| Title | : | Texas Two-Step |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781310613210 |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | Published April 2, 2018 |
When their last out-of-state distributor gets busted by an Illinois task force, they’re left with no choice but to turn to their reckless former associate Elroy “Sancho” Watts to unload one last crop down in Teller County, Texas.
But Sancho Watts has troubles of his own in the form of Texas Ranger Russ Kirkpatrick, tasked under the table with nailing Watts for anything that will stick because of his involvement in the drug-induced suicide of a state senator’s son.
Not to mention his infamous new business partner, Heisman quarterback and NFL burnout Bobby Burnell, a man working to rise from the ashes of his self-destructed football career by making a name for himself in his criminally inclined Teller County family, no matter who he has to double-cross to get there.
What ensues is a pine-curtain criminal jamboree where everyone involved keeps their cards close to their vest, and all the high-stakes two-stepping is sure to result in bloodshed.
Praise for TEXAS
“Tough and taut, Texas Two-Step packs a punch. Michael Pool delivers.” —Sam Wiebe, award-winning author of Cut You Down
“ Texas Two-Step is a shotgun marriage between the Coen brothers and Joe Lansdale. Come for the gun-slinging, drug-dealing hijinks, but stay for the witty characterizations and whip-crack plotting that drives this humdinger to its action-packed denouement. Michael Pool follows up on every ounce of promise he’s shown so far as one of Texas crime fiction’s hottest rising star. Make room on your bookshelf for Texas’ own Elmore Leonard!” —Eryk Pruitt, author of Dirtbags , Hashtag , and What We Reckon
“Michael Pool’s Texas Two-Step is a gritty adventure in the spirit of True Romance and Savages , filled with weed, bullets, double-crosses, and even a messy sort of redemption.” —Nick Kolakowski, author of Slaughterhouse Blues and A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps
“Michael Pool spins a story that’s got kick. Take a couple of desperate pot growers and a truckload of weed crossing state lines, throw in a gauntlet of thugs, losers and backstabbers, along with law enforcement watching and listening in, and you’ve got Texas Two-Step . A story that’s got pace, terrific characters and some unexpected turns. Everything you want in a crime novel.” —Dietrich Kalteis, award-winning author of Zero Avenue , House of Blazes , Triggerfish , The Deadbeat Club and Ride the Lightning
“Some things, once you get into them, they’re hard as blue blazes to get out of. I would count Michael’s book as one of them. It’s almost impossible to put down, and, even when you finish it, it won’t let go of you. They say to write what you know. If Michael followed that line of reasoning, I’m a little worried about him. I hope he makes out alright.” —Tim Bryant, author of the Dutch Curridge series
“Michael Pool’s spot-on descriptions in this crime caper make for a good read with its own voice.” —Earl Javorsky, author of Down Solo and Trust Me
Texas Two-Step Reviews
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Cooper Daniels has come up with a sure fire plan. Take the marijuana he and his buddy, Davis, has grown and processed, stuff it in some furniture, load that furniture and a bunch of other assorted junk into one of those container units, and ship it down to Texas. Let somebody else do the high risk deed of driving the pot across state lines. Legalized pot in Colorado is killing their ability to sell his illegal weed. The market is collapsing around their ears and being the brains of the duo, it is up to Cooper to get them out of their latest problem. A problem made massively worse thanks to a taskforce in Chicago that busted the guy he was going to sell his latest thirty pounds of high quality weed.
Things are changing and Cooper and Daniels are struggling to keep up. The old network is going under thanks to the wave of marijuana legalization sweeping the country. Cooper and Davis aren’t getting the bucks they are used to which is killing their life style. A life style built on concerts, parties, and getting blasted while staying at the best places and having the time of their lives. It has been grand, but they are getting older and things are changing in many ways.
In one last desperate attempt to get a big pay day, Cooper reaches out to an old contact down in Teller County, Texas. Elroy “Sancho” Watts is thrilled to hear from Cooper and is willing to work a deal. Neither Cooper or Davis wants to go back home to their old Texas stomping grounds, but the plan is to get in, do the deal, and get out of Texas as fast as possible and for good reason.
