Knuckledragger

by Rusty Barnes

Hooligan and low-level criminal enforcer Jason “Candy” Stahl (“Irish” to his sometime girlfriend Rosario) has made a good life collecting money for his boss Otis, breaking the occasional leg or elbow, fucking Rosario, and living the life in Revere, MA. One collection trip, though, at the Diovisalvo Liquor Store, unravels events that turn Candy’s life into a horror-show.

In quick succession he moves up a notch in the organization, overseeing a chop shop, while he falls in lust with Otis’s girlfriend Nina, gets beaten for insubordination, and is forced to run when Otis finds out about Candy and Nina’s affair.

Events stretch as far as Houston, Texas, where Otis and Candy have a final showdown where everything is at stake. Loser gets nothing.

200 pages, Paperback

Published October 24, 2017

About the author

Rusty Barnes is a 2018 Derringer finalist and author of the story collections Breaking it Down (Sunnyoutside Press 2007) , Mostly Redneck (Sunnyoutside Press 2011), and Kraj The Enforcer: Stories (Shotgun Honey 2019), as well as four novels, Reckoning (Sunnyoutside Press, 2014), Ridgerunner (Shotgun Honey/Down & Out Books, 2017), Knuckledragger (Shotgun Honey/Down & Out Books 2017) and The Last Danger (Shotgun Honey/Down & Out Books 2018), His fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals and anthologies, like Dirty Boulevard: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of Lou Reed (Down & Out Books 2018), Best Small Fictions 2015, Mystery Tribune, Goliad Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Red Rock Review, Porter Gulch Review and Post Road. His poetry collections include On Broad Sound (Nixes Mates Press, 2016) and Jesus in the Ghost Room, (Nixes Mates Press 2017). He founded and edits Tough, a journal of crime fiction and occasional reviews. Find him on Twitter @rustybarnes23

Reviews

[Jay Gertzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candy, an strongarm enforcer for a major racketeer specializing in all sorts of vices, is no knuckledragger. He is shrewd and articulate, and can out-fight, out-injure, and outwit all manner of enemies. He is a protagonist the reader fantasizes being alongside of on his roller-coaster—at a safe, that is vicarious, distance. Barnes is excellent at making you feel the physical pain inflicted on Candy in the course of his adventures. One part of the secret of this kind of narration is to get the reader to feel “I’m glad I’m not him,” while the next moment thinking, due to his determination and resilience, that “I wish I was him.” Identifying, one might catch oneself thinking about who he is and what his own standards of behavior are—because Candy is an addict who needs ever more death-defying feats as much as he needs candy. And he has a loyal girlfriend whom he cannot quite love. There isn’t enough room in his heart.
I see a relationship in heroes to Barnes’ Appalachian noir heroes in Ridgerunner and Reckoning. The protagonists are growing into an independence that brings with it Herculean tests.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
Someone getting their arm broken in the first sentence of this novel sets the tone for this story from author Rusty Barnes.
Surprising ending...

I would read another book by this author. It was OK.

[David Nemeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Shotgun Honey released the Rusty Barnes' new book Knuckledragger, fans of Barnes' Ridgerunner were excited that this was the follow-up we were waiting for. Sadly, it was not. But the good news is that Knuckledragger is far better than Ridgerunner.

Rusty Barnes' latest book starts out quickly, "I took a choked up hold on the rubber grip of the bat and smashed his right elbow. I could feel the bone compress and break. It took the starch out of his dick, I’m happy to say." The narrator is Jason Stahl aka Candy and lovingly called Irish by his sometime-girl, Rosie. Candy is muscle, bottom of the food chain muscle, for Otis, a crime boss in Revere, Massachusetts. By the end of the first chapter Candy took care of two assignments both of which involved breaking bones and collecting money. And then the chapter wraps up with the boss requesting a sit down with Otis.

As trouble swirls around Candy and Rosie, Barnes story-telling chops are running at full-speed. In Ridgerunner I had a bit of trouble believing in the lead character's motivation, but with Knuckledragger I had none of that trouble. Shit, even as Candy made several bone-headed decisions, I believed Candy (and Barnes) every step of the way. As Candy tells the reader, "I was not a smart man." No, he was not.

In a short 202 pages, Barnes develops Candy and Rosie convincingly as they get to know each other better on the road in New England. But anyone can write about two people getting along well, but having them argue in a credible way, that's something else entirely. Barnes does not have that problem.

"I don’t feel like eating my dinner now,” Rosie said. "Let’s just go.”

"You mean back to the cabin?” I said.

"No, I mean home.”

"OK, we can do that,” I said. "But they’re not going to be back.”

"That’s what you said the last time we saw them,” Rosie said. What could I say to that?

"Let’s stay tonight. I’m supposed to be relaxing.”

"This is relaxing?” I could feel her command of English slipping the more upset she got.

"It will be,” I said. "I promise it will be. No more of this shit.”

Without a word, she walked back toward the canoe. She got in and waited for me to launch the thing, so I waded out into the knee-deep water and jumped in. Rosie paddled pretty hard, working out some of her frustration at me on the paddle. I matched her stroke for stroke even though it hurt. We made the half-mile in record time and before I could even get to the gravel she jumped out into the shallows and walked quickly up to the cabin. I pushed myself and the canoe up on the gravel roughly.

No doubt Rusty Barnes brings the action in Knuckledragger, but the characters are also given space to grow outside of the printed word making Knuckledragger more than a great shoot 'em up story, it's a classic road novel.

[R. Lester · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is phenomenal. Finely crafted crime fiction. Hums along like a well-oiled machine. I stayed up later than I should have to finish it because there was no way I was putting it down. The ending is the body shot to the gut that puts you on the mat and you'll stay down, believe me. Admittedly - maybe spoiler alert - I was half-hoping Candy would get out of the life and shack up with Rosie and the kid but..well...I'll let you figure it out for yourself. And you definitely should.

[Dan Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after enjoying Barnes' "Ridgerunner." Barnes has a unique ability to lull the reader into a comfortable place and then shatter that atmosphere with sudden, explosive acts of violence, which builds a delicious anticipation and growing intensity. I don't know how I expected this book to end, but I certainly didn't expect the ending he delivered. Memorable gritty pulp-style story.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly written by a man.. I'm hovering between 2 and 3 stars. Liked the writing style, really hated some of the parts and the ending.