Charles Ardai

Happy 20th anniversary to Hard Case Crime – and to me – because founder and author Charles Ardai has released a collection of 20 stories to celebrate Hard Case Crime’s first 20 years. And best of all: he’s written each and every one of them. Not sure what the proper noir word would be, but I’m just going to go with great, terrific, fantastic, amazing.

Not everyone likes short stories. As Ardai notes in the introduction, when people move from reading short stories to novels they usually don’t go back. But they should; as readers we forget that a short story isn’t just a skimmed down novel; it has all the elements of a novel, and if done right has power and laser focus. In a novel the author has time to ramble on, let the words lose a little of their impact and then circle back and pick it up again, but with a short story every word counts, you need to get to the point, to stick to the point, to make the point.

This is a collection of stories you’ll want to read right through, they are so compelling. Slow down, though. Don’t rush. Take your time and think about how these words have been put together, how they make a sentence, and how the sentences make these very compelling stories. Appreciate the crisp writing, crackling dialogue (to use one of the author’s words) and almost-can’t-believe-that-happened in every story; it’s apparent every word has been carefully chosen. These stories are edgy and will leave you a little unsettled. The endings are not always explicitly spelled out, there’s no, “And then he died. The end.” You know what happened. Well, you think you know, but maybe . . . maybe. You’re not quite sure. It’s perfect.

According to author Ardai, his stories are inspired by classic noir authors, and he has earned his place among them. Subjects, times, people, places vary but the common thread is complete satisfaction when done reading. The heroes (not sure there are actually any heroes) and villains are sometimes hard to identify. People get what’s coming to them. People try to do good deeds and it backfires. Horribly. Irrevocably.

And if you need a little chuckle in the midst of all your hard-boiled reading, think carefully about the title of the book: maybe natural death comes too late – and might need a little push?? Trust me, you have to read this book. The Hard Case Crime website is a regular stop of mine and I always have something on pre-order. Thanks to the author for providing an advance copy of Death Comes Too Late. My pre-order should also be arriving any minute now. Just one peek at the first story in the book and I had to have it. Plus, I love the way these books look on my shelves, and rereading is as much fun as the first time through. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.… (mais)

This volume's story continues directly on the volume 1.

As they say every action causes a reaction and here Joanna will find herself chased down by police and criminals holding her responsible for a series of assassinations that carry her very unique mark - weapons infiltrated in the places where it is impossible to have them. Only this time it is not just her being marked for execution, but everyone related to her.

Art is same and consistent with volume 1, a little bit more organized. Again I would prefer this to be black and white comic, but again .... that's me :)

Excellent continuation of Joanna's adventures, ends on rather high note and I am definitely on a lookout for future books.

Highly recommended to all fans of good old action adventure stories.… (mais)

This was a crazy ride.

Our protagonist, Joanna Tan aka Gun Honey, is a specialist in the way that she is capable of infiltrating any area and conceal the gun so it can be used by the person hiring her to execute their own mission.

I have to admit, very interesting concept, something I came across only in one novel where specialist (again woman) helps an interested party to infiltrate a prison to reach his target.

Considering this is pulp fiction, it delivered exactly what I was expecting - story worthy of good old action movies. You have everything here, origin story and tragedy, years spent working with guns and infiltrating highly secured areas and of course nefarious crime syndicates and government organizations trying to use Joanna for their own purposes.

Joanna is one busty lady, maybe little bit too busty :), I mean, I thunk that her proportions would be somewhat an obstacle for her line of business when it comes to execution of operations but OK, again this is pulp fiction and Joanna is 100 percent femme fatale, for females and for males :)
Again, comic sticks to its roots and does not try to be what is not. Accent is on the story, action, and whole bunch of twists and turns taking place that will keep the reader interested to the very end.

I am little bit mixed on art side - it is not bad but sometimes perspective and panels seem a little bit disorganized. Art style reminds me of old 70's action comics popular in Europe (Johhny Nero, Barracuda, Steel Claw etc) and I think it would be much, much better in black and white mode than colorized. But again this is my opinion, I generally prefer black and white comics than those in color.

Very interesting story and interesting new heroine to follow.

Recommended to all fans of good old action adventure stories.… (mais)