Choke Hold (Hard Case Crime, #104)

Feb 01, 2012 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-mystery, hard-case-crime, s-e-x, sports, bouchercon, signed-by-author

Yet another 2011 Bouchercon story about how Kemper-Met-An-Author….

Christa Faust was one of the speakers at a panel on sex and violence that was being held later than any other discussions, but there’d been some kind of snafu and the room wasn’t set up ahead of time. It was Miss Faust who took charge, ascertained that somebody had screwed the pooch, led the effort to commandeer another room, and essentially had moved everyone down the hall and got the whole thing going within about ten minutes. A...more Yet another 2011 Bouchercon story about how Kemper-Met-An-Author….

Christa Faust was one of the speakers at a panel on sex and violence that was being held later than any other discussions, but there’d been some kind of snafu and the room wasn’t set up ahead of time. It was Miss Faust who took charge, ascertained that somebody had screwed the pooch, led the effort to commandeer another room, and essentially had moved everyone down the hall and got the whole thing going within about ten minutes. And she did all of this while wearing a dress tight enough to kill most mortals. After watching her in action, I was pretty sure that if zombies had burst into the convention hall, Miss Faust would have whipped off her high heels to use as skull impaling weapons against the undead and led us all to safety.

The next day, she walked up while I was chatting with another author to see if he’d be attending her next panel about fighting sports like boxing and crime fiction. When I asked if there would be actual fighting at the panel, she launched into an imitation of a professional wrestler ranting about all the ways she was going to destroy everyone in the room.

Later on, Dan had accompanied me to get some books signed by her, and she admired the Hard Case Crime shirt he was wearing while showing off her own HCC tattoo, and then she did a hilarious bit about how she’d been forbidden from using the profanity she wanted in the Supernatural tie-in novel she’d done.

In other words, Christa Faust is the shit.

And by the way, she writes a pretty mean hard boiled crime novel, too.

In her previous HCC book Money Shot we met Angel Dare, a retired porn star who was now an agent for others in the adult entertainment industry. Poor Angel got mixed up with some very bad people, and the ensuing events left her life in ruins. Now she’s hiding out and working in a diner under an assumed name in Arizona. Angel gets a shock when a former boyfriend and fellow veteran of the porn industry Thick Vic walks in. A few minutes later she gets an even bigger surprise when a gunfight breaks out in the diner.

Angel ends up on the run with Vic’s son Cody as they flee from a local gangster. Cody is a mixed martial arts fighter whose big break is waiting for him in Vegas in a few days if he can make it there alive. Along with Cody’s trainer, a punch drunk former fighter, Angel will have to confront some very dangerous men as well as her own past.

Angel is a unique character to base a crime novel around. As a former porn star, she wields her body as an asset to be used, and seemingly doesn’t let trading sex for favors bother her. However, she also uses the sex as a way of distancing herself from her own emotions. She’s tough and capable, but she’s not an ass kicking super woman.

The plot doesn’t end up anywhere near where I thought it was going, and I was genuinely surprised by the ending. Christa Faust doesn’t pull her punches, and Angel’s story here is as painful and brutal as a swift jab to the nose.(less)

like 31 likes · see review

Oct 17, 2011 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, crime-fiction, hard-case, face-to-fist-sports, girls-girls-girls

I've admired and shelved them since they first debuted, but only now have I popped my Hard Case Crime cherry. I'd held off for so long, one reason because I thought that the covers would be better than the story, and because they are numbered and it's possible once I started to read them I'd feel obligated to read them all. I don't know why the latter would be the case, I read New Directions books and don't feel the need to read each one, even though they are numbered, but maybe it's because the...more I've admired and shelved them since they first debuted, but only now have I popped my Hard Case Crime cherry. I'd held off for so long, one reason because I thought that the covers would be better than the story, and because they are numbered and it's possible once I started to read them I'd feel obligated to read them all. I don't know why the latter would be the case, I read New Directions books and don't feel the need to read each one, even though they are numbered, but maybe it's because the Hard Case Crime novels are pulpy and can probably be read like candy. Yeah, I held off fearing reading one would mean having to read (at the time I made my decision 30-something books) sixty-something plus books.

