The first stand-alone thriller by critically acclaimed author Charlie Huston, The Shotgun Rule is a raw tale of four teenage friends who go looking...
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Jan 15, 2012
Nancy
rated it: 
Four suburban teenagers manage to find big trouble when they come across a meth lab while trying to retrieve Andy’s stolen bike. I’ve wanted to read Charlie Huston for a while and thought this stand-alone thriller would be a good place to start. I wasn’t disappointed. This was a brutal, dark and compelling slice of suburban life. The characters were very well-developed, the dialogue sharp, and the pace relentless. The story was raw, painful and a believable portrayal of troubled youths, dy
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Jan 28, 2010
Daniel
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I love the way Charlie Huston writes. Scan a random page and it doesn't... look right. Huston uses indented dashes instead of speech marks, and refuses to clot up pages with "he said", or "she asked". His writing looks sparse, but it's deceptive - the level of detail in his words rivals that of even Stephen King (who is also a fellow fan), and reading his prose is effortless and rewarding. Huston's characterisation has always been his strong point - the previously mentioned "
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Sep 25, 2007
Tim
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It's the early 80's in the sun-blasted wastelands of working class California, and group of teenagers are desperate for anything to do to make the make the summer pass by. Blasting punk rock and heavy metal they ride their neighborhood looking for trouble. Boy, do they ever find it. When one of their bikes is stolen by some neighborhood criminals, they break into the house looking to recover it, only to stumble into an illegal drug lab. This sets of an unstoppable series of events resulting in c
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May 01, 2010
Boden
rated it:
3293910 The characters and scenes play through my memory vividly, and I believe this novel does what it does extremely well, so 5 stars.
Four teenage boys in over their heads. Suburban neighborhoods, bikes, drugs, and a lingering past. I often felt like this could have taken place in my home town, my neighborhood. Somewhere in the scenes of the novel, there is a glimpse of S.E. Hinton. Maybe, with many readers, such comparison doesn't ring as a compliment to Huston, but I revere the m More...
Four teenage boys in over their heads. Suburban neighborhoods, bikes, drugs, and a lingering past. I often felt like this could have taken place in my home town, my neighborhood. Somewhere in the scenes of the novel, there is a glimpse of S.E. Hinton. Maybe, with many readers, such comparison doesn't ring as a compliment to Huston, but I revere the m More...
Apr 16, 2010
Brett
rated it:
Good book, not quite on the level of Huston's (Henry Thompson trilogy), but a very gripping story!
Four friends, Paul, Hector and brothers George & Andy steal a bag of meth from the local thugs, who just so happen to be making it for the local drug lord / tough guy "Geezer", who just so happens to sell drugs for the big drug lords in Oakland, who don't care what happened to the drugs, they only want their money, on time!
As usual, all the characters were good, v More...
Four friends, Paul, Hector and brothers George & Andy steal a bag of meth from the local thugs, who just so happen to be making it for the local drug lord / tough guy "Geezer", who just so happens to sell drugs for the big drug lords in Oakland, who don't care what happened to the drugs, they only want their money, on time!
As usual, all the characters were good, v More...
May 23, 2009
David
rated it:
The second half of Charlie Huston's dedication for The Shotgun Rule points to the subject of his novel: "To the kids who don't know any better. / The ones with the attitude problems. / What the hell are they thinking? / Man, believe me, they aren't. / That's the point. / We never do." In general, subjects who don't think (and idiot teenagers in particular) are a better subject for sociologists than novelists. And if the "point" of Huston's novel were nothing more than the
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Aug 25, 2010
William Thomas
rated it:
Want to know what it's like growing up lower-middle class, get into fights with the neighborhood kids, screw around with all of your outsider friends and talk about nothing but drugs and music and not think about the future for one single second? Read this and find out. I could not believe how close this book came on every level to a very dark period in my own high-school experience, not only the insight and feelings of the teens, but literally, the violence, the drugs, the seedy adults and deal
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Jul 16, 2010
This is a mean, nasty book about four bad kids, who, in the course of recovering a stolen bike, steal a pound of meth, getting in over their heads with some even worse people. That gang, the Arroyo brothers, is run by an even worse guy, Geezer, who (despite his comic affliction–what’s the word? Aphids? Asia? Aphasia!!) is one of the scariest characters in recent memory. There’s someone even Geezer is afraid of tho, and that’s the father of a couple of the bad kids.
