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Book Review : Josh Stallings - Out There Bad (2011)


Country: USA

Genre: Hardboiled

Pages: 241



Praise the Lord (or Satan, maybe), only six months after the publication of the very solid BEAUTIFUL, NAKED AND DEAD, there was already another Moses McGuire novel out. It was love at first sight for Moses and me, last Spring when I read this bleak and desperate tale of a big, strong man with a heart too tender for the life he was living. Fueled by loneliness and a sensitivity you don't often see in hardboiled character, Moses took action to make amends about his past mistakes, but also to make amends with himself, so that he could sleep at night. I loved every second of it. The second volume of his adventures, OUT THERE BAD, came out to raving reviews and the word out was that it surpassed the first novel in every way. While I thought it was incredibly hard to do, I jumped into OUT THERE BAD like a kid on his presents at Christmas Eve. Did it held up to its praising reviews? Almost. While I don't think it was "better in everyway" I thought it was as competent as BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD and exposed us to a different side of Moses.

A few months after the events of the first novel, Moses is still working at the club. He catches a young Russian stripper blowing a client in the parking lot and like the good hearted bouncer he is, proceeds to thoroughly kick that client's ass. Well, believe it or not, it gets Moses fired by Uncle Manny and sends him reeling and finding solace in another stripper's arms in another club where he undoubtedly falls in love. The stripper Anya is being schooled in the ways of the world the hard way and sees in Moses a guy who seems to be decent as well as being a highly trained killing machine. She hit the jackpot, because that's exactly what Moses is. She needs him to find her sister who has disappeared on her way to L.A from Yaroslavl, Russia. Since Moses is on a mission to save the little beauty left in this shit world, of course he accepts. He also proceeds to anger the Russian mafia, which is the equivalent of singing your own death warrant.

I found OUT THERE BAD to be quite different from its predecessor BEAUTIFUL, NAKED AND DEAD. While in the first one, he was brooding a lot on his condition (what made him so endearing to me), he's way too busy to do that here. OUT THERE BAD is the proverbial shit-storm. Moses walks into it like a pilgrim in the desert and manages to find some incredibly resourceful people along the way. Of course, Gregor is still there, along his side being his badass self, but he meets some joyfully deranged fellows that join his crusade. OUT THERE BAD is a fast paced riot of a novel. That's what makes its charm because you can't really look away, step over a line or space out. The language of Josh Stallings is simple, yet it keeps you trapped on the page, yearning for more. It's quite the feat that only the greatest pulp writers from the forties and fifties could achieve. 

If I had to chose which one of OUT THERE BAD or BEAUTIFUL, NAKED AND DEAD was m y favorite, I'd go with the first one because it's darker and more atmospheric as the second volume is more of a relentless action galore. It's paced like a shotgun blast and will have you finish it in one or two sittings. OUT THERE BAD is another stone set in Moses McGuire legacy as it exposes his skills when war is raging around him, like Kikuchiyo in Akira Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI. The alienation slowly dissipates as tension rises and in the middle of a bullet storm, running for his life, Moses is at his very best. If you're looking to get into Moses McGuire, I would suggest you start with the first novel that is a tremendous character study on the guy, but if you liked it and yearn for more, then OUT THERE BAD is the next logical step for you. A fun barnburner of a novel.

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