But then one had to be MMA based, and then it had to be not available for interlibrary loan from the Queens Public Library, so I broke down and bought it, one because I'm a sucker, and because for the first weekend in awhile and for the first weekend in the next month or so there isn't a UFC or Strikeforce event to watch, and it would be a total waste of a weekend if I could only watch two hours of Bellator and then do something better with my time than watch / read about grown men beating the snot out of each other. At least I didn't decide the void in my weekend needed to be filled with, say, Let's Get it On! the memoir of UFC referee "Big" John McCarthy. A crime novel is a step above reading something like that, right?

The novel opens with a pretty devastating jab, the kind that would just flatten out someone's nose and have them leaking blood and breathing through their mouth, and continues in a relentless combination that ends with knock-out one two combo of something like a flying knee to spinning back-fist: over the top, showy and lacking in subtlety but getting the job down in a spectacular fashion.

Oh fuck that last sentence was fucking lame. See what an ass I'll make myself sound like just to avoid doing a book report part of a review?

The book's about a former porn star (this is the second book featuring her, I didn't read the other one, but I think enough back story was filled in so I get the gist of the earlier book, I'm not sure if I will go back and read the first novel) who gets entangled with a couple of MMA fighters because of a shared problem of various people trying to catch and do bad things to them. The three go on an adventure through the American Southwest and Northern Mexico and lots of violent and adult things happen. How is that for a book report.

Oh, and Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz gets made fun of. He's the only real-life MMA person who shows up in the book (he's not named but there aren't any other professional fighters married to Jenna Jameson), I made some guesses about who other characters were based on, but I highly doubt this is supposed to be read as a roman a clef.
(less)

like 14 likes · see review

Feb 18, 2013 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To say I devoured this novel might be a bit of understatement. To say I enjoyed it might be a bit of an understatement as well. Needless to say, Angel Dare is the shit, and I can't seem to get enough of her. Literally. For me it's all about the characters, and CHOKE HOLD has more than its share of interesting individuals. Angel and her posse practically pop off the page, and along the way, she more than delivered on a few surprises.

Christa Faust certainly seems to have a friend or two in the por...more

like 3 likes · see review

Jul 02, 2011 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Author Christa Faust jumps right into the action on this one. Angel Dare is working as a waitress in a small diner when on old boyfriend, and co-star from her porn star days, walks in, recognizing her. Thick Vic Ventura reveals he's there to meet his son, who he's never seen, It turns out to be the tattooed eighteen year old boy sitting in the corner. Vic is suddenly shy and Angel encourages him to talk to the kid.

Three Mexican gangbangers walk in as he's headed to the boy's booth, turning as he...more Author Christa Faust jumps right into the action on this one. Angel Dare is working as a waitress in a small diner when on old boyfriend, and co-star from her porn star days, walks in, recognizing her. Thick Vic Ventura reveals he's there to meet his son, who he's never seen, It turns out to be the tattooed eighteen year old boy sitting in the corner. Vic is suddenly shy and Angel encourages him to talk to the kid.

Three Mexican gangbangers walk in as he's headed to the boy's booth, turning as he passes, pulling guns and shooting him in the back. The owner of the diner pulls a shotgun and opens up. Angel, Vic, and the kid end up behind the counter huddling from the bullets flying. By the time it's over, the three of them had worked out the back door and around to Vic's car, an old beater, and fled down the highway, pursued by the surviving Mexican.

They manage to give him the slip and Vic dies, though not before getting a promise from Angel to look after the boy.

We start to get a little back story then. Angel had testified against the Croatian running the sex slave trade of middle European girls(from Money Shot) and gone into witness protection. That lasted about a year before the surviving Croatian found her and sent her on the run again. She was working in the diner while waiting for a passport with a new identity to be readied when the gun battle broke out.

The kid was Cody Noon and he had visions of being a Mixed Martial Arts fighter. He certainly had the build. He was headed to Las Vegas to get on a reality show where the winner gets a contract with one of the MMA organizations.

But first they had to deal with killers, both Angel's set and these Mexican variety, who sent them?, not to mention a slimy little cretin who wanted Cody fighting in Mexico. They head for Cody's friend place, Hank, an old MMA fighter long past his prime, a bit punchy, but the only father figure the boy had ever known.