The level of violen More...
The level of violen More...
Aug 13, 2009
Andrew
rated it:
"The Shotgun Rule" was the last of Charlie Huston's novels that I had yet to read (other than "A Dangerous Man," which, based on my feelings about "Six Bad Things," I may just skip), and I was a bit nervous about it, since it's about a bunch of teenaged boys, and I wasn't sure I could handle reading about kids suffering the sorts of atrocities that he regularly puts his adult protagonists through. In the end, though, I couldn't resist, and I'm glad I couldn't, as th
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Jul 19, 2010
Ian
rated it:
Maybe it's because this one stars deliquent teenagers instead of a burned out ex-baseball player or, you know, a fucking vampire detective, but the violence in The Shotgun Rule seemed even more brutal than normal for Huston. There was one particular bit with a hacksaw that actually made me take a five second break to compose myself.
But the reason I dove right back in wasn't because Huston does literary violence well, although he does; it's because as always his characterization and d More...
But the reason I dove right back in wasn't because Huston does literary violence well, although he does; it's because as always his characterization and d More...
May 13, 2010
Tony
rated it:
I love a good coming of age novel (with the exception of everyone's favorite, the beyond overrated CATCHER IN THE RYE) and Charlie Huston delivers one as only he can. THE SHOTGUN RULE is one of those books that grabs you by the jugular and forces you to keep going, long after you've made the late night promise to only read one more page. It's the story of four teens in 1984 who get into the kind of stuff you hope your kid doesn't get into, the kind of trouble you only construct in your mind wh
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Sep 28, 2010
Jenn
rated it:
Gripping read. This book is a kind of sins-of-the-fathers exploration, examining relationships between fathers and sons and between the sons with each other. In The Shotgun Rule, we find four friends motivated by the boredom of the suburbs. Passing the time drinking, smoking and committing petty thefts, they find themselves in a situation well beyond their understanding. They discover the dark depths that exist in their town and secrets best left untold.
Huston has an gift for wri More...
Huston has an gift for wri More...
Aug 05, 2011
Larry
rated it:
Charlie Huston is a great writer. He's written two different series before this book and I'd recommend both--one is about a guy caught in the wrong situation who kills to get out of it, and the other is about a vampire struggling to make it in the vampire-ridden world of NYC. That being said, this stand-alone book was terrific. Four kids break into the neighborhood thugs' house to steal back one of their bikes and find stuff they shouldn't. What happens from that point on may be a little pre
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Aug 24, 2009
Tom
rated it: 
I have to start by saying that I really love Charlie Huston books. They are well-paced and have great action, even if they happen to be astonishingly violent at time. They are also easy reads for the summer. This book was mostly no exception - an easy read, and a fairly compelling storyline. But I'm not a big fan of the "miserable people trapped in miserable lives" genre, so this dragged it down a little for me. Probably my least favorite of the Huston books I've read so far. Next
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Aug 11, 2011
Marvin
rated it:
This was Charlie Huston's first standalone novel after his Joe Pitt and Hank Thompson series. While it is just as visceral and violent as his other novels, it is also quite different. For The author has moved his action to the suburban setting of Northern California and focuses his attention on four teenagers growing up with many of the temptations our society gives them. This suburban setting may feel uncomfortable even to the most ardent Crime Noir fan for this is violence set on children even
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Mar 26, 2011
Nick
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Set in the summer of 1983 in a northern California suburb, The Shotgun Rule is the story of four teenage boys, on summer vacation living a life of adolescent debauchery. Their days are consumed with thoughts of drugs, booze and sex. They find themselves in trouble when they break into the home of the notorious Arroyo brothers to retrieve a stolen bicycle. In the process, they stumble on the family's meth lab. The boys steal part of the dealer's stash in retribution for the stolen bike. That act
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May 19, 2010
Maddy
rated it:
SETTING: Northern California in 1983
SERIES: Standalone thriller
RATING: 3.5
It seems like it should be an idyllic time, summer of 1983, four teen-aged boys riding their books around their northern California suburb. Kind of makes you think about swimming holes and a time of innocence, right? Wrong – after all, this is a book by Charlie Huston who has made quite a name for himself writing a noir trilogy and a vampire series. The serenity unravels when Andy's bike is sto More...
