Dirtbags

by Eryk Pruitt

In the southern town of Lake Castor, the old mill closed, and jobs vanished. But Calvin Cantrell doesn’t care for those jobs anyway. Instead, he dreams of becoming a famous serial killer. When sleazy restauranteur Tom London hires Calvin to kill his ex-wife, Calvin’s dreams begin. And so do Lake Castor’s nightmares.

Genres: Noir

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2014

About the author

Eryk Pruitt is a screenwriter, author and filmmaker living in Durham, NC with his wife Lana and cat Busey. His short films FOODIE and LIYANA, ON COMMAND have won several awards at film festivals across the US. His fiction appears in The Avalon Literary Review, Pulp Modern, Thuglit, and Zymbol, to name a few. In 2013, he was a finalist for Best Short Fiction in Short Story America and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes for 2014. His novel Dirtbags was published in April 2014, and HASHTAG will be published in May, 2015. A full list of credits can be found at erykpruitt.com.

Reviews

[Paul Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calvin Cantrell is an aspiring serial killer, I mean he's done all the research, his knowledge on the subject is fucking impressive and he's just waiting for the right moment to present itself. He's gonna be famous, nothing can stop him except possibly his own dumb self.
 
So when restaurant owner Tom London drops the proverbial Golden Fleece into his lap, his dreams can finally jump out of that dark little closet. It's time to step up.
 
Tom London, a deplorable character in his own right wants his ex-wife taking care of and not in a convalescing fashion, he wants her dead. In what manner enquires Calvin?
 
"What does it matter? I want her killed dead, that’s how. Shoot her, stab her . . . run her over with a car. I don’t care. I just want her dead. The kind of dead that don’t wake up. What does it matter".

Calvin seeks a partner, not of the loving variety he already has a wife but what he needs is a killing partner with similar aspirations. Luckily Phillip Krandall lives a couple of trailers down and he's got murder in his blood, Calvin feels it and the wheels are set in motion for their first kill. Discussions a plenty follow from I'd have to say not the two sharpest tools in the box but there's a bit of humour around them initially. Trailer trash with disturbing dreams.
 
"But therein lies an entirely new issue. If we kill her on the full moon, then do we need to wait until a full moon for every kill? That might work, for planning and logistical purposes, but it would take damn near a year before we got a decent enough body count".
 
Tom London's world is about to turn, or maybe fall, into deep shit, his wife has discovered his affair and he's going to lose the lot. The woman he's been knocking off, to make matters worse is not all she seems. She's the wife of someone he's just double crossed, not the wisest thing he's ever done and he's on the fast track to ruin and with only one thing on his mind, himself, a proper selfish bastard. But what goes around comes around.
 
Full of white trash, psychotic, deplorable characters Dirtbags is a deeply dirty southern crime noir story that hasn't got a single God fearing character in site. Lake Castor it seems is distinctly lacking in good old honest folk and Rhonda Cantrell is the final piece in the jigsaw. Rhonda is Calvin's wife, questionable loyalties appears to be the order of the day, is there no good in any of them? but this one may just turn out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, just not an honest one.
 
A brutal tale of the sinful, the immoral and all the fucking lunatics in one place, cloaked in a fog of violence, greed and desperation. Fucking Dirtbags is about right.
 
A 4* Rating, my only issue is that some of the dialogue felt wrong, it too easily jumped from trash talk to something that sounded a little to intelligent for those involved in the conversation, characters coming out of character if you like but that may just be me. I enjoyed the majority of Dirtbags and if it sounds like something you’d enjoy, give it a go, it’s pretty cheap on kindle.
 
"Not her, you idiot. My ex-wife. I want my ex-wife killed".

Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love my crime fiction like I love my coffee -- black, with two spoonfuls of bleak. And Eryk Pruitt's DIRTBAGS went down hot and shot clear through to my nerve endings.