A chase through the Arizona desert, into and out of Mexico, all the way to Vegas, guns blazing, always just a half step ahead of two three sets of killers. Faust knows how to write action scenes. It kept me turning the pages until I could figure what was going on.

Five stars. This one due from Hard case Crime in October. (less)

like 2 likes · see review

Jul 03, 2012 Nicholas Ahlhelm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Christa Faust knows pulp. Her first novel for Hard Case Crime, Money Shot, was a spicy pulp updated for a twenty-first century audience. The sequel to that novel continues the spicy pulp styling of that book while also adding a bit of classic sports pulp tradition as well.

As Choke Hold begins, Faust reintroduces porn star turned talent agent turned vigilante Angel Dare very quickly. It’s important, because within pages she’s back on the run with the son of a former co-star. Cody is a young MMA...more Christa Faust knows pulp. Her first novel for Hard Case Crime, Money Shot, was a spicy pulp updated for a twenty-first century audience. The sequel to that novel continues the spicy pulp styling of that book while also adding a bit of classic sports pulp tradition as well.

As Choke Hold begins, Faust reintroduces porn star turned talent agent turned vigilante Angel Dare very quickly. It’s important, because within pages she’s back on the run with the son of a former co-star. Cody is a young MMA fighter on the rise, but he’s in with the wrong people. His trainer Hank is in bed with the same criminal group that promotes the local fights in the area.

Angel quickly ends up with both men on the run from the criminal cartel as well as a pair of Croatian assassins bent on killing Angel. Plus a third enemy lurks in the shadows, responsible for the dangers and murders that rip through the fast paced novel.

Angel’s first person narration carries tons of emotional wait without ever slowing the narrative. The book moves at a relentless pace. It moves flawlessly between one action set piece to the next with wild abandon but perfect storytelling.

Ultimately the tale wraps up in Las Vegas as Angel, Hank and Cody try to get the young MMA fighter on a fictionalized version of The Ultimate Fighter. Things don’t go quite as planned though and a lot more blood is shed before book’s end.

Sex and violence are well on display in the novel, perhaps giving it a bit harder edge than classic pulp fiction. But Faust never lets it overwhelm the book. Instead Angel makes her way through her actions rationally, even when they might not be for the best.

The book’s only real weakness is a rather open ending. With this being the sequel to Money Shot, it ends on a note that seems to make it clear that Faust wants to make this a trilogy. While the reader gets an ending of sorts, it is one that leaves an obvious need for her to continue Angel Dare’s tale.

Choke Hold is now available for $9.99 in trade paperback format.(less)

like · see review

Mar 31, 2012 Tim Pendry rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, literature-general, north-american, popular-culture, sexuality-erotica

This contemporary noir is unusual for taking the traditional form (think Mickey Spillane) from the perspective of a hard-boiled female - a sex worker uncomfortable with intimacy but as tough as they come and capable of looking after herself.

Faust writes well and there is an underlying authenticity to her work but, ultimately, not much happens and what happens is a little predictable.

There is a villain who reminds one of a counterpart in 'No Country for Old Men' and a scene of sadism near the end...more

like · see review

Jan 31, 2012 Tim Mayer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Angel Dare returns in this sequel to Christa Faust's Money Shot. The previous book was a hell-ride. The new one takes the reader on another burning episode in the life of Angel Dare, former adult movie star and now in the federal witness protection plan. At the conclusion of Money Shot, Angel had just unleashed a pack of Eastern European girls on the international gangster who'd sold them into sexual slavery. It was a bleak end after she'd taken out revenge on the punks who left her for dead. Ch...more Angel Dare returns in this sequel to Christa Faust's Money Shot. The previous book was a hell-ride. The new one takes the reader on another burning episode in the life of Angel Dare, former adult movie star and now in the federal witness protection plan. At the conclusion of Money Shot, Angel had just unleashed a pack of Eastern European girls on the international gangster who'd sold them into sexual slavery. It was a bleak end after she'd taken out revenge on the punks who left her for dead. Choke Hold picks up nearly a year later.