One of the many things they don’t know is that things have changed in a major way in Texas as well. One of those changes is the involvement of a man known to one and all as Bobby Burnell. Known to folks as “Bobby Burnout” for good reason the man is a human disaster zone. Involved in the deal, he as well as Sancho and several other folks are under the watchful eyes of local and state law enforcement. All of this and more means trouble, often at the point of a gun, for all involved.
Published by Down & Out Books, Michael Pool’s latest crime fiction feast, Texas Two-Step is a high octane ride. Shifting through various characters it becomes clear as the read powers towards a deadly confrontation that nearly everyone involved has dirty hands. Some are just a little worse than others.
As he did in other reads, author Michael Pool quickly pulls the reader in to a crime fiction tale populated by complex characters doing their best in their own ways to get through that brings far more trouble than one would expect on the surface when the decision happens. Texas Two-Step is an intense read that works on every level. Highly recommended.
Texas Two-Step
Michael Pool
http://www.michaelpool.net
Down & Out Books
http://www.DownAndOutBooks.com
2018
ISBN# 978-1-946502-56-8
Paperback (also available in eBook format)
280 Pages
$16.95
Paperback review copy provided by Wiley Saichek of Saichek Publicity for my use to read and review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2018 -
I was not an admirer of Michael Pool’s novella DEBT CRUSHER, primarily for one reason: nearly nonexistent characterization. The antihero had no interests, no opinions, no past, no personality quirks, and seemed almost chemically leached of color. He was nobody to which a reader could form any kind of emotional attachment.
I’m pleased to say that characterization is a particular strength of Pool’s first full-length novel, TEXAS TWO-STEP, which is flat-out terrific — a frothy, finely plotted blend of heart and hardboiled hullabaloo.
Cooper and Davis are a couple of Colorado-by-way-of-Texas hippies pushing thirty, and pushing up against the limits of growing and selling stellar but illegal weed in the legal-cannabis era. When Cooper’s girlfriend turns up pregnant, he promises her he’ll cash out of the life and go legit after he gets rid of his current supply.
The only buyer they can find, however, is a coked-up Texas cowboy named Sancho, who partners up with Bobby Burnell, a Heisman Trophy winner turned drugged-out burnout and bottom-feeding crew member of a murderous crime family. But Sancho is in the crosshairs of a vengeful Texas state senator who is using Texas Ranger Russ Kirkpatrick as his one-man army against the dealer who sold his grandson a lethal dose.
Throw all of them in a blender, hit a random button, and watch the wackiness splatter the walls.
While the plotting has the crisp pearl-button-snap of plausible perfection, it’s the rich character notes that really lift TEXAS TWO-STEP above the merely pretty good. Cooper and Davis care about each other, and care about being better than they are. Sancho has no real menace in him, and Bobby doesn’t want to see anyone hurt either (except maybe his rageaholic crime-boss uncle). Kirkpatrick’s heart is elsewhere as well. All he wants at first is a Caribbean vacation. Then he meets the female deputy of a corrupt sheriff, who goes after his sexist assumptions, then goes after his ass in the happiest possible way.
TEXAS TWO-STEP holds up well alongside other bawdy-with-a-body-count books, like Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap & Leonard stories, Johnny Shaw’s Jimmy Veeder Fiascos, Jeffery Hess’s Scotland Ross tales, and virtually anything by Steve Brewer, Eric Beetner and Elmore Leonard. This is the first of a series, and Michael Pool is one to watch. -
Reminiscent of Elmore Leonard with the flawed characters and realistic dialogue, this is a wild ride through the backwoods of Texas. Had a blast reading this and am looking forward to more from Pool and this Teller County series.
