Required Reading

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Sunday, July 1, 2012

Ex-Kop by Warren Hammond




This book brings new meaning to gritty.  Set on Legarto, a planet with few resources and a failed economy, you can feel the despair.  An ex-cop finds his wife and life threatened by former friends and struggles with his own identity. 

Hammond truly creates an environment that makes your skin crawl.  I found myself looking for one of his ubiquitous towels to dry my head.   Periodically I found myself scratching or shooing away a gecko.   The scene is set with detail to the despair of the inhabitants.   

Juno is a protagonist in a major anti-hero pattern.   He is not a very nice person but Mr. Hammond leads you to believe that he is who he is for the sake of survival.   Juno as a protagonist is counter pointed by Maggie who is a breath of fresh air in a cesspool. 

This book is in the vein of the old Mickey Spillane type of hard nose detective except that Juno would eat Mickey Spillane’s lunch.  This is not a book for the faint of heart.  The language and depictions of deprivation are graphic and detailed.  They do fit the story line and thus in my opinion are not just gratuitous displays of violence.   I will be reading the next in the series, it does captivate.  I want to know what will happen next, although this stands alone quite well.   

I must commend Hammond for his inclusion of a back story.  Too often a 2nd or successive book leaves you wondering how things got to where they are.   He makes it clear how Juno got to where the story begins. 
I recommend it.

Body of  work of <a type="amzn" >Warren Hammond </a>
Web Site: http://warrenhammond.net/


This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

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