Upshot

by Steve Brewer

Anonymous white vans ferry cannabis and cash around Albuquerque, NM, serving the medical marijuana industry. Rick Evert and his crew of heist professionals see the courier business as an opportunity. But how do you stop an armored van? How do you crack open its bulletproof glass? Rick and his guys -- a locksmith, a retired wrestler and a demolition derby driver -- can solve those problems, but they can't account for the human factor. People make mistakes, and this job involves a couple of rookies, including an "inside man." Keeping the newbies out of the hands of the police seems like the most important task, until the robbery victim decides to set a trap of his own. People don't like getting robbed. Sometimes, victims fight back. Occasionally, you come across someone truly evil, someone willing to kill. What's a professional to do then?

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2020

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

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second Steve Brewer book following the recommendation of Jim Thomsen and he has such a winning formula for crime fiction. He eschews the existentialism and scenery chewing descriptions in favour of a pure combination of plot, character and setting. He is not an author that will dazzle particularly, but the type that will get you quickly blasting through 100 pages without a dip or fatigue setting in.

Rick and his crew hit a marijuana delivery truck using a manhole cover and a tow truck to great effect and escaping with the cash and the remaining cannabis on board. The owner of the transit company does not take kindly to the transgression and sets out to find the perpetrators while they lie low in various spots.

This book is pure storytelling involving a rich cast of characters and plenty of dastardly deeds. It feels different from the majority of crime fiction out there in its steadiness and commitment to not being stylised. I look forward to checking out more Brewer in the near future.

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In the movies," Sid said, "guys always talk about 'one last job.' You know what happens then?"

As Rick got to his feet, he said, "What happens then?"

"They get their nuts shot off."

Steve Brewer is the author of thirty-some crime novels, all of them terrific, and the only reason I can come up with for his lack of regard in the worlds of crime fiction and book publishing is is no-frills approach to his work. His plots may be hardboiled, but his prose isn't; they're just a smooth, seamless delivery device for seamless storytelling. Rarely are his sentences quotable, and yet they subtly deliver all the information you need about not just plot but place and character. In these days when it seems as if an author can't get a major publishing deal without unreliable narrators, time-narrative jiujitsu, coy withholdings, inaccessible first-person narration, second-person voices in present tense or other contortions for complication's sake masquerading as freshness, such a wondrous thing is the deceptively simple story, told simply.

So it is with UPSHOT, his latest, a heist tale with echoes of the 1956 movie "The Killing." Set in Brewer's adopted hometown of Albuquerque — he runs a bookstore there — it probes each member of a crew of professional thieves, as well as their victims, until it finds the hairline fractures in the character of each, and then explores the potential of each fracture to split apart and undo everyone involved. Each character is painted with short, swift brush strokes, showing how they're different within their sameness, each as Brewer never lets up on the plotting and pacing petals Particularly intriguing — to me, anyway — are middle-aged Rick Evert, the one member of the heist crew without a straight-job cover; Angela Gonzales, the heist's "inside woman" as the computer whiz at a cannabis -courier company; and Dennis Jenkins, the revenge-bent owner of the courier company, who is willing to go to extreme lengths to find out who took him down. Brewer does an admirable job of making Jenkins both the biggest victim and the most despicable character in the story. Who lives? Who dies? Who gets the last drop on who? Finding out makes UPSHOT a good-to-the-last drop cup of crime-fiction coffee.

Like many of other Brewer's novels, the anti-style style at work makes UPSHOT less than lingeringly memorable but more than bland and faceless — this is not James Patterson-type hackwork, in which character and plot tropes blended with overheated prose provide surface thrills that slip away a second after the the last page is finished. It's more than a lack of immediate distinction, which to my mind places him in a pantheon with the prolific pulp masters of the past: Harry Whittington, Gil Brewer, Dan J. Marlowe, Peter Rabe, with a comparatively small percentage of their tough-guy talk and female hysterics. Maybe Joe Gores or Bill Pronzini, stone pros with flat, declarative, take-it-or-leave-it straightforwardness to their work, are better analogues.

Put it this way: I've read almost all of Steve Brewer's novels. Can I match the plot of each with a title? Mostly, no. Did I enjoy each of them and would I want to read them again? Yes, I did, and yes, I would. So, perhaps the question here is, which question matters more? To me the answer is obvious. Is it to you?

[Michael J. McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read. I’m a bit biased because most of the scenes were drawn from my neighborhood and a couple miles around it while a few others took place near where I lived a few years ago. That was worth 1-2 stars on my rating.

What was left was a pretty good book. Well written. Interesting story. Explores the darker nature of how human motivations and reactions can play out in the face of bad decisions. Plus some excitement.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read