Calvin Cantrell figures he'll solve his unemployment problem the way many people do -- by retraining himself for a whole new career. In Calvin's case, he decides to become a serial killer as a way of advertising himself to crime bosses as a dependable killer for hire. Spot the hole in Calvin's logic, and you'll spot the holes in his efforts to convince others that he's the right man to handle their killing needs. How he gets there, on a blood slick of sick reasoning you're too bumfuzzled and frightened to argue with, is equally chilling and comedic.

Calvin is a character straight out of the Jim Thompson gallery of sociopaths, and if you like Thompson's grinning, not-as-stupid-as-they-act killers, you'll love Eryk Pruitt's creation, updated for the recession and transported to southern Virginia. Riding almost literal shotgun are some equally memorable characters -- sleazebag restaurateur and downmarket ladies' man Tom London; Calvin's wife Rhonda, who will remind "House Of Cards" viewers of Claire Underwood, the complicated power-grabbing political wife; and Philip, a high school loser friend of Calvin's who's psychotically bent on taking revenge on the world that rejects him.

You won't like any of these people, as you don't like anyone in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" or "The Killer Inside Me." But that's not the point. The point is that you can't look away once you've met them, and Pruitt is not only a fine creator of memorable characters, he's a skilled hand at plot and an artful renderer of sly prose that never slows the pace of this story of a tobacco-country thrill ride into hell.

Fans of Joe R. Lansdale, Johnny Shaw, Elmore Leonard, Lynn Kostoff, Grant Jerkins, Bobby Cole and other practitioners of morally fricasseed crime fiction will find much to admire here. DIRTBAGS is an exceptionally assured and entertaining debut, and Eryk Pruitt is a writer to watch.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure exactly how to rank DIRTBAGS, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. This is some monstrously efficient fratricide satire. The adventures of Calvin Cantrell in Murderland are sometimes funny, often alarming and always looking into the eye of the beholder. If you're satisfied with the way you've been living your life right now, there's a good chance that DIRTBAGS will anger the hell out of you and it was meant to do so.

I thought the last third of DIRTBAGS (it's separated into 3 parts) was a little weaker, as it confused into concluding the narrative instead of making a point about human mediocrity like the first two. If there was a theme, a lesson to be learned from DIRTBGAGS it would go as follows: there is a fine line that separates you from an animalistic state of chaos and every day you're stepping a little closer to it. It's a funny, scary and oddly pertinent little novel.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dirtbags is not exactly a cozy little story about princesses and unicorns and rainbows and sponges and starfish. In fact, it is not even close. Instead, it is a story about serial killers. It is a story about a small town in Virginia where the factories have all closed and there is little left to do but hate. Indeed, “if a fella ain’t content with working at a tire shop or bagging groceries or sweeping the street, then forever he’ll nurse an itch that cannot be scratched.”

In this tale, the author gives us a glimpse into a world where disenfranchised folk find fascination with serial killers and their brief brushes with fame. It’s a world of young men who have never gotten over their bitter high school experiences and who wonder if most of those folks would have better off not having gone through their post- high school lives which were mostly filled with disappointment and crap. If there are any life lessons to be gleaned here, it is perhaps that the guy who hires a killer to off his ex-wife had best not stiff the guy.

What makes this book fantastic is not the subject matter and there are others who have surely plumbed the subject before. But, here, the tone is easy-to-read, sardonic, and captivating. What could have ended up as a story told in poor taste or over-the-top comic-book-style violence actually works.
This is not the bitter grittiness of Natural Born Killers, not just some path blazed across the plains. Rather, it begins and ends in trailer parks and clubs at the outskirts of towns and you realize how many bitter, disconnected people are out there who might try anything – just to do something.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

DIRTBAGS is worth the read for the title alone. The writing is solid and the dialogue (dialect) spot on. And the satire is biting--a not-so-subtle indictment of modern suburban society with all its distractions, contradictions, and just plain stupidity.

