#56: Slow Bear by Anthony Neil Smith

 A former cop on a North Dakota Indian reservation tries to follow his tarnished code of ethics, but his own phantoms keep getting in the way, in Anthony Neil Smith's relentlessly grim noir Slow Bear.

Smith is a tough-minded crime writer who sets his books in bleak midwestern settings.  This short, blistering novel seems to be the first of a series (or has a pretty nihilistic ending).  

In it, Micah "Slow Bear" Cross, wounded physically and emotionally, is at the dead end of a dead-end town but gets modest comfort from a bartender he befriends.  When misfortune befalls her, Cross sets out to tackle a crime boss, with fatalistic results.

I would think this blog's readers, seeing the adjectives I've used above, would understand that this is as black a chunk of noir as you come across in contemporary writing.  If not, fair warning.  

Enjoyable for crime fans who like their narratives as dark.

I bought this from Fahrenheit Press and read it quickly.

#11: Cold As Hell by Anthony Neil Smith

A virus gets loose in a snowstorm, pitting our protagonist (who is blessed/cursed with being able to see evil in others) with his grandpa's trusty axe against a legion of foes in Anthony Neil Smith's Cold As Hell.

This horror/thriller is the latest in the Dead Man series, an easily-digestible ebook collection--by various authors--centered on the premise of a drifter rooting out evil as he wanders the countryside.  This entry read much less like a Dead Man book (which often center around a fiendish antagonist called Mr. Dark) and more like a standalone thriller with some of the series parameters bolted on.

But it is still a fun read, as our hero--stranded with other drivers and various characters along a desolate stretch of interstate--contend with containment of the virus as well as its impact on the victims.

I selected this one, like the previous one I read by Christa Faust, because of interest in the author, and found his writing enjoyable.

I have liked this series for the most part and borrowed this one for my beloved Kindle, reading it quickly.