Angel is waitressing at a cheap diner near the Arizona-Mexico boarder when one of her former co-stars and boyfriends, Thick Vic, walks in the door. A former drug addict, he's cleaned up his act and is now trying to reconnect with the son he hardly knew. But in the first chapter a gun battle erupts when gangsters come looking for Vic. Pretty soon they're after Angel too. Once again she has to flee into the night.

Angel finds herself on the run with Vic's son Cody. They're forced to get help any way they can. The first assistance comes in the form of Hank, Cody's surrogate dad and a has-been Mixed Martial Arts fighter. Hank lives out in the desert by himself, teaches at a hole-in-the-wall dojo and is on parole for an assault charge. To make matters worse, Hank is punch drunk and on medication from all the years of head shots. But Hank is the only person who can help Angel and Cody.

The action is relentless in this book. Just when you think a moment is going to get tender, somebody smashes in the door. There are at least two sets of criminals after Angel and maybe more. As with Money Shot, the only person who comes out looking good in this book is Angel. Everybody else is damaged goods.

Damage seems to be an over-riding theme in Choke Hold. Hank was once a famous fighter, now he goes across the boarder to fight in illegal matches in Mexico. Angel survived an abusive father to start her own talent agency in California, but she's on the run from gangsters. One of her contacts is a survivalist who treats his teenage wife as a slave. In this novel, the only way to repair the damage is to survive the beatings.

As always, Faust has a way with describing people, places and things. Such as to how she describes the survivalist network which consists of "perpetual teenagers living out their own personal late-’80s post-apocalyptic movie fantasies". Or this extreme pornographer: "Always pushing the limits, flogging the freedom of speech routine till it bled, but underneath all the self-important oppressed genius bluster, the truth was that his stuff just wasn't very good.". Or her similarities of the adult film world to professional fighting: "Young men fighting to become this ultimate over-the-top expression of manhood. Young female porn stars striving to become the ultimate expression of feminine allure.".

The resolution of the novel is bleak, but I've come to expect it from Faust. In her world you have to be strong to survive and it helps if you don't care. Angel cares, although she runs when she must. Which is what makes this and the prequel such powerful books. Even the brief sexual encounters in Choke Hold exist to allow the characters the energy to survive another day.

This novel is a gripping read. I zipped through it in less than a day and was trying to cook dinner with hand while reading Choke Hold in another. Ms. Faust is at the top of her game and we can only look for more trophies.(less)

like 5 likes · see review

Nov 19, 2011 Tim Niland rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

Former adult film star turned vigilante Angel Dare is hiding out working in a small greasy spoon diner in Yuma, Arizona, after being busted out of the witness protection program by the very gangsters she tried to put away in the previous novel, Money Shot. When she has a chance encounter with a former lover and his estranged son, in the diner. Before they have a chance to get properly reacquainted, killers burst into the room with a hail of gunfire. Angel’s ex-beau takes a mortal hit and makes a...more

like 1 like · see review

Oct 24, 2011 James Thane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: noir, classic-pulp, crime-fiction

Angel Dare, the protagonist of Christa Faust's first novel Money Shot, returns in her second outing. As the book opens, Angel is on the run from some very bad characters after she helped authorities break up a sex slavery ring. She's working under an assumed name at a diner in the middle of nowhere, when she's discovered by a former co-star from her days as a major porn star.

Angel hardly has a chance to say hello before a couple of thugs show up and kill her old friend. Just before the guy dies...more

like 11 likes · see review

Oct 23, 2011 Jennifer Thomson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Here's an extract from the review I did for Shadowlocked.com. You can read the full version at http://www.shadowlocked.com/201107262...

Choke Hold is the gritty tale of former adult movie star Angel, who’s hiding out under the Federal Witness Protection Plan in some rundown diner, when trouble comes walking through the door, carrying some serious fire power. Before she knows it, she’s running for her life along with Cody, the 18-year-old son of her former lover, a hot-headed, MMA (Mixed Martial...more

like · see review

Oct 20, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Christa Faust's newest opus illustrates the old hard-boiled/noir dictum that things will go to hell in a hurry, and then go downhill from there.

