leebeeloves's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
zzzrevel's review against another edition
4.0
Another entertaining read about Shake Bouchon and
Gina Clement. I compared the last one ("Gutshot Straight")
to sort of an Elmore Leonard romp but without as
much Leonard witty dialog. This one reads more
like a Carl Hiaasen romp complete with some
ridiculous (but fun) sequences. It's good.
And it seems like there could even be the possibility
for a third book. I hope so because I'll be there
waiting for it.
A Postscript: I do not recall the title of this book
ever appearing in the story. Anybody know why
it was called Whiplash River ?
Gina Clement. I compared the last one ("Gutshot Straight")
to sort of an Elmore Leonard romp but without as
much Leonard witty dialog. This one reads more
like a Carl Hiaasen romp complete with some
ridiculous (but fun) sequences. It's good.
And it seems like there could even be the possibility
for a third book. I hope so because I'll be there
waiting for it.
A Postscript: I do not recall the title of this book
ever appearing in the story. Anybody know why
it was called Whiplash River ?
carolsnotebook's review against another edition
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed Whiplash River by Lou Berney. It made me gasp and smile. It’s a romp, a caper, a slightly mad-cap thriller.
Opening line:
The view from the veranda was a killer.
A sugar-sand beach, palm trees, the Caribbean glittering beneath a full moon. A wooden pier curved out over the water, with a thatch-covered palapa perched at the end. Straight off a postcard.
Shake had bought the Sunset Breeze more than two years ago. You’d think he wouldn’t even notice the view any more, but he did. Every single time he stepped onto the veranda of the restatuant, his restaurrant, that was still his first though: Straight off a postcard.
Shake’s an ex-con who is trying to go straight. Unfortunatley, Shake’s one of those loveable guys that fate just seems to want to screw with, of course, his own decisions don’t help.
Shake’s Bad Ideas:
1.Going in debt to the local drug lord, Baby Jesus, to open his restaurant. Baby Jesus wants paid, and he wants paid on time. Tough to do when when your restaurant goes up in flames.
2.Turning to Quinn, an elderly man who is full of stories, when you’re in trouble. After all, he almost got killed in the middle of your restaurant and now the assassins are after you too, along with a gorgeous FBI agent who wants to nail your former employer, the Armenian mob.
3.Agreeing to a major score, stealing a historical American artifact currently in a collection in Egypt, conned into the heist by Quinn.
4.Bringing in your dangerous, and very attractive ex-girlfriend to help with above score. After all it’s impossible without her, isn’t it?
Yeah, not the best choices, but it does make for a great novel, where events just keep spinning farther and farther out of Shake’s control. You have to love Shake, he’s charming, handsome, one of the good guy crooks. Quinn is a mysterious man, you don’t know how much of his stories to believe, but you know he’s bound to get Shake into trouble. And Gina, the ex, is a strong woman, smart, lovely, better prepared for life than Shake by far, and Berney plays with the romantic connection well. Not only do you want Shake and Gina to pull off the score without getting caught, you want them back together by the end.
Exotic locales, a larger than life cast of characters, a fast-paced plot and snappy dialogue made this my favorite read of the summer so far. It made me laugh and cringe, a good combo.
Opening line:
The view from the veranda was a killer.
A sugar-sand beach, palm trees, the Caribbean glittering beneath a full moon. A wooden pier curved out over the water, with a thatch-covered palapa perched at the end. Straight off a postcard.
Shake had bought the Sunset Breeze more than two years ago. You’d think he wouldn’t even notice the view any more, but he did. Every single time he stepped onto the veranda of the restatuant, his restaurrant, that was still his first though: Straight off a postcard.
Shake’s an ex-con who is trying to go straight. Unfortunatley, Shake’s one of those loveable guys that fate just seems to want to screw with, of course, his own decisions don’t help.
Shake’s Bad Ideas:
1.Going in debt to the local drug lord, Baby Jesus, to open his restaurant. Baby Jesus wants paid, and he wants paid on time. Tough to do when when your restaurant goes up in flames.
2.Turning to Quinn, an elderly man who is full of stories, when you’re in trouble. After all, he almost got killed in the middle of your restaurant and now the assassins are after you too, along with a gorgeous FBI agent who wants to nail your former employer, the Armenian mob.
3.Agreeing to a major score, stealing a historical American artifact currently in a collection in Egypt, conned into the heist by Quinn.
4.Bringing in your dangerous, and very attractive ex-girlfriend to help with above score. After all it’s impossible without her, isn’t it?
Yeah, not the best choices, but it does make for a great novel, where events just keep spinning farther and farther out of Shake’s control. You have to love Shake, he’s charming, handsome, one of the good guy crooks. Quinn is a mysterious man, you don’t know how much of his stories to believe, but you know he’s bound to get Shake into trouble. And Gina, the ex, is a strong woman, smart, lovely, better prepared for life than Shake by far, and Berney plays with the romantic connection well. Not only do you want Shake and Gina to pull off the score without getting caught, you want them back together by the end.
Exotic locales, a larger than life cast of characters, a fast-paced plot and snappy dialogue made this my favorite read of the summer so far. It made me laugh and cringe, a good combo.
beckylej's review against another edition
4.0
If you like your mysteries with a whole lot of funny, you need to check out Berney's Shake Bouchon series!
