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A Love & Bullets Hookup #2
Slaughterhouse Blues
Slaughterhouse Blues catches up with Bill and Fiona, the chattery and gun-happy anti-heroes of A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps , soon after they’ve escaped the Rockaway Mob, the criminal enterprise from which Bill “borrowed” several million dollars.
Holed up in Havana, Bill and Fiona know the Mob is coming for them—it’s just a question of time. But they’re not prepared for who the Mob a pair of assassins so utterly amoral and demented, their behavior pushes the boundaries of sanity. Seriously, what kind of killers pause in mid-hunt to discuss the finer points of thread count and luxury automobiles?
Forced on the run (again), Bill and Fiona will venture from the crumbling streets of Cuba to the steaming jungles of Nicaragua, and finally back to the mean streets of New York City. If they want to survive, our fine young criminals can’t retreat they’ll need to pull off a massive (and massively weird) heist—and the loot has some very dark history…
Holed up in Havana, Bill and Fiona know the Mob is coming for them—it’s just a question of time. But they’re not prepared for who the Mob a pair of assassins so utterly amoral and demented, their behavior pushes the boundaries of sanity. Seriously, what kind of killers pause in mid-hunt to discuss the finer points of thread count and luxury automobiles?
Forced on the run (again), Bill and Fiona will venture from the crumbling streets of Cuba to the steaming jungles of Nicaragua, and finally back to the mean streets of New York City. If they want to survive, our fine young criminals can’t retreat they’ll need to pull off a massive (and massively weird) heist—and the loot has some very dark history…
- GenresThriller
172 pages, Paperback
Published January 15, 2018
About the author
Nick Kolakowski
67 books117 followersNick Kolakowski is the author of several horror and crime novels, including “Absolute Unit” (Crystal Lake Publishing) and “Where the Bones Lie” (Datura Books). His short stories and nonfiction essays have appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including House of Gamut, Mystery Magazine, Shotgun Honey, Rock & A Hard Place, and (upcoming) Best American Mystery & Suspense 2024. He lives and writes in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 11, 2018
Bonnie and Clyde Revisited
Fiona and Bill are kind of a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, raining pure havoc wherever they go. Only here it's Fiona who is the gunslinger, but Bill he's a survivor of the first order. In classic pulp style, this couple are on the run from a mobster whose pockets they lightened and are pursued by a pair of well-dressed mercenary hit-people, Ken and Barbara ( Ken and Barbie, anyone?). There's a stack of stock gold, epic battles, standoffs, and more. At times, it doesn't take itself too seriously, but the fight scenes are pure unadulterated violence and this story flies on pure attitude and adrenaline. It's the second of two books in the Love and Bullets series and it certainly might be worthwhile to go back and read the first book to get a feel for why they're on the run and what has brought them together.
Fiona and Bill are kind of a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, raining pure havoc wherever they go. Only here it's Fiona who is the gunslinger, but Bill he's a survivor of the first order. In classic pulp style, this couple are on the run from a mobster whose pockets they lightened and are pursued by a pair of well-dressed mercenary hit-people, Ken and Barbara ( Ken and Barbie, anyone?). There's a stack of stock gold, epic battles, standoffs, and more. At times, it doesn't take itself too seriously, but the fight scenes are pure unadulterated violence and this story flies on pure attitude and adrenaline. It's the second of two books in the Love and Bullets series and it certainly might be worthwhile to go back and read the first book to get a feel for why they're on the run and what has brought them together.
February 5, 2019
“What’d you put in there?” Don said, nodding at the soiled duffel bag in the backseat.
“About twenty pounds of tobacco, but don’t worry, no leaves, just the little bits. I asked the sweepers to give me the scraps.”
Don laughed. “A couple years back, we tried taking those scraps, making cigarettes out of them. They sold, but not enough. You can’t fight Big Tobacco.”
“You know what’s a good rule for life?” Fiona said. “Don’t fight groups dedicated to killing millions of people.”
It didn't take long for Bill and Fiona to realize that the business relationship they found themselves in at the end of the last novella to be just as unpleasant as the one they'd just left. They hadn't jumped into the fire per se, more like they'd jumped from one frying pan into another. And their new associates took a similar approach to their older associates to their exit -- they wanted them dead. So now the pair are trying to avoid two large-scale criminal enterprises bent on revenge, while trying to secure enough of a nest-egg to retire and disappear.
That doesn't sound fun. At least not for them, for readers on the other hand...
