If you hear a book described as a taut, tough sexy thriller, you could maybe think of a million books and films that have been described this way, but rarely - if ever - deliver.
Crazy on You is a co-authored work by J Kahele of the stupendous Mine series, as well as the superb Facade. James Duncan is a UK based author.
Both styles come together to work in devastating fashion. James writes from the London base, making his character Archie Pope real, cocky, and likeable. Isabella is created from the Italian-American side, and it would be easy to say that Miss Kahele wrote all her lines.
The thing is, this co-authored book is so masterfully put together, the two writers may have well have been sitting side by side as they wrote.
I really wasn't sure if I would like Archie, he of The Pope Crew, a rather unsavoury set of London gangsters, who made me think of Dexter Fletcher in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. That film absolutely rocked, but things in this story pick up when the Crew jet off to New York to negotiate a deal with the brutal head of the Commatra family.
Sounds like Goodfellas and Casino rolled into one, right? I love both of those films, and this story put me back amongst those wiseguys. What perhaps is not so wise is Archie falling - big time - for Isabella - our New York crime bosses daughter.
It's clear these two have a link, and it sets in motion a chain of events that could destroy both crews, and tangle their lives into a loop that cannot be unravelled.
I'm not from Lahn-donn, but from Birmingham. We speak a bit differently here, although I don't really have a Brummie accent. Imagine if Toril from my Dark Winter series is told 'Toril bab, mind where yams putting that wand, yamorite love?'
That said, I was totally at home with the Cockney slang, and it's a fun part of the book to read. Perhaps where the book is at its strongest is in the writing of the Pope crew, who constantly 'take the mick' out of one another, whilst respecting each other (to a certain degree).
They arrive in the US, absolutely cock-sure of themselves. In US gangster films like GF and Casino, there is always that worry about upsetting another crew.
Not the Popes. They are nasty, brutal, and cool with it.
The 'hot' scenes, as ever from the author of Mine and Facade, are tastefully done and you get the real love Archie and Isabella have for one another.
Some may view the fact that Archie pretty much falls for Isabella the first moment he sees her as not for real - I can honestly say that some women can have that affect on men, and it's often more than just a lustful feeling.
From the start, Crazy on You has a different feel. Just how can one categorise this story? It's a gangster tale, a sexy romance, a suspenseful thriller (literally each page could have had someone blown away) and a comedy.
Some of the lines were truly laugh out loud:-
"If Al Pacino and Joe Pesci had taken a leak or two, hundreds of lives would have been saved."
You should read the book for more!
So take a bow, Mr Duncan and Miss Kahele. I'm Crazy on this book!
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