Former porn star Angel Dare is lying low (so to speak) in the Witness Protection program after testifying against human traffickers when "Thick Vic," one of her old co-stars, is gunned down right in front of her. Angel agrees to take care of the dying man's son, who hopes to land a gig in fighting after being promised an audition in Las Vegas. Unfortuna...more

like 2 likes · see review

Jul 06, 2012 Ken rated it 3 of 5 stars

MONEY SHOT is the first novel of this series, and CHOKE HOLD is the second, and they both feature the harrowing and melodramatic adventures of ex-porn star, Angel Dare. In this novel she's left The Witness Protection Program, and is waitressing in Yuma, AZ and waiting for a new set of ID to be made. One afternoon, out of the blue, 'Thick Vic' Ventura shows up at the diner accompanied by his eighteen year old son, Cody. Vic worked in the Adult Film Industry with Angel, and is is a recovering Meth...more

like · see review

Mar 11, 2012 Wayne Simmons rated it 4 of 5 stars

The blurb:

Angel Dare went into Witness Protection to escape her past—not as a porn star, but as a killer who took down the sex slavery ring that destroyed her life. But sometimes the past just won’t stay buried. When a former co-star is murdered, it’s up to Angel to get his son, a hotheaded MMA fighter, safely through the unforgiving Arizona desert, shady Mexican bordertowns, and the seductive neon mirage of Las Vegas...

So, was it any good?

Hell yeah. But that comes as no surprise to regulars at...more The blurb:

Angel Dare went into Witness Protection to escape her past—not as a porn star, but as a killer who took down the sex slavery ring that destroyed her life. But sometimes the past just won’t stay buried. When a former co-star is murdered, it’s up to Angel to get his son, a hotheaded MMA fighter, safely through the unforgiving Arizona desert, shady Mexican bordertowns, and the seductive neon mirage of Las Vegas...

So, was it any good?

Hell yeah. But that comes as no surprise to regulars at the blog: I’m always rabbiting on about its predecessor, 2009’s MONEY SHOT. It was one of the first Hard Case Crime novels I read and remains my favourite. CHOKE HOLD is a brilliant sequel.

The book sees the return of sassy porn-star, Angel Dare. Following the events of MONEY SHOT, and a bad spell in Witness Protection, Dare is on the run, using tall tales and hot lips to keep one step ahead of the bad guys. But a random encounter with ex-lover and fellow porn star, Thick Vic Ventura leaves Angel in the shit again, dragged into a cat-and-mouse game to keep Vic’s son and MMA wannabe out of harm’s way.

Angel Dare is definitely one of the hottest dates you can have with a crime book. Her narration is sharp; at times poignant, at other times laugh-out-loud hilarious. Her co-stars at first seem as ludicrously outrageous as Dare herself, until you dig beneath the surface: for all its glorious filth, CHOKE HOLD remains a grounded and undeniably accessible read.

For me, this is the strength of Faust’s storytelling: with lesser writers you get either escapist fantasy or real life grit and grime. With Faust you get both: as high-jinxed as Angel Dare’s adventures can be, she remains a strong, well-rounded and believable character.

CHOKE HOLD is a stand-out thriller and cracking return for fan-favourite, Angel Dare. It screams movie deal so loud that every director on the planet should hear. Let’s just hope Rodriquez and Tarantino are listening.

Original review: www.waynesimmons.org (less)

like · see review

Sep 22, 2011 Thomas Pluck rated it 5 of 5 stars

You look at the cover and you see a sexy woman, a pretty face. You make judgments as to the depths of character. And you're wrong, because this girl has heart that pounds harder than a prizefighter's. I jumped into Angel Dare's story in the second entry, and you can easily follow her violent past if you haven't yet read Money Shot, the first one. Angel has done terrible things in the name of justice, and none of it has been clean. It's left her a wounded animal tracked by vicious predators. She'...more

like · see review

Sep 27, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery-crime-fiction-thriller, bouchercon-2011, 2011-read

A former lover of Angel Dare's walks into a diner where she's working until she can arrange a new identity and embroils her in a new set of complications. Angel's already hiding out from Croatian criminals that she fell afoul of in Faust's first Angel Dare novel, MONEY SHOT.

Angel's ex-lover, Vic, is meeting his 18-year old son, Cody, and when Vic is gunned down in the diner, he extracts a promise from Angel that she'll look out for Cody.

