Happy Tuesday book lovers!
Delighted to share with you today my review for this unique story! Many thanks to Emma for my invitation to the blog tour!💛
Tony is a handsome young boxer forced into a life of crime after suffering a vicious blow in the ring.
Seduced by the glitz and glamour of London and mentored by charismatic gang lord Don March he rises rapidly up the crime ladder until he spies an opportunity to start a semi-legit Natural Highs business.
Bankrolled by an eccentric British dandy and accompanied by a cast of starry misfits including a 3ft tall blue-haired money man, an Etonian drug mule, two dominatrix debt collectors, a dodgy lawyer and a host of demi-celebs, Tony carves out a roll for himself in a city where money creates its’ own morality.
All seems to be going well until in the shadows, a Bollywood mobster threatens to derail their plans.
Chaos ensues, of course it does – wonderful, beautiful, visceral chaos.
The deft wit of Hammett meets the vivid poetics of Chandler: Crack Apple and Pop is slick smart and razor sharp. A gritty and sometimes metafictive slice of London noir.
A city of artful dodgers, yardie gangsters, kinky aristos, cocaine dusted starlets and social thrill seekers where everyone’s hustling and everyone’s getting high.
Whether it’s law, finance, the music biz, or the boxing ring: money is king. And only the ones prepared to risk everything will survive…
My Thoughts
This was a unique look at greed and depravity… The writing style was very unusual, told in a somewhat lyrical fashion with many cultural pop references…. because I am a huge fan of pop culture this aspect of the book was definitely a lot of fun! Admittedly it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the story, but once I did I really enjoyed it….
You’ll watch Tony almost reach his dreams and then come crashing down…. where he falls is the gritty side of life, but a man needs to survive… this book took a satirical look at life on both sides of the aisle… and both sides of the tracks… I liked this because the book really had no agenda, but to make you see everything through different eyes…
Recommend for those of you who enjoy a book with an unusual delivery and mind opening content…
About Saira Viola:
Saira Viola is an acclaimed novelist, poet, and song lyricist. From her early poetic experimentation with language, image and sound (a technique she has dubbed sonic scatterscript) to her novelistic ventures into the dark, absurd world of contemporary crime fiction, Viola’s work pulses with iconoclastic brio that mischievously blasts the golden calves of our times. Literary Heavyweight Benjamin Zephaniah, has praised her ‘twisted beautiful imagination,’ and polymathic genius, Heathcote Williams (RIP) her ‘hypnotic explosive’, writing style. Twice Nominated for Best of The Net 2017 Pushcart Prize Nominee 2017 Rascal Magazine. Viola’s poetry collection Flowers of War debuted at the New York Poetry Festival and published by UB Press. Novels Jukebox (Fahrenheit Press) Crack Apple and Pop (Fahrenheit Press) Viola is a regular contributor to counterculture magazines Gonzo Today and International Times.
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sairaviola
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saira.viola/
Website: http://sairaviola.net/
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3161479.Saira_Viola?from_search=true
Purchase Links:
Fahrenheit Press: http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/books_crack_apple_and_pop.html
Published by:
Crack Apple & Pop was published by Fahrenheit 13, an imprint of Fahrenheit Press, on 12th June 2018.
