I’ve read a lot of books featuring drunk detectives in my time and it’s not like I haven’t occasionally occupied a bar stool myself, but I needed a liver transplant by the time I finished this one.Private investigator detective Nick Valentine is asked to consult at the crime scene of an apparent suicide by his old boss, the police chief of St. Louis. Nick sets the tone for the rest of the book when he arrives with a glass of gin and snorts some oxy before going inside to talk to the cops. Howeve...

Funny, violent, and one-of-a-kind, everyone (but not their mother) should check out FRANK SINATRA IN A BLENDER. The story is fast and loose, but that's just how it should be. If it weren't rough around the edges, it wouldn't work. It would be like recording a really good punk band without any distortion. Writing isn't about perfect, it's about communication. And through his style, McBride tells exactly the story he set out to tell.The characters, locations, and actions never fall into familiar t...

Never in my life, I have read something even remotely similar. Frank Sinatra In A Blender redefines my notions of funny and brutal all at once. It makes every gangster movie Guy Ritchie ever made look like "The Sound Of Music" and it would have probably sent Raymond Chandler in therapy for many years if Matthew McBride would have lived back then. A mind-bending read and a whole lot of fun.

Frank Sinatra in a Blender. Now THAT is an eye-catching title! I was given the option to pick any novel from New Pulp Press in exchange for a review and when I read the title of Matthew McBride’s book, the choice was easy.Nick Valentine is the definition of a raging alcoholic. If there’s a bottle of booze within reach, you bet your ass he’s going to down it. Same goes for painkillers, cocaine and any other drug he can get his hands on. Nothing appears to be off limits. If not for the fact that

Reading this novel was the most fun I've had in months.I never can do justice to the plots in the books I review so forgive me my limitations.This slim, 200 page novel is an action packed, character driven, hyper-violent caper number that mixes equal measures of Donald E. Westlake/Richard Stark, Elmore Leonard, Charlie Stella, Scott Phillips, with a dash of Mickey Spillane tossed in.Former cop Nick Valentine is an alcoholic beverages and pain-killers enthusiast. He works as a private investigato...

What a great read. This was like discovering a new Westlake or Leonard. Bad men behaving badly. The protagonist is like the Hunter S. Thompson of crime.

Modern pulp noir, well crafted, with characters who shock and entertain.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.A dirty, gritty, drug/sex/alcohol filled hard-boiled detective romp through the seedy underground of modern day St. Louis. Almost every character, good and bad, have their fair share of vices - enough, at times, to make Dashiell Hammett blush.Not for everyone, but if you like a quick read and do not mind detective stories with graphic violence and thinly veiled (and rampant) sexual innuendo, give this one a go.

3.5 StarsHow ex-cop-turned-investigator Nick Valentine even makes it through the day on two feet, let alone solve mysteries, is beyond me. The drunk private dick is a mystery cliche that has been run into the ground for decades. But you haven't truly read a book about a heavy-drinking detective until you've read Frank Sinatra in a Blender. Nick Valentine, our protagonist with a liver made of concrete, is called in to help investigate the "suicide" of a banker. Soon, he discovers that the body is...

Frank Sinatra in a Blender by Matthew McBride has been on my TBR pile for quite some time and it is one of those TBR books where after being read the reader asks him or herself what took so long. Nick Valentine is a former St. Louis police officer with direct ties to the current police chief and a lover of too much booze and too much dope. While with these flaws, Valentine still has a moral center when it comes to most things, but with other things, like dealing with nasty people, he prefers to

Jesus Christ, that was intense. If Guy Ritchie moved to St. Louis, pulled a reverse Madonna and lost the accent, this would be his newest movie. It would have to be produced by an indie company to keep all the violence and not cheesed up like a Wayne’s Brothers movie. And the result would be a cult classic that got spread through word of mouth and posts like, “Holy crap you have to watch this movie!” on Facebook.If this book were a cup of chili it’d be spicy ass chili. You’d take a bite then ins...

Down and dirty noir fiction that I read on my Kindle app while eating alone it restaurants. This proved at times not to be the wisest choice. The Frank Sinatra of the title is the protagonist's Yorkshire terrier, and yes there is a blender involved.The plot is pretty basic: Money stolen from a heist passes through many hands, several of which are eventually severed from their owners. Along with many other body parts. This is thanks to a duo of sadistic clean-up men who work for the comically idi...

I first heard about this novel some months back when it was reviewed on the Booked Podcast, thought it sounded really promising, then found a review copy in my mailbox one day. Two hundred and twenty Oxy-feuled pages later, this uproarious look at the underbelly of St. Louis may be one of my favorite reads of 2013. It at least has my favorite title of 2013.Nick Valentine, a St. Louis P.I.--don't forget functioning alcoholic and painkiller addict--gets called in to consult on what looks like a su...

Take Fear and Loathing, set in St Louis, and give the story a strong set of balls, and you've got some idea of what McBride is up to here. This story is not for everyone. If you are looking for unicorns and princesses, this is not for you. If you are looking for powerful, gritty, nasty stuff, step right in. Armored car robberies, doublecrosses, triple crosses, booze, more booze, pills, strippers, tough guys, torture, broken limbs, smashed faces, and in the middle of all this nonsense is Frank Si...

Nick Valentine is an unusual PI, working alongside the police to provide a link between the blue and the street rather than competing with them (as is the case for many a PI). That said, Valentine sure isn't a squeaky clean and lawful member of the community; he’s a perpetual drunk with his own agenda and in FRANK SINATRA IN A BLENDER, that agenda comprises of one simple factoid – getting rich quick off the idiocy of criminals. I was really impressed by FRANK SINATRA IN A BLENDER. Everything abo...

I'm a little conflicted. 'Frank Sinatra in a Blender' is a book that I was really enjoying right up until it was over, at which point, given even a couple of minutes to reflect I found myself with all these perturbing niggles adding up to the reader's equivalent of being left with a bad aftertaste.I can't be sure how much of that is by design. The book is clearly wallowing in some dark and depraved places with some sleazy, scummy people. There are no boy scouts here. But it's difficult to gauge

3.5 stars

I might have liked this more if (view spoiler)[little Frank hadn't been so horrifically injured by the bad guys (hide spoiler)]. I also felt like I needed a 12 step program for drug addiction and alcoholism just from reading about all the booze and pills and blow... I was super excited because the Intro to this is written by Ken Bruen, one of my favorite noir writers. I always felt sympathy or some degree of compassion for Bruen's Jack Taylor character. However, this guy, Nick Valentine, was som...

When you dial up the alcoholic ex-cop PI routine up to a 10, add a heavy dose of slapstick comedy and stupid criminals, this is what you get. Parts of this book are so much fun and very relatable, particularly the references to White Castle (my stomach churned just reading them). But this book desperately need a better editor. The first person perspectives from our protagonist were well-written but the 3rd person narratives from the bad guys felt too similar. There’s a really good crime novel in...

Another thrilling read from McBride! Some really good (dark) laughs in the mix too.