Crack Apple & Pop – Saira Viola
Tony is a handsome young boxer is forced into a life of crime after suffering a vicious blow in the ring.
Seduced by the glitz and glamour of London and mentored by charismatic gang lord Don March he rises rapidly up the crime ladder until he spies an opportunity to start a semi-legit Natural Highs business.
Bank-rolled by an eccentric British dandy and accompanied by a cast of starry misfits including a 3ft tall blue-haired money man, an Etonian drug mule, two dominatrix debt collectors, a dodgy lawyer and a host of demi-celebs, Tony carves out a life for himself in a city where money creates its’ own morality.
All seems to be going well until in the shadows, a Bollywood mobster threatens to derail their plans.
Chaos ensues, of course it does – wonderful, beautiful, visceral chaos.
The deft wit of Hammett meets the vivid poetics of Chandler: Crack Apple and Pop is slick smart and razor sharp. A gritty and sometimes metafictive slice of London noir.
A city of artful dodgers, yardie gangsters, kinky aristos, cocaine dusted starlets and social thrill seekers where everyone’s hustling and everyone’s getting high.
Whether it’s law, finance, the music biz, or the boxing ring: money is king. And only the ones prepared to risk everything will survive…
My thanks to Emma at Damppebbles for arranging the blog tour and to Fahrenheit Press for my review copy.
Fahrenheit Press release books which are dark, edgy, “noirish” and their regular readers love the unpredictable stories on offer.
Crack Apple & Pop is not going to be to everyone’s taste. It is cleverly written, loaded with lives and stories, anecdotes and glimpses into the lives of colourful characters but cosy crime fans will not embrace the darkness on offer here.
As a Scottish blogger I review a fair few Scottish crime thrillers – the biggest gripes I see about Scottish books I love is that “local dialect” upsets some of Middle England. Crack Apple & Pop is pure London (and not the pleasant BBC Radio 4 London voices). There is slang, drug references, gang culture and dozens of vulnerable lives being manipulated by the powerful.
The reader is taken to snapshots of different scenes, a return to the lead characters then an aside to a random encounter. Everything feels 100mph and there are so many incidents which may shock or amuse. I find it hard to do describe how it feels to read (as you can clearly see).
An example: the opening chapters are about a developing boxing career. The rhythm of the writing is amazing in that it is punchy, it weaves and bobs and bruises the reader then it is over and all slows and the pattern of writing changes.
This happens over the story – fast scenes are sharp, stacatto or spiked. Then slower, calmer scenes are detailed and comfortable. It is very cleverly done as it changes the feel of the story.
If you want to read a character driven book this has to be a contender. It is lives laid out for our inspection – these may not be happy lives so proceed with caution.
Crack Apple & Pop is published by Fahrenheit Press and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order a copy here: http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/books_crack_apple_and_pop.html
