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Grinder

by Mike Knowles

Grinder is the second novel in a planned Hamilton mob trilogy starring tough guy Wilson, who constantly finds himself caught between divided loyalties, playing all sides against each other. The book is chock full of street-smart goings-on, which are entertaining and clever in a MacGyver kind of way – which is to say only that Wilson evinces a kind of regular-guy inventiveness; Hamilton-based Knowles’s authorial voice has nothing in common with cheesy 1980s TV. An elementary school teacher by day, Knowles is equal parts Richard Stark – for his use of the hood-with-honour character – and Kent Harrington – for the extreme, detailed, and gripping descriptions of violence.

It’s unfortunate that Knowles makes a number of motif choices that become authorial tics, if not completely unintended self-parodies. The human body does not have a sufficient number of digits to count the number of times the author has his characters smile or grin to indicate a turning of  the tables, and an excessive use of the word “animal” is exacerbated by an endless parade of metaphors involving beasts. It’s a short book, but this kind of stuff makes it feel longer, and not in a good way.

Still, Grinder stands as a marked improvement over Knowles’s debut, Darwin’s Nightmare, and delivers where it counts: plot. The story this time involves the disappearance of a gangster’s two loud-mouthed nephews. The proceedings threaten to be very by-the-numbers until Knowles cheats in a most satisfying manner. The book’s ending is unexpected, which is a welcome attribute. Its flaws notwithstanding, Grinder marks a decisive step forward from this developing writer.

 

Reviewer: Gary Butler

Publisher: ECW Press

DETAILS

Price: $24.95

Page Count: 220 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-55022-895-3

Released: Oct.

Issue Date: 2009-11

Categories: Fiction: Novels