Slide is the second in Bruen and Starr's Max & Angela Trilogy and every bit as much fun as the first (see Bust, reviewed 30.11.25). Max, broke and unemployed, finds himself in an Alabama motel celebrating July 4 being shagged by a Chinese guy. Angela is back in Ireland, having spent the money she stole from Max, and back on the game. But every setback is the prelude to a new opportunity. Max figures out that the desk clerk at the Golden Star Motel is selling crack and muscles in on the game; Angela gets picked up by a wannabe serial killer who goes by the soubriquet Slide.
Obviously, things are not always coming up roses. Detective Miscali still wants Max for the murder of his partner in Bust, and Slide's slapdash methods force him and Angela to gravitate back to New York, where Max is happily turning on his contacts from the computer business to the wonders of crystal meth. But Kyle, the desk clerk, comes to the Big Apple with news that his Colombian friends want to meet Max in person. Max's live-in lapdancer Felicia plans to hijack the meeting with her cousin Sha Sha and at the same time briefs Detective Miscali on the meet. Kyle, a little naive, has been introduced to the wonders of sex by both Felicia and Angela. They in turn have been introduced to Kyle's prodigious member, which in itself becomes a plot point in the tale.
What can possibly go wrong? It's a question that obviously answers itself.
Like I say, great fun. I've still got the third part, The Max, to read in this collected version from Hard Case Crine. They also do Pimp by Bruen and Starr and at least one solo work by Starr. Hard Case however have got a new issue by Joyce Carol Oates, whose The Triumph of the Spider Monkey first introduced me to the publishing house, due out any day now. That, I feel sure, will be my next acquisition.
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