Calvin Cantrell is a dirtbag, to be sure--the product of a failing society and the kind of pariah that is generally viewed as having no redeeming qualities. Oh, and he's an aspiring serial killer, something he makes no secret of. In broader, more literary terms, he might be viewed as a sort of vengeful Frankensteinian creation that comes back to terrorize the town. But he is not alone in his dirtbaggery. After all, the title is DIRTBAGS not DIRTBAG. Yes, his wife Rhonda is also a DIRTBAG and she, too, is the product of her bleak surroundings, both past and present. But no one gets a pass in DIRTBAGS, as on closer inspection, they're all just that, dirtbags. Tom London is the typically reviled businessman who is married to a manipulative, superficial socialite.Bubba Greene is an aging thug who has eked out a successful business via murder and the likes. There's also the token lawyer and self-righteous, bible-thumping judge. The cast of miscreants and misanthropes is set just so, so when the bodies start to pile up, the reader can't help but be secretly delighted by the demise of such unreformable riffraff.

But as Pruitt likely well knows, reading/enjoying the book is itself and act of dirtbaggery--a self-indictment, of sorts. In fact, I found it hard to finish this highly enjoyable if extremely dark novel without feeling a sour pang of guilt--without feeling a bit dirty and a bit tarnished myself. Without feeling that a bit of my humanity had been sucked from me. Which may very well have been Pruitt's point all along.

My only grievance with the novel--and it's a slight one--is that the character sketches, presumably meant to humanize the characters or legitimize their deplorable actions in some way, fall a bit flat. Okay, I have one more small complaint--the seemingly organic nature of the plot, ie. one event naturally leads to another--an approach that I typically like and admire, could have stood a bit more authorial guidance. For example, giving so much internal voice to a character who disappears twenty or thirty pages later is unsettling if not outright confusing to a reader. Nevertheless, these are minor infractions that don't diminish the overall enjoyability of the book. And DIRTBAGS is a guilty pleasure, to be sure. But we can all use a little more dirtbagishness in our literary diet, can't we? Having read it, I feel strangely fortified. Hell, I might even go read some Jane Austen.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

DIRTBAGS lives up to its title, reminding the reader that we are all sinners. There are no saints, no heroes to be found in this southern gothic noir; no, all you’ll find are the wretched and sinful living in Lake Castor, and some of those sinners have aspirations. Like Calvin Cantrell, for example. He wants to be a serial killer. How far he’s willing to go to achieve that goal is anyone’s guess, but as you might imagine, the path he travels to get there is a fascinatingly violent and bloody one.

There’s a moment that occurs early on in this novel which set the tone for me. It was a scene which told me, “Yes, this is the kind of novel you’re reading. Buckle up.” The scene involves the novel’s protagonist (and I use that term loosely) debating with his neighbor, Phillip, about having to start somewhere if you want to be a famous serial killer. You see, all the greats started with small animals, and what Calvin and Phillip have is a cat. I’ll let you figure out where things go from there.

There’s dark sense of humor permeating Calvin’s bloodstained journey, told with a matter-of-fact, southern tone that I fell in love with from the start. This novel signals the start of a promising career, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. Do yourself a favor and let the good reverend Eryk Pruitt baptize you in the waters of Lake Castor so that you too may see the light.

[Zakk Madness · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You lack a certain wherewithal to do this kind of thing"

Such a rich cast of seemingly random characters in this game of chess, but they all have a part to play and boy, how they all tie together like tight little sutures. What looks simple on the outside actually harbors a hot, gooey complex center as the given facts start to wear through to show the actual truths, as these random pieces start to fit together perfectly in a twisted Ed Gein style puzzle.

Thrills, chills, gore, sex, depravity, and a little bit of heartbreak, this is exactly what you need in your life. Eryk Pruitt is a fresh voice in literature, yeah I said it literature, and I hope he sticks around for a while. "Dirtbags" is a donkey punch to the head and one hell of a read. Check it out.