Cody is determined to compete to become a fighter in a Las...more

like · see review

Jan 09, 2012 Lars rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

I was pleased to hear that Christa Faust was writing another book after her terrific debut with 'Money Shot'. The novel continues the story of tough Angel Dare, a former porn star who fought her personal vendetta in the first book. Despite being on the run herself now, she promises an old friend to protect his son, an aspiring martial arts figther who got in conflict with shady criminals. While she is trying to save his ass, her own past catches up and brings her and her charge to a grand, viole...more

like · see review

Jan 22, 2012 Dave rated it 5 of 5 stars

The desire for revenge can be a powerful one. Especially if those that wronged you take almost everything away from you. In Christa Faust’s 2008 novel “Money Shot” readers got to see an ex-porn star named Angel Dare get her revenge on a group of criminals that beat her, raped her and left her for dead. It was a very powerful and captivating novel. I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, but in the end Angel got her revenge and on a visceral level it was pretty exciting to read about. What happens...more The desire for revenge can be a powerful one. Especially if those that wronged you take almost everything away from you. In Christa Faust’s 2008 novel “Money Shot” readers got to see an ex-porn star named Angel Dare get her revenge on a group of criminals that beat her, raped her and left her for dead. It was a very powerful and captivating novel. I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, but in the end Angel got her revenge and on a visceral level it was pretty exciting to read about. What happens after you gain your revenge though? How does it affect you on emotional and psychological level? And what kind of life awaits you after you complete your long bloody journey to revenge? In her latest novel “Choke Hold,” Faust brings Angel Dare back to answer those questions and more. The result is a fast paced, compelling, and ultimately haunting read.

Like “Money Shot,” “Choke Hold” is also a first person narrative from Angel Dare’s point of view.. Angel is a great character with a very interesting perspective. She’s also a very human character and easy to identify with. If “Choke Hold” is your first time meeting Angel you’ll be rooting for her in just a couple of pages, and if you read “Money Shot” you know what I mean and will be happy to reunite with the character in this novel.

In “Choke Hold” Angel is still the same character we know and love. She still has her sense of humor and interesting perspective from her former profession, but she’s quite haunted by what she sacrificed to get her revenge in the previous novel. She’s mourning what she lost of herself.

When the novel begins she’s doing that mourning incognito in a diner in Arizona. The reasons aren’t quite clear at first, but that’s okay because Angel doesn’t have time to explain herself. She’s caught off guard by a former boyfriend who recognizes her. Minutes later that boyfriend is gunned down and Angel is escaping a firefight with the son her lover never knew he had. With his dying breath Angel’s former lover asks her to look after his son.

So Angel has a purpose once again and she sets out fulfill it. Fulfilling that purpose means getting her ex-lover’s son, Cody, to Las Vegas where he has a shot at a television show that would launch his career in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. To get him there Angel will have to navigate a world of underground fighting run by a drug dealing mobster while trying to steer clear of the Croatian gangsters who are hunting her because of what she did in “Money Shot.”

One of the best things about journeying with Angel through this world is the characters she meets. Faust populates “Choke Hold” with an eclectic cast of extremely interesting characters. There are memorable minor characters like a forger that is trying to become a painter and major ones like my favorite supporting character in the book Hank “The Hammer” Hammond. Hank is Cody’s teacher and an expert fighter who’s taken one too many head shots. He’s a larger than life character who made a lot of bad choices in his past, but is trying hard to be good and noble. Faust does an amazing job with the character. In every scene he’s in you get a sense of what kind of life he’s lead and his inherent nobility is pretty moving.

Faust also does a great job pacing the action in “Choke Hold.” The book opens with a burst of violence and you’re off running with the characters. Things slow down occasionally to let you catch your breath and offer up compelling character or plot details, but then you’re off and running again. The action scenes in Las Vegas are especially compelling as Angel, Cody, and Hank desperately try to escape the many enemies that are out for their blood.

Then comes the ending. Again, I don’t like to give spoilers, so all I’ll say is it’s a bloody, haunting, and powerful one. The last chapter especially left me pretty mesmerized.

