The latest addition to my Hard Case Crime Collection, which is soon going to need its own bookcase, Fast Charlie (published as Gun Monkeys in 2001) is a caper story about mobsters in Florida. Charlie Swift is the enforcer for a man called Stan, an old-style boss who is also getting old. Beggar Johnson from Miami wants to add Stan's Orlando operation to his portfolio. If need be, it will be a hostile takeover. The FBI wants Beggar Johnson. Charlie, meanwhile, ends up in possession of Beggar Johnson's account ledgers, which all parties want. All parties therefore want Charlie. Some are more hostile than others. None, though, are quite so hostile as Charlie when his mother and kid brother are theatened.
This was Gischler's award-winning debut and it's easy to see why. It starts with many bangs and keeps on banging. The dialogue is crisp, the action fast, all leavened by a sardonic first-person narrative from Charlie. I enjoyed it hugely.
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