickups around Albuquerque. When Josh catches a man trying to break into Malcolm's house, he acts decisively — but his actions help trigger a lethal logistical chess match of sorts between he, Malcolm and a Dixie Mafia figure from Malcolm's past. At the same time, federal agents put the squeeze on Josh, and the reader will get emotionally involved in Josh's agonizing about where his loyalties should lie — and who will do the best job of keeping him alive.

Josh is an appealing hero, full of flaws and good intentions and temptations, and Malcolm and his wife turn out to be characters of surprising agility and depth. If this is the start of a series, count me in on the full ride. Brewer's prose isn'f flashy, and that may be the reason he doesn't get his proper due, but he delivers the goods in streamlined fashion without every falling into the trap of tiresome action-hero tropes. SIDE EYE is a full-frontal triumph.

[Arthur Weissmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very intriguing. Josh had a rough childhood and after getting out of juvenile hall gets offered a job too good to be true. As his employers past catches up to them, things get very intense.