So “Choke Hold” was a hell of a read. I thought Faust set the bar pretty high with “Money Shot,” but “Choke Hold” is even better. It definitely left me wanting more. So I eagerly await Faust’s next crime novel.
Like
(less)

like · see review

Oct 12, 2011 Bracken rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love this book. Christa Faust did the thing that I LOVE to see the most in serial story-telling: she gave real lasting consequences to the violence from the first Angel Dare story. Where in Money Shot, she's a self-assured well-composed person (for most of the story), in this book, she's still coping with the violence that was done to her and that was done by her. She's not quite completely broken, but her world is definitely cracked and she's not as in control as she used to be (in or out of...more

like 3 likes · see review

Jan 30, 2012 Chloë Yates rated it 5 of 5 stars

I should know better than to pick up a Christa Faust novel when I have stuff to do! Choke Hold did not disappoint. Hard, fast, balls out story, with characters so well written you can smell them, and an ending ... well, I'll leave you to see what it does to you. I often wonder why Christa Faust isn't a househould name. She writes like a dream (albeit a dream that has you waking up in a sweat and reaching for the baseball bat under the bed, just in case those armed miscreants really are about to...more

like · see review

Oct 26, 2012 Gef rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, mystery

After I was thoroughly entertained last year by Christa Faust's novel, Money Shot, I made it a point to put its followup on my to-be-read pile. Choke Hold definitely carries on with the indomitable porn star, Angel Dare, but she is--for lack of a better term--damaged goods. And where the mixture of fear and defiance played out to great effect in Money Shot, this novel shows that there were dire consequences to her actions and she's a long way off from what she once thought of as a normal life.

An...more After I was thoroughly entertained last year by Christa Faust's novel, Money Shot, I made it a point to put its followup on my to-be-read pile. Choke Hold definitely carries on with the indomitable porn star, Angel Dare, but she is--for lack of a better term--damaged goods. And where the mixture of fear and defiance played out to great effect in Money Shot, this novel shows that there were dire consequences to her actions and she's a long way off from what she once thought of as a normal life.

Angel is reduced to living on the run, her witness relocation blowing up in her face, and now laying low as a waitress in Arizona. As if now a magnet for bad luck, one of her old flames wanders into the diner, but not to see her. He's there to meet his eighteen-year-old son for the first time. But before father and son can have a Hallmark moment, three very mean men with even meaner hardware show up. A showdown ensues and Angel finds herself on the run with her former lover dying in the backseat, giving her word she'll keep Cody, his eighteen-year-old son, safe. From there, Angel's life is swept into Cody's world of mixed-martial arts, underground pitfights, and a whole new batch of unsavory men out to exploit the young man.

There is this salacious element to Angel Dare that kind of acts as a hook. After breaking up a sex slave ring in L.A., her life fell apart at the seams and she's been doing all she can just to stay alive without the associates of those she brought down making her pay a terrible price. The porn industry seems almost utopian compared to the quagmire she is in at the start of this book--and it only seems to get worse for her. I had moments reading this where I wondered aloud why she was standing by this kid, despite the tenuous relationship she had with his father. I guess her resolve and moral obligation via the man's dying request kept her going, but it felt like it strained credulity at a couple spots. Still, it was riveting stuff, as Cody's life seemed to spin out of control like hers had in the previous novel.

Seeing the evolution of Angel's character was a treat, and it felt very genuine given her circumstances. An added bonus was the budding romance with Cody's mentor, Hank, a kindhearted lummox long past his prime in the ring whose body--and mind--is banged up to a point that feels utterly tragic. He's a bit of a mother hen to Cody, but Cody has to look after Hank too, as Angel gradually sees past the muscles and bravado to the fragility and broken dreams of both men.

While I'd be happy to spoil the ending of this book, I'll refrain and simply say that this is a gutwrenching and visceral sequel to Money Shot with all the action I was expecting and a whole lot more that I was not. If Christa Faust has another Angel Dare novel up her sleeve, I can't wait to read it.(less)

like · see review

Feb 11, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like 2 likes · see review

Mar 26, 2013 Amy Scissors rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2013

I wish Angel Dare had her own series! In this sequel, Angel continues her badassery, on the run from some of the bad guys from the previous novel, and some new ones too. Faust is an excellent writer: good pacing, dialogue, and characters make this an enjoyable read. She draws on the best aspects of the noir genre to create a novel that feels very retro-modern. The action was awesome in a similar manner to the first book; guns, martial arts, epic shoot-outs, and Angel kicking a ton of ass. My onl...more

like · see review

Dec 15, 2011 Darrell Reimer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Choke Hold prolongs the Théâtre sexuelle du Grand-Guignol of Angel Dare, Christa Faust's tragic pulp hero.