"Sometimes the stories were true, but often enough they weren't. But some of them were."

The Mouths of Madness Podcastshow
my link text

[Bryce Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling, well-written tale of a sociopathic love triangle; very visceral and edgy style with elements of dark humour littered throughout... Immediately draws the reader in to the depraved worlds of its main characters and has plenty of twists & turns along its darkly captivating journey, the effects of which linger beyond the final page.

[Matt (TeamRedmon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. One of the best crime novels I've ever read.

[Blanche · Rating 5 out of 5]

At some point in the life of each person whom hits “rock bottom,” there is a moment where we each have an individualistic, but, analogous urge; to murder a cat. My moment came when the Golden Boy Detective I had married decided he wanted to be a school teacher in a small-town, 2 and a half hours from where we were living.
Up to that time I had been stacking pillows between us as we slept, his night terrors had gotten so bad he made me worried he was going to cold-cock me in the face. This could be a good change I figured, so we went. To a place called King.
King is a dry county, unfriendly and hostile, like the town Derry of Stephen Kings’ fame.
Every day I watched a man ride his lawnmower to his mailbox, a pack of dogs followed him, rain or shine. I think they hoped he might stroke out and they could feast on his large carcass. He carried an old fashioned wooden cane and would strike out weakly at them on his way to the mail.
I had agreed to share a single car at this point, so my day consisted of watching the stray cats that lived in the abandoned trailer across the street, and this man’s daily trek amidst the Hell Hounds of King.
Eventually one of the stray cats made its way over and I held it a few times, crying on the porch. I felt life sucked a taint. It was a shit situation for both of us, this cat and I, we were comrades. She must have bonded as well that night because the next day she produced a single kitten.
For at time this was enjoyable, then it was not. The cat would attack my tiny wiener dog, she would claw at our window panes at night, she would slip in the door between our feet to lie hissing beneath the bed. I doubt she’d ever seen a rabies shot.
I do not feel I am a cruel person, but, I had little to give to a feral cat at this time. Around this time my husband had ceased to speak after he left work, by the time he returned home he would silently enter, shower and go to bed. Our home was a strange one. I wore shoes inside because the slugs crawling from the air vents could top at least 6 inches and were hard to see at night.
One night as the cat clawed the screen off the window and dragged it yowling into the potholed street I decided she had to go.
I borrowed a trap from a reclusive neighbor with a tumored dog and set it up to catch the mother and if possible the kitten. It was that evening when my husband beckoned me to the trap. We decided not to chance trying to get the cat out of the trap and decided to drive her to the pound.
Which was closed, due to lack of funding, for good. My husband looked at me. I looked down at the trap. He looked at the door. I opened the door and set the trap on the ground.
I will answer to this in hell I thought as I opened the trap. To my horror I see the tiny kitten run, tired and afraid, into the darkness. I turned, in the shock of my discovery, in time to see an emotion rise behind my husband’s flat shark eyes. I picked up the trap and put it on my lap, closing the door.
When we returned home It began. The retribution of the infanticide. Mother cat went absolutely bat shit. Each night as dusk fell she would continue her quest to dig her way through the foundations of the house, through the air vents and then into our bedroom. I am unsure as to her exact intent after that.

One night I came-to trying to tear up the carpet around the vent. Sobbing, as the cat screamed beneath the house foundations. I screamed curses at her, she was not phased, I banged on the cheap plyboard walls. The screaming and clawing continued.
My husband left at dawn. I sat on the concrete stoop out front that day and thought about how hard it would be to snap her neck. I could just put her in a bag in the trashcan, I doubted my husband would even notice. By that point his screams some nights were indecipherable from the cats’ own yowls.
Anyways, this book was really good and I definitely connected with the cat part.

