If I were asked to describe Allan Guthrie's Killing Mum in one word, it would be "twisted". There were so many aberrant turns throughout the story that half the time I didn't know who, or what, to believe. It was a lot of fun, (and I'm not typically a fan of short stories or novellas).The story starts out with Carlos, our protagonist, receiving a commission to have someone killed...
The padded envelope contained a note and a bundle of cash. The note read:
Charlie-
advance for Valerie Anderson. You know her address. Second half of payment on completion of job.
We quickly find out Valerie Anderson happens to be Carlos, AKA "Charlie's", mom, and, only two people call him "Charlie"...his mom and his wife. The question is, which one wants him mom killed? Carlos intends to find out. And when he enlists his wife and a young friend he occasionally hires as a hit man to help him, things get very interesting and Carlos may be lucky to walk away with his sanity.
Killing Mum is only about 96 pages long and only available in ebook format. It's a nice quick way to get introduced to a new author that will keep you reading until the very last moment, and then make you want to know more. And at .99 cents, you can't beat the price.
Killing Mum
6 comments:
It's a cracker and s spin-off from Guthrie's novel, Savage Night. If you liked Killing Mum you should give Savage Night a shot.
Paul, thanks for the tip, I will check it out.
That's a great review, Glenna. Thank for taking a shot on it. Can I ask if you think it might make you more likely to read shorter fiction in the future?
Allan, thanks for stopping by. I don't know if I'm more likely to read short stories in general or not, but I didn't really avoid them as much as I would start one only to get fustrated by so much having to be left out in the interest of keeping it short. With Killing Mum I found myself enjoying the pace and the guessing of what was really going on.
Sounds like a great read - I need to read a couple of novellas for a challenge, will have to look this one up.
Carrie, I really liked, and I don't say that about too many novellas, even by the authors I might normally read. It's definitely worth checking out.
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