SERIES: Standalone thriller
RATING: 3.5
It seems like it should be an idyllic time, summer of 1983, four teen-aged boys riding their books around their northern California suburb. Kind of makes you think about swimming holes and a time of innocence, right? Wrong – after all, this is a book by Charlie Huston who has made quite a name for himself writing a noir trilogy and a vampire series. The serenity unravels when Andy's bike is sto More...
Feb 18, 2010
Thomas
rated it: 
Reading this novel was a no-brainer, since I’ve been so impressed with nearly everything else Charlie Huston has written. This was the first book he wrote not as part of a series, so I figured this would be as gripping and compelling and gritty as the other books. And, well, I was a little disappointed.
I can’t quite finger why. The prose is about the same. The dialogue is sharp. The story is about as noir as modern literature can get, and it maintains the same level of brutality of h More...
I can’t quite finger why. The prose is about the same. The dialogue is sharp. The story is about as noir as modern literature can get, and it maintains the same level of brutality of h More...
Apr 20, 2009
Todd
rated it:
At about 2/3 of the way through this book, I altered the review that had already been forming in my head. Until that point, I was thinking that it would end up being my least favorite Huston novel. The main reason for that was a constant shift in the time stream that really didn't add much to the story. It simply made things confusing and hard to follow.
Besides, the story wasn't all that engaging. One characteristic of most of Huston's previous novels was that I could barely put them More...
Besides, the story wasn't all that engaging. One characteristic of most of Huston's previous novels was that I could barely put them More...
Aug 25, 2008
Gary
rated it:
Forget the clichés and superlatives: Charlie Huston is simply the single young writer today with the chops to pick up the slack after the iconoclastic Cormac McCarthy moves on. No rules, no convention, no following the pack with Huston. No political correctness between his pages. But if you haven't experienced the versatility of Huston yet through the Hank Thompson trilogy or the bizarre Joe Pitt duo of "vampyre" novels, you're missing a whole new definition of pop noir, fiction as cyn
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Oct 04, 2010
Spuddie
rated it:
Stand-alone noir about four teenaged boys--brothers George and Andy, and their friends Paul and Hector--each with their own family and personal demons that they try to obliterate with the usual weapons of alcohol, drugs and a concerted effort at appearing not to give a shit about anything. Minor criminals--thieving, smoking weed and drinking, getting by with doing as little schooling as possible, they go up against the Arroyo brothers, big brutes who are more hardened criminals, when their young
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Nov 07, 2007
Anne
rated it:
I don't usually read the endorsement quotes from famous writers that appear on books, but this one caught my eye. It was a blurb from Stephen King about how "unputdownable" this book was. And, I was looking for something in the thriller genre, not necessarily scary, but fast-paced and a little mindless, so I thought this might work. The Shotgun Rule is about four high school friends who pass their days riding their bikes around town, getting high, and figuring out not-so-legal ways to
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Jan 17, 2008
Gregg
rated it:
Another excellent book from Huston, who also shines in his Joe Pitt/vampire private eye series. (No, really!)
