Pavement

by Andrew Davie

McGill and Gropper are unlicensed private investigators who operate out of a diner and do whatever it takes to get a job done.

When a trucker attacks a prostitute, her pimp turns to McGill and Gropper for protection.

But taking the job means crossing dangerous and well-connected criminals who will stop at nothing to settle the score.

112 pages, paperback

Published July 25, 2019

About the author

Andrew Davie has worked in theater, finance, and education. He taught English in Macau on a Fulbright Grant and has survived a ruptured brain aneurysm and subarachnoid hemorrhage. in January 2022, he'll begin a Clinical Mental Health MA program.

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Georg · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow , this was really good

[JansRoots · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a feel-good thriller but very well done

I was surprised. Normally, the protagonist(s), whether good guys or bad guys, become positive in the end, one way or another. This is a hard, dark, "gory", story focused more on the mutually beneficial relationship between the protagonists, not the case involved, though you don't realize it until the end. It's subtle. Both maintain their bloodthirsty personas throughout the book, but it works well, and all the characters are well-developed. I couldn't put it down, though I don't usually like gory books. The way it finished surprised me, and I look forward to more by this author.

[Jason Beech · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, tight noir thriller about an enforcer, Gropper, who is roped into a world deeper and darker than he expected. Gropper's a quiet man who you get to know through his choice of music and actions rather than his few words. He works through a middle man who holds meetings in his favourite diner while he slurps booze, coffee, and gorges on diner food as if every meal is his last.
A motel manager reluctantly agrees to pimp for his cousin, but when some of the other women are abused by a trucker, he seeks help from outside. In comes Gropper to sort out the trucker - and as you can imagine, a world of noirish hell comes down on them all.
I liked the build-up, the slow ratchet of tension, and the showcasing of Gropper's abilities early in the story. The main bad man is interesting and brutal. If I have any criticism it's that it ends a little too quickly for my liking. I would have liked more.
It is a novella, however, so short is to be expected.

[Cidney · Rating 2 out of 5]

McGill an overweight ex-police officer and his friend Gropper who is very handy with his fists and his bag of coins work as private investigators except they are not licensed, and their office is the local diner. Maurice, a friend of Gropper's, has a cousin called Stacy who thinks it is a good idea to set up a brothel run out of a local motel which is used by truck drivers, and hire out one bedroom for the night. It works and they are earning a lot of money, until one night a trucker pulls in and badly hurts one of the girls. Maurice hires McGill (who rarely leaves the diner I think) and his sidekick Gropper to find the guy who did this. Gropper does and almost finishes him off but leaves him enough wriggle room to pick himself up and drive off in this truck and Stacy and Maurice are happy once again. It's a very short book of 76 pages.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book just didn't quite gel with me. I spent a lot of time trying to work out who was who and where the story was going. I got there in the end and guess this book was just setting up the duo for future books. That said, I never felt like not finishing the book and I will reserve judgement if I ever read the next book

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really good, which I wasn’t expecting. It was kinda abrupt, too, as far as the ending, but that’s ok. I think the author could move into a crime series based on this, I would read it.

[clwyd wyn roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth a read.

The only criticism is the book is too short. Will definitely look forward to reading the next one and a good price.

[Kaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly written. Bitty and didn’t flow. Too violent & a storyline I didn’t really follow. Avoid this author

[Vadim Radovilsky]

very interesting plot and easy to read

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gropper and McGill are a PI duo with Gropper taking care of practical matters and McGill acting as the face of the business and being the one with the connections around town. They take on a case for Marvin, a motel receptionist, who has his cousin and other tricking out of one of the motel's rooms and at the nearby truck stop to catch a john who is beating up the on the girls.

This is fast paced hard boiled stuff written in the third person that expands upon the backstory and personality of all the characters involved and it is over all too soon. The third person is impressive in the way it builds the story piece by piece and you never get lost in the perspectives.