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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
TEXAS TWO-STEP by Michael Pool (published April 2, 2018 by Down Out Books) is a wild romp involving criminals, lawmen (some are good, and some are crooked), and a whole lot of marijuana. Cooper and Davis are looking to sell one more load of some of Colorado's finest marijuana before they go straight. When their usual contact gets picked up in a raid, they turn to their old and unreliable friend Sancho. Sancho knows just who to sell the marijuana to -- ex-football player Bobby Burrell. Bobby 's uncle Troy is the head of the East Texas Mafia located in Teller County. Troy is also one scary maniac. Cooper, Davis, Sancho, and Bobby have a good plan in place, but it all goes haywire when Uncle Troy gets involved and decides that they're going to screw over Cooper and Davis so that they can get the marijuana and keep their money. Oh, and there's a Texas Ranger named Russ Kirkpatrick sniffing around. Kirkpatrick was tasked with taking Sancho down after Sancho was indirectly involved with the suicide of a Texas State Senator's grandson.
I found TEXAS TWO-STEP to be a fun read. At times it reminded me of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey. The main characters - while not always the most likeable of people - were engaging, realistic, and a tad bit crazy. The point of view switches almost every chapter between Cooper, Bobby, and Kirkpatrick. With the various points of view, the reader gets a well-rounded idea of everything that is going on. The descriptions were very vivid, and Pool brought East Texas to life on the page. Overall, it was an enjoyable read. -
In this novel of crimes, both petty and not-so, Michael Pool takes you from the laid-back atmosphere of Colorado, where marijuana growing, possession, and sale is legal to rural Teller County in East Texas where it definitely is not. The county’s official policy is strictly anti-pot, rigorously enforced by its long-time sheriff, Jack Gables, who is especially diligent if he isn’t getting a cut of the action.
Transplanted Texans Cooper Daniels and Trevor Davis, close friends from childhood, have been living in Colorado for years. They think of their Texas drug deal as just going home for a spell, but home has changed, and they’ll have to dance a pretty lively two-step to stay out of jail and, maybe, out of the cemetery.
Cooper believes it’s worth the risk of selling his organic crop to the sketchy Texas drug dealer, “Sancho” Watts, because he’s vowed this deal will be his last. He’s turning a new leaf and has sworn to acquire himself a legitimate career to please his pregnant girlfriend. If he doesn’t shape up, she’s leaving him.
Cooper and Davis seem like good-natured stoners, but Watts is a wild man. Some time before the story starts, Watts sold a psychedelic drug to the grandson of a Texas state senator, and the boy killed himself. Now the legislator wants revenge, and he’s tapped Texas Ranger Russ Kirkpatrick to get something on Watts—anything, just so it puts him in jail for a long stretch.
To Kirkpatrick, the senator is a pest with a strong sense of entitlement. But the politician is not letting go, and if Kirkpatrick doesn’t produce, he’ll be a Ranger no more. While he’d rather not have this assignment, he has it, and it leads him to Teller County where the sheriff is notorious for pulling in the welcome mat when out-of-town law enforcement arrives.
Sancho Watts has teamed up with a Teller County celebrity, and you’d have to appreciate how much Texans love their football to understand the full significance of this partnership. The young man is former University of Texas footballer Bobby Burnell who lost his budding pro football career in a freak accident.
The separate strands of the story move smoothly toward an inevitable showdown, the outcome of which could go a number of different ways, most of them disastrous. Focusing on the action, Pool is light on description, and he writes good, humor-laced dialog. This is a book for fans of how things are done in Texas. Big. Very big. -
Gritty Texas noir doesn't come grittier or more Texas than Mike Pool's Texas Two-Step, the first of Mike's Teller County series. When legalization of weed in Colorado lowers prices, two growers hatch a plan to sell their stash in East Texas. They soon learn that turning a quick profit can get complicated when you run afoul of a brutal Texas crime family, a crooked Sheriff, and the Texas Rangers. Twist follows twist and the action doesn't let up. Kick off your boots and grab a frosty Shiner Bock, because things are getting hot in Texas.
