Hawaiian Shirt Guy" is scared out of his mind, cowering as deeply as he can into the plastic upholstered booth of The Dirty Pickle, a pub which lives up to its name. Why he's afraid and what's to come opens Volume 1 of the "Drunken Fool Thrillers" with a bang as Shirt Guy is threatened and an ex-Army Corporal well into his cups reluctantly decides to take action. His reward for stopping a murder? Arrest.
Pair an alcoholic ex-military soon-to-be-divorced man who struggles to help his addicted brother with a teen witness on the run who is sought by cops and killer alike, add a liberal dose of alcohol into the story line, and shake them up for a story of murderers and vengeance which moves well beyond singular purposes to involve an entire city in a desperate hunt and a cat-and-mouse game.
Fool Whiskey Hero's point of view alternates between third person observations of teen Nyla's life and purposes and first-person Grady's experiences, and this not only keeps the story alive and kicking, but easily clarifies whose perspective is being featured in its alternating chapters.
As a smart wife becomes involved over her head and a video's contents link them all, tension builds in a series of encounters that clearly defines both characters and their environments using precise, immediate language: "Again and again, Nyah played the video. Maybe this time the men aren't in the alley or the other cop doesn't show up. Maybe her Father doesn't arrive or when he does he isn't betrayed. Maybe he isn't shot or doesn't die. Maybe this time, her world doesn't end. Each time she prays it turns out different.
But it doesn't, it never does. Nyah lost count how many times she watched that video while leaning against her mother's tombstone."
Driven by the nitty-gritty emotions of its characters, Fool Whiskey Hero succeeds in not only exploring events, but examining the psychology driving interpersonal interactions and choices: "I have hated and loved Reece alternately all our lives. I'd wanted to kill him at times, but there were also moments when I wanted to hug him till it hurt. He was my brother. Reece was there for all my favourite moments as a child. He was beside me for every beating the old man ever laid on me. We were linked. I knew no matter what he'd always love me and need me."
The result is more than an action thriller: it's a very real human interest piece designed to attract readers who seek more from their stories than entertaining puzzles. Ultimately it's the human psyche that drives these experiences, and Fool Whiskey Hero is highly recommended for anyone looking for that special prize of emotional connection in a cracker-jack series of confrontations.
