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Book Review: Money Shot by Christa Faust
Jul. 16th, 2012 10:38 pmTitle: Money Shot
Author: Christa Faust
Published: New York: Dorchester Publishing Co., 2008
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 250
Total Page Count: 114,053
Text Number: 330
Read Because: Author mentioned in Poppy Z Brite's Are You Loathsome Tonight?, purchased from Powell's
Review: When retired pornstar Angel Dare agrees to do a favor for a friend, she ends up left for dead in the trunk of a car. Her search for retribution and an explanation will be rude, rough, and dirty. Money Shot is blatantly pulpy, and as a result it's not to my taste but it is compulsively readable—one of my few successful encounters with summer/light/beach/popcorn books. But this pulpiness comes twin with a bold and welcome intensity: dark, violent, and frequently just gross, with surprisingly complex characters, there's no remarkable depth but there is at least enough weight to ground the book and give it body. As a pleasant bonus, its seedy and often problematic content—rape, porn, prostitution—aren't horribly handled. Money Shot is an intentionally unpleasant read while remaining addictively accessible, a fine balance between the gritty and the pulpy of crime fiction. That doesn't mean I recommend it, because it's nothing more than that: satisfying but cheap and easy entertainment; no one should go out of their way to read it—but if you already are, then no harm in seeing it through.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Christa Faust
Published: New York: Dorchester Publishing Co., 2008
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 250
Total Page Count: 114,053
Text Number: 330
Read Because: Author mentioned in Poppy Z Brite's Are You Loathsome Tonight?, purchased from Powell's
Review: When retired pornstar Angel Dare agrees to do a favor for a friend, she ends up left for dead in the trunk of a car. Her search for retribution and an explanation will be rude, rough, and dirty. Money Shot is blatantly pulpy, and as a result it's not to my taste but it is compulsively readable—one of my few successful encounters with summer/light/beach/popcorn books. But this pulpiness comes twin with a bold and welcome intensity: dark, violent, and frequently just gross, with surprisingly complex characters, there's no remarkable depth but there is at least enough weight to ground the book and give it body. As a pleasant bonus, its seedy and often problematic content—rape, porn, prostitution—aren't horribly handled. Money Shot is an intentionally unpleasant read while remaining addictively accessible, a fine balance between the gritty and the pulpy of crime fiction. That doesn't mean I recommend it, because it's nothing more than that: satisfying but cheap and easy entertainment; no one should go out of their way to read it—but if you already are, then no harm in seeing it through.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