[Nigel Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s no wonder her husband had a heart attack. If I was married to her, I’d eat nothing but butter and pray the good Lord made it nice and quick.”
Tom London owns the biggest restaurant in Lake Castor. He’s married to an influential woman and dotes on his son (in his own particular way). The only fly in his ointment is an ex-wife who wants to get her child back. She’s a problem who needs dealing with.
Enter Calvin Cantrell.
Jack hires Calvin to kill his ex. He hands over a wad of cash (slightly short, of course) and Calvin sets of on to take the first steps of a journey he’s always wanted to take.
His secret desire is to become a serial killer. He’s studied the methods and histories of all of the big names in the field and wants to join them. It will give him a role in life and will bring him the notoriety he’s been craving all these years.
To help him along, Calvin decides to take on a sidekick, Phillip Krandall. Krandall’s big regret in life is that he didn’t carry out a killing spree at his high school on the day he took his bag full of weapons into class. The only reason he didn’t do it was that Calvin intervened. When Calvin calls at Krandall’s trailer, there’s only ever going to be one outcome and the pair set off to Texas to do eliminate Jack London’s ex.
What follows is for you to find out.
I can tell you that Jack’s ex-wife isn’t the failure she’s been described as and that things don’t go as the would-be killers intend. You’ll have to read it for yourself to find out how it plays out and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the way you expect.
The book’s divided into three sections. The first focuses on Calvin, the second on Jack and the third on Calvin’s wife, Rhonda. This allows the story to develop in different ways. There are back-stories to enjoy, there are the foundations to the plot and there is the narrative thread of our new serial-killer. All the way through, the settings are well-described and there’s a strong desire to discover how things will eventually play out. It’s dark and sleazy, but it’s also very entertaining. There’s a subtle humour about the situation and the characters and a decent comic edge to the dialogue.
To my mind, it’s the opening section that works the best. Getting to know Cantrell and the surrounding cast of characters is a real treat and it’s here where I felt the dramatic tension worked best. Pruitt does a great job of nailing things down, all the time avoiding the obvious. Just when I thought I knew where I was going, the plot would twist or turn in a new direction and give me something else to ponder. The other aspect of the opening which I think worked well was the way it was possible to find room to root for some of those involved, even though they’re a dismal collection of specimens – for me, that became less easy as the story played out.
It’s surprising that this is a debut novel given the quality of the work. Pruitt is definitely one to watch and I’ll be keeping a look out for his work in the future, not that I’d ever like to turn my back on the guy (just in case).

[Robin Jonathan Deutsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

As debut novels go, I can't recall too many that were better than Dirtbags.

As novels go in general, I can't recall too many that I enjoyed as thoroughly as Dirtbags.

This is not your ordinary, stale, overdone and tired story about serial killings. Pruitt has brilliantly written Dirtbags in a voice that is fresh and new and engaging and captivating and compelling and I could keep listing plaudits until I run out of descriptions.

Lots of places to get the story gist (like the book jacket, other Amazon reviews, etc)., so I'll spare everyone the play-by-play except to say that the main protagonist Calvin Cantrell and his wife Rhonda remind me of some crazed modern day Bonnie & Clyde and the other main dirtbag, Tom London, may be the most repulsive character I've come across in my reading, which says a lot. Moreover, it means that Pruitt has delivered on his storyline. You don't finish this novel thinking, "geez, the author fell short of the mark."

Nope. Pruitt nails a Bullseye.

For me, every page offered something, there were no dull passages. Trying to figure out what stunt these nut jobs were going to pull out next was ... fun ... if fun and serial killings can be linked, which in this case they are.

The dialog is real, sharp, often funny. That's hard to accomplish. Often times narrative between characters (in lots of novels) comes off as forced and manufactured. Not in Dirtbags. In the end, you willloathe the characters -- well, most of them -- but you won't finish without them leaving a lasting impression.

Dirtbags will leave a lasting impression, too. And as a writer myself, it leaves me wishing I'd written this. So good.

The cadre of previous reviews all agree: Dirtbags is a winner.

Pruitt will now have a legion of fans anxiously awaiting for his next effort.

Bullseye.

[Brian Centrone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio and Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place, Eryk Pruitt’s Dirtbags unearths its own cast of grotesques. Pruitt brings to life humanity’s bottom feeders—Celebrity-seeking serial killers, cheaters, users, abusers—yet somehow Pruitt is able to make us care for some of the scummiest characters in literature. Every chapter unveils another layer of depravity, and just when you have thought humanity couldn’t sink any lower, bam! There’s no turning back.

Pruitt’s talent as a writer was clearly visible through his short story, “Theme Riders,” in Southern Gothic: New Tales of the South, but in this, his debut novel, his talent really shines. I expect nothing less than great things from this hot new author.

[S.A. Cosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid novel from a great writer Dirtbags aims for a Jim Thompson level of fatalism and moral depravity and doesn't fall far short of the mark. in a world with no heroes we root for the comeuppance of the villains. it's a tricky balancing act. the writer had to make you care about the characters bit only in staring at a car accident sort of way. Mr. Pruitt does this exceedingly well. Good read but not for the faint of heart

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eryk has written one of the most hysterically funny books I have ever read about a wannabe serial killer. This is the kind of book that keeps you up all night long finishing it -- during which your insane laughter keeps waking up your poor wife trying to sleep next to you.

[Eric Maier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've known Eryk Pruitt on and off for several years. He is a polite, soft-spoken, intelligent gentleman. It's interesting to see this kind of book come from within that wrapping. Note: even though I know Eryk, this was NOT a free-for-review book. I purchased it and chose to review it for myself.

I haven't been pulled emotionally like this by a book in a long time. While there were parts where I was a little bored, overall, it was riveting. It is well crafted and well written and the characters are distinct and believable.

This book was broken into three parts and each part followed a different character, although all the parts were intertwined with a central plot.

In part one it was interesting to witness the start of a serial killer.

Part two was my favorite section of the book. It took me a while to get into part two after leaving part one - it went from fast pace to slow, plus switched characters, and it had to pick up speed again. Once I was into it though, hoo-boy!

Part three wasn't as exciting to me as the other two but it was still good and it built up another great character.

This book's characters reminded me, very loosely, of The Gap Into Conflict - The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson. These two books are nothing alike and they aren't even in the same genre. Why then? The Gap book was the only book I've ever read where I disliked every single character and still loved the book. Dirtbags is similar and While it does have some likable characters, I disliked a lot of them and still liked the book.

One suggestion I would make to anyone reading this book is to really think about the last sentence of the book. Don't just skim it and say, yep, the book's over. Read it again and think about all the implications.

Overall, a great book. I think I'll see if I can get my copy signed.


Note for author: Eryk, you should record this as an audio book with you reading it. Your voice would be great for this.

[Lana Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow. I got this book for my Kindle and meant to read a chapter or two before running errands and before I knew it, errands got put on the backburner. This story packs a wallop. Calvin is a guy who sucks at everything else so he decides to be a killer. London is a cook who hires Calvin to kill his ex-wife. And in the middle of all of it is a stripper who works at a strip club from hell and she has to be my favorite character in any book ever. I can't say a single thing about her or I will give away spoilers, but trust me. When you are finished reading about Rhonda Cantrell, you will see what I mean.
I recommend this book big time.

[Chris Rhatigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of book. Sure, it's about a serial killer, but one who is consciously attempting to beat the world record for murders and artificially creating an identity for himself. Some the conversations between the criminals are hilarious--they are beyond stupid. It's a weird, wild ride from an author with plenty of style.

[Rory Costello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grisly, to be sure...but also quite funny. Eryk Pruitt has a sly sense of humor that I enjoy a great deal. He also makes excellent use of his down-and-out Southern mill town setting. In addition, he handles his central plot device -- separate but intertwined plot lines from different points of view -- quite well. It's not an especially easy thing to do either.

