Mean Business by Mark Slade

In a fix, call a cop (scratch that) call London.

Not the country.

Barry London, fixer extraordinaire for Cuban crime boss Peter Chaaladi.

Also available for rent to all willing to pay the price

Mean Business,  a compilation of crime fiction stories by Mark Slade is a riveting ride through the back alleys of gangster land, all seen through the eyes of the brilliant Barry London.

London is perhaps one of the best modern day characters I have come across after Castle. Full of acerbic wit he breezes in and out of intense, blood curling situations, dodging bullets and punches with the ease and class of Fred Astaire dancing across the stage.

The book had me hook, line and sinker with a character reveal in the very first story.

How so?

Slade minces no words and sets you right down on the path of creepy mysteriousness by calling one of the gangsters – ENIGMA.

This was enough to whet my appetite but oh no, Mark Slade served up a whopper by taking it a notch further with the following lines…

“When he discovered the truths of the world,

Wesley rechristened himself Enigma. You, as a person, are

a mystery. In order to learn about yourself, you need

Enigma to look into your mind and heart.”

The above lines gave me the indication that this book was no ordinary caper. And boy-o-boy was I in for a roller coaster treat.

The stories had me both ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) and gasping at the unexpected plot twists that come Barry’s way.

Slade’s action packed writing makes you forget very early on that you are reading a book, it transcends the reader into the scenario, as though you were suddenly in the matrix. So much so that when London spews a line at one of the characters, you actually sit back and comply with him.

“If you get me killed, I will

come back and haunt your ass! Got it?”

Throughout the book London comes across many interesting characters from messiahs, pedophiles , to a traveling family of assassins (yes, with a kid in tow)

However this book isn’t your ordinary crime caper. Its subtly filled with innuendos to serious topics that affect us in the world today. From a look at bullying and how it affects people, to a whole story about what blind hate can do to a people and to a country.

           “All his life he‟d

           been one second too late to be a winner. All his life,

           someone, somewhere, home, school, or job, tried to bully

           Quarry into being someone he wasn‟t. He looked in the

           mirror and smiled for the first time in weeks.”

My only gripe  was that the story ‘The Smelch Bear’ deserved to be a whole novel by itself and not just a short story. It’s a powerhouse of emotion and the frailties of human behavior.

As an aside, if you are a reader who generally skips the foreword of a book and delves right in, please don’t skip this one. It’s hilarious and sets the mood for what is to come by very rightly, I might add, calling the writer Mark Slade ‘a gangster’ who you want to be your new best friend.

This book is full of unexpected quirks and surprises, so aptly summed up by one of the characters themselves.

          “Of course!” The father said. “Hey, things aren‟t

          what they appear to be.”

          London scoffed. “Ain’t that the fuckin‟ truth.”

So glad I got this ARC, I have not had this much of a laugh or gotten surprised by book endings in a long time. Hope you liked my fair and honest review.

Happy Reading😊