Fiona is off doing a small -- but hopefully profitable -- job for a couple of brothers she's worked for before. They're cigar manufacturers in Nicaragua, where the competition might just be getting lethal. Bill, on the other hand, is in another country trying to hide out among the throngs of tourists. Let's just say that neither of them meet with a lot of success -- but Fiona does manage to get a lead on what should be an easy heist. The catch is, it's in New York. Right in their old backyard.
So we have an easy heist, an uneasy alliance between the couple and a less-than-trustworthy man who can lead them to a big pay, assassins on their tail and some others who discovered that the couple has delivered themselves to their city. Chaos ensues.
It's action-packed, but with a smaller body count than the previous novel. But at least one of the deaths happens in a way that will stay with you. Not in a haunting way -- but in a "wow, what a cool visual" way (something you can appreciate in fiction -- in real life, it'd be horrific and witnesses would likely need therapy).
There's an interesting tie-in here to some things that happened at the end of World War II, reminding the reader just how much moral gray area existed for US troops in those last days of the War in Europe. Well, a lot of gray existed, and some of it might have been made. Either way, it was there.
At the end of the day, I didn't enjoy Slaughterhouse Blues nearly as much as A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps, but I think it says more about the latter than the former. It's a solid piece of writing, expanding and deepening the universe of these characters a tad. It gives us another opportunity to see them in action while doing some important things for Fiona's character. If nothing else, Slaughterhouse Blues sets up the third novella (which is better than either of the other two). But most importantly, it tells a good, entertaining story on its own. If I'd read this one not knowing who Bill, Fiona or Nick Kolakowski were -- I'd have sought out more about them and by him. That's good enough for me.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.
March 27, 2018
Bill and Fiona are back, running from the people they pissed off in the first book, A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps. The fun and the action is non-stop, and the story surges in intensity early when Bill and Fiona return to New York. Great locations and suspense. Fiona particularly is a wonderful character, able to make me laugh and duck in the same paragraph. Fine, smooth, unpretentious writing -- as good as any I've read since the death of Elmore Leonard. This writer is going places.
May 13, 2018
Fiona, a highly skilled mercenary type, and her boyfriend Bill, a suave conman, grapple with relationship issues and criminal pursuits while bouncing from Cuba to Nicaragua to NYC. Part David Dodge international thriller, part Lawrence Block's Keller hitman series, this is a highly entertaining read that makes you feel you're on the street with Kolakowski's heroes, running for your life. The exotic locales pop, as does the sparkling dialogue. Five stars. Recommended.
April 11, 2018
Slaughterhouse Blues
Mysterious Book Report No. 329
by John Dwaine McKenna
Do you ever take a chance on a book, based only on the title, or cover illustration? It’s a fun way to discover a new author or genre you might otherwise pass up. Or Not, in which case the non-profit stores and neighborhood churches always need stuff to sell. But, when it works out as hoped, it’s a delightful experience. Which is exactly what happened when the MBR was intrigued by the title of a nifty piece of crime fiction that was featured in last months edition of The Mysterious Newsletter.
Slaughterhouse Blues, (Shotgun Honey/ Down & Out Books, PB, $11.95, 136 pages, ISBN 978-1-946502-40-7) by Nick Kolakowski is a short, but intense piece of hard-boiled crime fiction that features a pair of romantically linked antiheros named Fiona and Bill. Together, they’re gun-loving masters of bad-assiveness . . . he’s a big-time, big-score, high-living master thief and she’s a dead-shot, merciless, hitter-for-hire. As the tale begins, Bill and Fiona are holed up down in Cuba, where they’re on the run from the Rockaway Mob, from whom Bill “borrowed” several million dollars in their first adventure, A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps. They know that the mob godfathers are going to come for them, but they’re unprepared for a pair of assassins who’re so utterly amoral, they’re almost insane. From Cuba to Nicaragua to New York City, the chase is on and Bill and Fiona won’t survive unless they can somehow pull off an impressive robbery of an improbable treasure with an unspeakably ugly past. This little gem of a novel will only take a couple of lunch hours to read, but it’ll keep you entertained a lot longer than that!
Mysterious Book Report No. 329
by John Dwaine McKenna
Do you ever take a chance on a book, based only on the title, or cover illustration? It’s a fun way to discover a new author or genre you might otherwise pass up. Or Not, in which case the non-profit stores and neighborhood churches always need stuff to sell. But, when it works out as hoped, it’s a delightful experience. Which is exactly what happened when the MBR was intrigued by the title of a nifty piece of crime fiction that was featured in last months edition of The Mysterious Newsletter.