[Mike Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a book that lived up to its name, all the characters were indeed dirtbags. really liked spending some time inside the minds of these people. whats scary is this kind of thought process really happens in the world. will look for some more reads from Eryk Pruitt.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid. Author managed to get me to root for nearly every character and even go back and forth a bit but making everyone stupid really takes a lot away from the story. Just think we need to be afraid of these people for the story to achieve its full potential.

[Gary Kadlec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty gritty.

[DocG nee Brown]

interesting.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel, populated by antiheroes, tells an engaging story from several points of view. Evocative of Charles Willeford, I can recommend this gritty novel

[Thrillers R Us · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Mickey and Mallory cruised through 1.5 Scaramuccis in late August of 1994 and garnered meager box office returns, people were outraged at the glorification of violence and missed the social commentary in Oliver Stone's vision that would (again) become relevant thirty years later. The idolization of killers in the media in general and in society in specific. An adage in southern Virginia and probably the entire country states that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who earn money, and those who don't. Others opine differently; there are those who bring people down and those who lift them up. The protagonists, or DIRTBAGS, of Eryk Pruitt's southern crime yarn fit neither bill.

They are two knuckleheads with a gym bag of 2nd Amendment death from an aborted high school shooting from some time ago. Two idiots with enough dormant hate to think they can do "better" than the Boston Strangler, the BTK Killer, Son of Sam, Dahmer or Bundy. But one of them just wants to matter, to anyone, for something, anything. To matter a hill of beans to someone. Calvin Cantrell is Dirtbag #1 and wants to be a serial killer. His take: to work up a good body count and then keep the ride going by being a hitman/killer for hire. Phillip Krandall is Dirtbag #2 and he's got murder in his blood, yearning to scratch an itch left by the world that doesn't embrace him. Rounding out the club that is white, male, and DIRTBAGS, is Tom London, a Restaurant owner who wants his ex-wife killed. And he wants Cantrell to do it. The catch is that Cantrell's wife (an ex-stripper) is London's restaurant manager and side-piece.

Told from a perspective that always seems to deride the protagonist as not the sharpest tool in the shed and making light of the utterly asinine quest of becoming famous by killing a lot of people, DIRTBAGS is sort of Quixotic--instead of windmills, for Cantrell, there are prospective kills. In the vein of Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen novels, DIRTBAGS is a special kind of southern crime/noir: funny, quirky, and with lots of social commentary. The dialogue is sharp as a tack and spot on entertaining, driving a narrative that is as crazy as the two dunces who worry that killing the same kind of victims without diversity sends the wrong kind of message. A messy, strange, and brutal look at a town with no out, Eryk Pruitt invites you to get your hands dirty. Don't sweat it gentle readers, the blight washes off, and while these DIRTBAGS are no natural born killers, they will leave a memorable impression.

[Karren321 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fairly interesting ...

however I have a pet peeves - dont be cruel to animals for a shock value - i hate cruelty to animals

dont use the same overexposed prolonged give people brain damage. Its not noir its disgusting - I read something similar within the first chapter of a book was absolutely revolted -put it down

I wont be reading any sequels to this book because of these factors

[Paul McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fits in that genre of white trash/rural/red neck/dark southern Noir. When well executed it is an exhilarating and wild ride. Sometimes funny, oftentimes extremely violent, and almost always crazy unbelievable.
All of the above applies to Dirtbags.
Calvin wants to be a serial killer, his wife Rhonda wants someone to take care of her. Unfortunately that leaves everyone else in their way.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty, weird, unrelenting, and oddly fun, this book was interesting. Definitely not for the faint hearted. Strong characterizations, and a desolate dark atmosphere makes this read tough. I read a lot and I have to admit that this was original.

[Lyle Boylen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful story of country crime noir. Not for the weak of heart. In my opinion a pretty great piece of writing.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.