The new reader (like myself) can dive right in without worrying about back story from the previous novel, Money Shot . I read it in a snap, without resorting to speed-reading. Angel's voice is too-tough-for-her-own good, a trait that annoys me when the protagonist narrator is male (see Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler), but weirdly enough works when we're talking about a woman who's just...more

like · see review

May 15, 2012 Andrew Kunka rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed MONEY SHOT, Christa Faust's first noir novel starring Angel Dare, but I felt it had some rough spots, especially an apparent heel turn from a character toward the end of the novel that didn't ring true for a variety of reasons. CHOKE HOLD, however, is a strong improvement over the previous novel. Angel Dare, still in hiding after the events of the first book, gets mixed up with a former lover and ends up involved in the criminal side of the Mixed Martial Arts world. Things go horribly...more

like · see review

Nov 09, 2011 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: hardcase_crime, own, read_2011, noir

In a world where a clenched fist is the only good currency and violent action speaks volume, an unassuming former porn star/quasi PI fights to save her life and that of her former lover's son, Cody - an aspiring MMA fighter caught up in a scheme which threatens to ruin all he has worked for. After watching 'Thick Vic' gunned down whilst attempting to reconnect with his begotten son Cody, Angel Dare's life is once again thrown into chaos, armed with little more than wit and sexual prowess she tak...more

like 4 likes · see review

Apr 19, 2012 chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One of the problems with series books is that you wait forever for the next book with this huge anticipation, and then the book can never live up to that expectation. The second of the Angel Dare series is a pretty direct victem of this sort of let-down. This book is really fun, smoothly-written, and filled with perverse, witty dialogue and action. But, it's just not as exciting as the first novel.
For one thing, Angel Dare lacks some of the tough qualities she had in the first novel, maybe due t...more

like · see review

Oct 08, 2011 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: hardcase, 2011, cool-covers

Working in a diner, Angel Dare thought she left her past behind her, both her former career as a porn star and as a vigilante taking down the men that left her for dead. All that changed when a former co-worker, Thick Vic Ventura, walked into her diner to meet his son, an up and coming MMA fighter, for the first time. Seconds later, Vic is mortally wounded by gunmen and asks Angel to take care of his son. Can Angel protect Cody and keep one step ahead of the men that want both of them dead?

Over...more

like 20 likes · see review

Oct 20, 2011 Judd Karlman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fedoras-dames

I really enjoyed Money Shot (and every other Christa Faust book I have ever picked up), so I was surprised that the sequel with its splotlight on the world of MMA left me so lukewarm. The last fifty pages just felt like a grind and I found myself just wanting the book to be over so that the pain would end.

Its a fine line to walk with a noir/crime book. A happy ending would have seemed cheap but this ending seemed particularly merciless.

All in all, I was disappointed but wouldn't hesitate to pick...more

like 1 like · see review

Feb 17, 2012 Sean rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of noir fiction

Recommended to Sean by: BoingBoing

Shelves: hard-crime

While far more action-y than her previous MONEY SHOT, Choke Hold is a far bleaker read. Faust presents a world of people who have been broken by the world or simply broken to begin with. While her previous book looked at the world of pornography, CHOKE HOLD pulls back the curtain on the grimy world of MMA fighting, but that is not the focus of the book. Fallout from the previous novel and new complications are at the centre of this tale. It's a good read, but be prepared for extreme violence and...more

like · see review

Oct 13, 2011 Joel Neff rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

title link	preview: Choke Hold
avg rating	preview: Choke Hold Goodreads rating: 3.94 (262 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9046694-choke-hold?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1282697719l/9046694.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9046694-choke-hold?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Choke Hold by Christa Faust[/url]

Choke Hold (Angel Dare #2)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (3)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Christa Faust

Books by Christa Faust

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Choke Hold