Slaughterhouse Blues, (Shotgun Honey/ Down & Out Books, PB, $11.95, 136 pages, ISBN 978-1-946502-40-7) by Nick Kolakowski is a short, but intense piece of hard-boiled crime fiction that features a pair of romantically linked antiheros named Fiona and Bill. Together, they’re gun-loving masters of bad-assiveness . . . he’s a big-time, big-score, high-living master thief and she’s a dead-shot, merciless, hitter-for-hire. As the tale begins, Bill and Fiona are holed up down in Cuba, where they’re on the run from the Rockaway Mob, from whom Bill “borrowed” several million dollars in their first adventure, A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps. They know that the mob godfathers are going to come for them, but they’re unprepared for a pair of assassins who’re so utterly amoral, they’re almost insane. From Cuba to Nicaragua to New York City, the chase is on and Bill and Fiona won’t survive unless they can somehow pull off an impressive robbery of an improbable treasure with an unspeakably ugly past. This little gem of a novel will only take a couple of lunch hours to read, but it’ll keep you entertained a lot longer than that!
February 12, 2018
This book has it all- perfectly coifed assassins, Romance, drugs, shoot outs, a crotchety old man, and Nazi gold!
We were first introduced to Bill and Fiona in Kolakowski's in A BRUTAL BUNCH OF HEARTBROKEN SAPS, a book worth reading not only because SLAUGHTERHOUSE BLUES is a direct follow up to it, but also because BRUTAL BUNCH features a hit man who enjoys dressing up as Elvis. Which, come on.
Everything that I enjoyed from BRUTAL BUNCH is here again. Bill and Fiona are great characters- Fiona is polished, cool under pressure, and efficient, while Bill is a smartass who gets into a lot of trouble but somehow keeps managing to survive. They would be interesting on their own, but together they create something that kept me turning the page. The two of them love each other, and by the end of the book you can tell they've grown up in their relationship.
Heavy stuff right? But don't worry, all this is happening while Bill and Fiona are in the run from the mafia and in seek of some long hidden Nazi gold. This takes them from the jungles of Nicaragua all the way back to their hometown of Brooklyn, all while dodging Ken and Barbara, two assassins who could be the mirror images of Bill and Fiona.
I really dug this book, and can't wait to see what body part Bill loses next!
We were first introduced to Bill and Fiona in Kolakowski's in A BRUTAL BUNCH OF HEARTBROKEN SAPS, a book worth reading not only because SLAUGHTERHOUSE BLUES is a direct follow up to it, but also because BRUTAL BUNCH features a hit man who enjoys dressing up as Elvis. Which, come on.
Everything that I enjoyed from BRUTAL BUNCH is here again. Bill and Fiona are great characters- Fiona is polished, cool under pressure, and efficient, while Bill is a smartass who gets into a lot of trouble but somehow keeps managing to survive. They would be interesting on their own, but together they create something that kept me turning the page. The two of them love each other, and by the end of the book you can tell they've grown up in their relationship.
Heavy stuff right? But don't worry, all this is happening while Bill and Fiona are in the run from the mafia and in seek of some long hidden Nazi gold. This takes them from the jungles of Nicaragua all the way back to their hometown of Brooklyn, all while dodging Ken and Barbara, two assassins who could be the mirror images of Bill and Fiona.
I really dug this book, and can't wait to see what body part Bill loses next!
May 24, 2018
“Slaughterhouse Blues” by Nick Kolkowski is definitely an in your face book with two character, Bill and Fiona, good-bad guys, not the bad-bad guys that they take on in an all to brief effort to extract a fortune of gold, a sort of revenge reward for another deal gone bad. And that is the tone and background of the story—past bad deals gone wrong, narrow escapes in the here and now, and some improbable poundings that would have had Rocky Balboa throwing in the towel. It’s a good story. I like Fiona, but for the life of me, I can’t see why she schleps around with Bill. It’s a good story, not great, with a more or less single focus after the odd forays in the beginning. One which was background; one that I knew was a trap to begin with. Still, it was written well and would be worth a lukewarm 4 rating if that was the end of the story.
But…I’m getting more into the story and at 62% of the way through the e-reader, the story just ends. Then comes a lengthy promotional pitch. And then comes the teasers for not one, not two, but three other books. I felt suckered. The whole package is now a deflated 3.
But…I’m getting more into the story and at 62% of the way through the e-reader, the story just ends. Then comes a lengthy promotional pitch. And then comes the teasers for not one, not two, but three other books. I felt suckered. The whole package is now a deflated 3.
May 27, 2022
Quite an interesting continuing adventures of Fiona and Bill, with a cliffhanger at the end.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews