Continuing the fun series started by fellow Anzac book blogger Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise, where each week bloggers from around the world write about a notable crime fiction novel or author (first name or surname) starting with a particular letter of the alphabet, this week is the turn of "F".
This week I've decided to utilised a review I did a few months ago on FAT TUESDAY by Sandra Brown, a New York Times #1 bestseller from many years ago that was published for the first time in New Zealand and Australia earlier this year.
FAT TUESDAY
by Sandra Brown (Hodder & Stoughton, 2009)
More than a decade after it was first released in the United States, former model and TV weather presenter turned prolific bestselling author Sandra Brown’s tale of a New Orleans narcotics cop’s vengeful battle with a corrupt defence attorney, has been published in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom for the first time.
Brown, a native Texan, began her award-winning writing career in 1981, and has since penned seventy novels, including fifty-six New York Times bestsellers and several #1 bestsellers, including FAT TUESDAY. Over the years her writing has shifted from romance fiction under a variety of pseudonyms to suspense thrillers.
FAT TUESDAY opens with the acquittal of the man NOPD detective Burke Basile blames for the shooting death of his partner, before following Basile’s increasingly wild attempts to seek revenge on powerful defence attorney Pinkie Duvall. Basile targets Duvall not only because of the acquittal, but because he suspects Duvall of being an underground drug kingpin and well-connected, protected crime lord.
Feeling betrayed by friends, co-workers and an adulterous wife, Basile eventually kidnaps Duvall’s beautiful wife Remy in the lead-up to Mardi Gras, hiding her at an isolated fishing camp.
Brown takes the reader on an often violent rollercoaster ride from sumptuous garden parties to crack-infested backstreets, bordellos to alligator-filled Louisiana swamps, as Basile tries to dodge corruption both outside and inside the NOPD as he aims for Duvall’s jugular. His plan becomes further complicated by his increasing attraction to Remy, an attraction that seems reciprocated.
FAT TUESDAY is an enjoyable read. Although it has moments veering towards Brown’s pulp romance past, an exciting story and interesting characters carry the reader along on a fun journey filled with fake priests, shot-gun toting hillbillies, corrupt cops, and betrayal at every turn. It’s the type of book many readers could curl up with for sheer pleasure.
Thanks for this interesting review! The New Orleans setting in itself is compelling, and the rest of the novel sounds like an attention-keeping read, too.
ReplyDeleteAnother author I once meant to read more of. Thanks for the reminder Craig, Thanks too for this contribution to the crime fiction alphabet
ReplyDeleteI do love books set in New Orleans I have meant to read this but still haven't gotten around to it. If only I could buy a spare 3 days every time I buy a book.
ReplyDeleteI do like Sandra Brown books. Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteHere is my Crime Fiction Alphabet: F post!