Think of this as "Stand By Me" by Steven King on meth. Four aimless boys in small-town California circa 1980 smoke dope, goof off, and avoid looking for summer jobs. They have friends who know people in the local underworld, and soon the boys run afowl of the town's drug lords. Add to this the boys' parents who all have pasts of their own which kicks the polt into h More...
Think of this as "Stand By Me" by Steven King on meth. Four aimless boys in small-town California circa 1980 smoke dope, goof off, and avoid looking for summer jobs. They have friends who know people in the local underworld, and soon the boys run afowl of the town's drug lords. Add to this the boys' parents who all have pasts of their own which kicks the polt into h More...
Nov 15, 2009
Paul
rated it:
Totally visceral coming of age story. Slightly little less gruesome than Steinbeck's The Red Pony. Can be a little difficult to track the dialogue (no dialogue tags or quotation marks, just a dash), but that can be said of any Huston novel. Dig the photorealistic dialogue, but Geezer's asking other characters to help him find the word he's looking for got a little tedious. Still, an easy recommendation for crime fans looking for something quick and brutal.
Jan 18, 2012
Chrissy
rated it:
I had already read two of Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series, which are great vampire stories. But The Shotgun Rule is not about the supernatural. A story about 4 young teenage boys in the early 80's with not a lot to do but get in trouble was super compelling. I couldn't put it down. A few twists I was not expecting. When I was done I really wished there was a book two that chronicled what happened to the kids. A good, fast read.
Oct 09, 2011
Kemosabe
rated it:
Huston’s noir in your face THE SHOTGUN RULE
is satirical, crude, and funny. I was leery to read this because it was about teenyboppers on bicycles but I was captivated soon into it. Getting hooked from the beginning was made harder because it started and stayed with four characters. Still, with Huston’s unique ability I was able to picture and remember the names of each character early on and from there is was off and running .
is satirical, crude, and funny. I was leery to read this because it was about teenyboppers on bicycles but I was captivated soon into it. Getting hooked from the beginning was made harder because it started and stayed with four characters. Still, with Huston’s unique ability I was able to picture and remember the names of each character early on and from there is was off and running .
Dec 28, 2011
matteo
rated it:
Huston writes unlike any other contemporary author I can think of. Kind of like Steig Larsson, sort of: graphic, violent, and a fast read. But Huston's books are shorter. I like that he writes realistic dialogue; you can almost hear the characters saying what he has them say, as opposed to other books where you can't believe a real person would actually say what the book has characters say. This story reminded me of the first couple of Huston books, mainly Caught Stealing and Six Bad Things.
Jun 09, 2009
Charlie
rated it:
Not quite as consistently bracing and blistering as I was hoping for, but still very hard-edged and good. The story lurches suddenly when some mildly hooligan kids being delinquent are mixed up in major-league criminal villainy. The best part is the realism--of characters, dialogue, setting, and behavior alike. It takes a long time to set up that level of believability, so of course it can't be action-packed.
Never been a better book to play 'guess who all is gonna die'. I'm usual More...
Never been a better book to play 'guess who all is gonna die'. I'm usual More...
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Feb 01, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
I was awake until 12:30 am last night. On a school night. I regret it now, but I just couldn't stop reading this adult crime fiction novel until I was satisfied. Here's the thing: I dislike novels where humanity disappoints me. I just can't imagine people living in a world like the one portrayed in this novel. Everything is so dark, gritty, evil, and depressing.[return][return]Four teenage boys in northern California (seemed like downtown LA or something to me) live a rough life. And they make i
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Feb 12, 2009
Nancy
rated it:
Sort of like "Stand by Me," if "Stand by Me" turned brutal. Atmospheric and clean writing. It's not the sort of thing I usually read, and I probably liked it all the more because of that--I was completely drawn in when I expected to limp through it a little. I'll be picking up more of Huston's stuff.
