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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1923896.Money_Shot?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Money Shot (Hard Case Crime #40)" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51719BaZYcL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1923896.Money_Shot?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Money Shot</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/26764.Christa_Faust">Christa Faust</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17473040?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>So far, I've been a big fan of everything I've read that Hard Case Crime have released. They have a purposefully retro aesthetic, and are trying to bring back both the lurid appearance and dark, intense style of the pulp crime novels that were popular half a century ago. If the sales at the bookstore where I work are any indication, this is a popular idea. It's certainly something I'm into. It could be a total failure if the books weren't good, but all of the ones I've read so far have totally delivered on their aesthetic promise. <br/> <br/>"Money Shot" is no exception. I was especially interested in this book based on its premise, it being the story of a porn star who is beaten and left for dead by crooked movie producers, but lives through her ordeal and comes back for revenge. Most of the book works really well, and it's obvious to me that Christa Faust knows quite a bit about the history and the behind-the-scenes workings of the porn industry (and yes, I say this as someone who is also pretty well-informed on such things. I'm not afraid to admit it). There were a couple of points towards the middle of the novel in which I found the direction of the plot a bit worrisome, as it would sometimes appear that the author was going for an easy, even cliche, plot development. Such developments aren't all that bad when they seem at least somewhat realistic, but in these situations, the cliche plot development would always have seemed like a cheat. Fortunately, Faust ultimately avoided all of these choices, and went for more creative, less predictable developments. I don't want to give away the ending, but I will say that I was glad it didn't involve any simple happy-ever-after resolution, as this would also have seemed like a cheat. I feel like a few plot points could have been improved, but "Money Shot" isn't the sort of mystery-related novel that's written like an intricate puzzle, so some weakness in the plot is a relatively minor point when compared with its overall success in telling a character-based story of vengeance. This is a very good book, on the whole. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/819002?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>