Charlie Swift just pumped three .38-caliber bullets into a dead polar bear in his taxidermist girlfriend’s garage. But he’s a gun monke...
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reviews
Aug 10, 2010
David
rated it: 
Hired Mob muscle. That's all Charlie Swift was good for. He worked in Florida, solving problems for his boss, Stan. Problems were sometimes solved with threats and sometimes with dead bodies.
Stan asks Charlie to pay careful attention when he mets with another mob boss. Charlie is sub-contracted out to go and find a briefcase and then gets in a huge shootout. From there, all goes downhill for Charlie as he finds himself caught in a mess involving the F.B.I. and a rival syndicat More...
Stan asks Charlie to pay careful attention when he mets with another mob boss. Charlie is sub-contracted out to go and find a briefcase and then gets in a huge shootout. From there, all goes downhill for Charlie as he finds himself caught in a mess involving the F.B.I. and a rival syndicat More...
Dec 22, 2011
John
rated it: 
Extremely violent noir novel but it never alienates you as even though lead character, Charlie Swift, is muscle for the local mob in Orlando with all that entails he still comes across as a likeable character as he wants to find his boss who's disappeared, get his kid brother to go to university rather than follow home into a life of crime, protect his mother and new girlfriend - all this while avoiding the FBI, corrupt ex-FBI agents and the muscle sent in by the big mob boss in Florida to clean
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Aug 09, 2011
Kara
rated it:
Charlie Swift is a gun monkey, hired muscle for an old mobster named Stan who runs Orlando. Charlie knows he’s a bad guy and just accepts it as his lot in life because of his skills with his fists and a gun. He lives by a strict code of honor: when you throw your lot in with a guy, you stick; otherwise you’re just an animal. That’s why when things suddenly go bad, Stan disappears, and Charlie’s friends are murdered, Charlie, a guy who’d trained himself to unquestioningly take orders, suddenl
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Feb 12, 2011
Rob
rated it: 
As a noir novel this book was OK. I saw where this was going and that didn't help the so-so writing skills of the author. I wasn't surprised that the author also writes comic books. I think he was hoping to emulate Elmore Leonard or some such, but misses that by a few lightyears. The characters are pretty typical and lack significant depth, much like in the comic books. In the comics, the artist makes up for much of the narrative.
What makes this book standout for me are the Florida loc More...
What makes this book standout for me are the Florida loc More...
Jan 10, 2010
Eric_W
rated it:
Here's the first sentence of the book: ""I turned the Chrysler onto the Florida Turnpike with Rollo Kramer's headless body in the trunk, and all the time I'm thinking I should've put some plastic down." That does get your attention.
Picture, if you will, Carl Hiaasen, Robert Parker, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson all rolled into one and you have a fair approximation of Victor Gishler's Gun Monkeys. Caught in the middle of a war for control of Orlando's lucrative cr More...
Picture, if you will, Carl Hiaasen, Robert Parker, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson all rolled into one and you have a fair approximation of Victor Gishler's Gun Monkeys. Caught in the middle of a war for control of Orlando's lucrative cr More...
Apr 09, 2010
Felicia
rated it:
Love this author. This book was not as totally fabulastic as Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse, but it wasn't bad. I have never read this type of "pulp fiction"esqe book before, but it reminded me a lot of Pulp Fiction. In a a good way, not in a totally-stole-the-plotline way. But the funny thing is that Charlie, the protagonist, is a really bad guy. He's a thug, a wiseguy, a murderer, and yet you can't help but root for him.
I love Gischler's writing style and some of the t More...
I love Gischler's writing style and some of the t More...
Sep 16, 2011
Jeff
rated it:
Wow, what a great first novel. Victor has proven himself a worthy successor to Donald Westlake in his Freshman year. This book was pretty damn near perfect and very reminiscent of Westlake's more humorous novels from the 1960s such as Somebody Owes Me Money with a the body count of a Parker novel.
In fact, the character of Charlie Swift, owes a lot to the Parker novels. He's like a young Parker, though not quite as smart or experienced. He makes a lot of the kind of dumb mistakes that More...
In fact, the character of Charlie Swift, owes a lot to the Parker novels. He's like a young Parker, though not quite as smart or experienced. He makes a lot of the kind of dumb mistakes that More...
Jan 06, 2011
Stina
rated it:
Quite the body count! First-person accounts of the adventures of a mob enforcer whose life is rapidly falling apart are not the sort of thing I read frequently. But I'd read some of Vic's short fiction and thought it was well done, so I decided to try a novel-length dose of his violent, gritty noir style. It helps that gun monkey Charlie Swift has an old-fashioned sense of loyalty and a wry sense of humor that were sufficient to endear him to me even as he piled up corpses at every turn.
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Aug 25, 2008
Gary
rated it: 
A Trifecta of Bullets, Blood, and Sex
Charlie Swift is a hit man for the mob, an unrepentant career criminal who views his grisly vocation with detached practicality. As a former Army Ranger, killing is simply what he was trained to do. And killing is what he does, stacking up the corpes across central Florida's seamiest strip malls and strip joints as he tries to extract himself from a rival gang's setup, dodging some less-than-scrupulous G-men while trying to find his gangster boss More...
