Remember the Batman cartoon from the 90s. In that cartoon people carried cell phones and used computers but the cars all had chrome and the thugs wore pinstriped suits. It took place in it's own world which was grounded in several time periods of noir.
Brian Drake's "Bullet for One" takes place in a similar hardboiled world. The action is contemporary but the attitude is pure postwar paperback. PI John Coburn's partner, Felix, has been murdered while protecting a witness and Coburn is gunning for the ones who did it. He's got connections with the local police who help keep the FBI investigation from getting in the way while he also protects witnesses and Felix's family. What Coburn uncovers involves government corruption, mob ties and a stolen videotape full of women who have turned up dead.
This might've read like a men's adventure retread but Drake gives the supporting characters personalities of their own and a plot more complex than any old time paperback.
What the author really excels at is action sequences. Fights with fists, guns and knives are expertly described in a way that really draws the reader into the action and makes these scenes come alive.
This book makes a perfect companion read to Drake's heist/doublecross/massacre novel "Justified Sins."
Click away.
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