Charlie Swift is a hit man for the mob, an unrepentant career criminal who views his grisly vocation with detached practicality. As a former Army Ranger, killing is simply what he was trained to do. And killing is what he does, stacking up the corpes across central Florida's seamiest strip malls and strip joints as he tries to extract himself from a rival gang's setup, dodging some less-than-scrupulous G-men while trying to find his gangster boss More...
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Jul 12, 2008
Hood
rated it:
http://therealjohnhood.com/bookem/pulpin...
Pulp In A Hard Place
Picture, if you will, a good bad guy. Not just a guy who's good at being bad, but an honest to goodness bad guy, a bad guy who retains, through all his badness, a certain set of good principles. A Lone Ranger in a black hat.
Charlie Swift is that bad guy. Damn good at being very bad (some would even say evil, but to me that's in the eye of the beholder), he also has a few scruples. In other words, through More...
Pulp In A Hard Place
Picture, if you will, a good bad guy. Not just a guy who's good at being bad, but an honest to goodness bad guy, a bad guy who retains, through all his badness, a certain set of good principles. A Lone Ranger in a black hat.
Charlie Swift is that bad guy. Damn good at being very bad (some would even say evil, but to me that's in the eye of the beholder), he also has a few scruples. In other words, through More...
Mar 27, 2011
Julia
rated it:
I was a new author. Fresh, young, innocent and, yes, a bit naive. Then I picked up Gun Monkeys and, well, Victor Gischler showed me just how great it could be. Picture Hunter S. Thompson on a good acid trip writing hysterical noir. Nope, doesn't come close to Victor. We've both moved on, but I'll always be grateful to him for showing me what really great crime fiction can be in the hands of a master. Read him. He's delightful, dark, and different. And oh-so gentle.
Feb 04, 2011
Dale
rated it:
Vic (can I call him Vic? I've read enough of his books, I think it's okay) hits a home run in this first novel. I am coming to this after reading the most recent three novels he wrote, but found this to be a great hard boiled old school gangster tale. Fast paced, a definite one-sitting read.
Oct 09, 2010
Mark
rated it:
A great debut novel chronicling the (mis-)adventures of a mob gunman. Charlie Swift tries to protect his boss and figure out what is going on with some paperwork that is wanted by a rival mob leader, the FBI, and corrupt FBI. The violence becomes unrealistic quickly, but the book is an enjoyable read and there is something exceedingly likeable about its narrator Charlie. Reminiscent of the ICE HARVEST with its dark humor.
Jul 19, 2010
Mike
rated it:
Great read. Plenty of action and written in a very lean, engaging style. The action slows a bit in the middle while the main character searches for someone, but the book goes out with a bang. I'll definitely have to check out more Gischler.
Jun 28, 2011
Steve
rated it:
Criminal Fiction done right. I picked this book up after reading Dennis Lehane and was kinda blown away by how good it was. It pulled me in like a Tarantino or a Guy Ritchie Movie. Good fun and a good read.
Sep 05, 2010
David
rated it:
A very standard piece of Noir fiction with a few flashes of humour....not a send-up of Noir...Gischler plays it too straight in this book for that. Okay...but nothing special.
Oct 02, 2009
Amy
rated it:
I knew this guy in college so I'm a bit biased. Great book and a fast read! It had a lot of elements I craze in stories: murder, mayhem, Florida.
Apr 27, 2010
Sean
rated it:
This is one of those authors I just pick up without looking at the subject matter. Whatever the book is about I know I am going to like it.
Dec 13, 2009
Lee
rated it:
A wild,hilarious romp through Florida. Non-stop action & laughs. Edgar nominee for first novel.
Jan 12, 2012
Frederick
rated it:
Pretty cool book. May not make my list of favorites but it's a cool stab you in the back mobster mystery. I have many more Victor Gischler books on my to-read shelf, one of which I already own. I look forward to reading them all.
Nov 11, 2007
Mikhail
rated it:
This might be my favorite pulp book. It was a VERY fun read that didn't become victim to the pitfall of cliches, which a lot of pulp noir books do these days. There are too many pulp books calling themselves homages these days, and I understand that pulp books need a certain mood and writing to be considered pulp, but when books begin to just reiterate ideas from the past as "homages" that's where I get annoyed. This book, fortunately, veered away from that.
Jul 13, 2011
James
rated it:
I do not know why it took me so long to read this book. It was excellent. A hardboiled masterpiece. Gischler kicks crime fictions ass with this one folks. I will be reading a lot mor of his writing in the very near future.
May 25, 2010
Nancy
rated it:
A gun monkey is a hit man or hired gun - in this case, Charlie Swift is a gun monkey for the head of organized crime in Orlando. This is not your tourist Orlando - this is a side of Orlando that visitors never see. Gory, funny, well-written.
Jan 08, 2008
Mimi
rated it:
Really more like two and half, two and three quarters. The plot sagged fairly quickly but it had a LOT of funny lines and really knew its genre well.
Sep 25, 2011
Camilla
rated it:
The literary equivalent to rough sex. Heavy hitting from page one to the last page.