Shake's dreams have finally come true! The ex wheelman is the proud owner of his very own restaurant in Belize. Course he had to take out a pretty big loan from the local drug lord, Baby Jesus, a man who wants his payments no matter what. And it's kind of bad for business when a guy comes in and shoots up the place one evening. But it's even worse when the whole restaurant explodes, leaving Shake with no source of income. Soon Shake finds himself on the run and picking up his old crime boots once again as he joins forces with his ex on a heist that could mean a serious score.
This is the second book in the series, though I've not had the pleasure of reading book one, Gutshot Straight. And oh, how I wish I had! Don't get me wrong, Whiplash River can definitely be read on its own and as an intro to the series without any issues, but it's clear that Shake has more of a story and now I want to know what it is!
So feel free to start with Whiplash and be prepared to run out and buy Gutshot as well.
Whiplash is sort of a caper mystery. There's a lot of play on Ocean's Eleven (and quite a few mentions of it) and the book is heavy on the humor, which is pretty great in my opinion. In truth, Whiplash River was the perfect weekend read for me. It's silly and a bit WTF?! at a few points, but it's pure entertainment (and would make a fabulous movie! I picture Peter Weller a la Dexter as Quinn!). Berney's dialogue in particular is witty and snappy. Paired with a quick pace it makes for an excellent one-sitting read. I'd recommend fixing up an umbrella drink and finding a good spot in the shade for this one: once you begin, you'll be hardpressed to stop before you reach the end!
Shake's dreams have finally come true! The ex wheelman is the proud owner of his very own restaurant in Belize. Course he had to take out a pretty big loan from the local drug lord, Baby Jesus, a man who wants his payments no matter what. And it's kind of bad for business when a guy comes in and shoots up the place one evening. But it's even worse when the whole restaurant explodes, leaving Shake with no source of income. Soon Shake finds himself on the run and picking up his old crime boots once again as he joins forces with his ex on a heist that could mean a serious score.
This is the second book in the series, though I've not had the pleasure of reading book one, Gutshot Straight. And oh, how I wish I had! Don't get me wrong, Whiplash River can definitely be read on its own and as an intro to the series without any issues, but it's clear that Shake has more of a story and now I want to know what it is!
So feel free to start with Whiplash and be prepared to run out and buy Gutshot as well.
Whiplash is sort of a caper mystery. There's a lot of play on Ocean's Eleven (and quite a few mentions of it) and the book is heavy on the humor, which is pretty great in my opinion. In truth, Whiplash River was the perfect weekend read for me. It's silly and a bit WTF?! at a few points, but it's pure entertainment (and would make a fabulous movie! I picture Peter Weller a la Dexter as Quinn!). Berney's dialogue in particular is witty and snappy. Paired with a quick pace it makes for an excellent one-sitting read. I'd recommend fixing up an umbrella drink and finding a good spot in the shade for this one: once you begin, you'll be hardpressed to stop before you reach the end!
turophile's review against another edition
3.0
You know what I hate? Reading along with a book I’m enjoying. You look down at the page count – hey about 40 pages to go. This is great. Boom, you hit an acknowledgements page. What the F? Why did they interrupt the book for this. And then you realize – nope. The book is over. Except you didn’t realize it was over because the e-reader is telling you that there are 40 pages left. Kinda leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the ending. Which is too bad, because that’s probably not the author’s fault.
Other than the stupidly abrupt ending, I enjoyed this book. Lou Berney is clearly channeling Carl Hiaasen. Tropical locale, larger than life, slightly criminal characters, humorous dialogue, situations straddling the probable/improbable line, middle aged guy who’s never quite got his life together, yet there’s a hot woman who still wants him.
Funny book. If you like Hiaasen, you’ll probably like this one. But damn – why did the publisher do that at the end.
3.5/5
Other than the stupidly abrupt ending, I enjoyed this book. Lou Berney is clearly channeling Carl Hiaasen. Tropical locale, larger than life, slightly criminal characters, humorous dialogue, situations straddling the probable/improbable line, middle aged guy who’s never quite got his life together, yet there’s a hot woman who still wants him.
Funny book. If you like Hiaasen, you’ll probably like this one. But damn – why did the publisher do that at the end.
3.5/5
joyfilledwander's review against another edition
4.0
When former American gangster for the Armenians, Charlie, or Shake as he prefers to go by, decides to start life over again, he picks Belize. A nice coastal town with a beach, a breeze, and a restaurant all his own. No chance of finding trouble here. But trouble finds Shake in Whiplash River by Lou Berney. A loan shark drug lord named Baby Jesus, an elderly man with a hit out on him, a lovely FBI agent, a former flame, and a couple with guns for hire keep this story running on all cylinders. It's action packed and laugh out loud funny. It's a rare book that can manage both well.
I flew this book, which I listened to as an audiobook, and loved it all. I couldn't stop listening. I found myself wanting to always know what would happen next. I love that in a good book!
I flew this book, which I listened to as an audiobook, and loved it all. I couldn't stop listening. I found myself wanting to always know what would happen next. I love that in a good book!
candyflynn's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
jamiereadthis's review
5.0
Ten hours flat, start to finish. Ten hours and I stopped to eat lunch and to eat dinner and that was the problem! Both were food that took both hands and how could I eat but also keep reading?
If I really, really liked Gutshot Straight, I loved loved loved this one. This guy is— hang with me here— the William Gay to Elmore Leonard’s Cormac McCarthy. At first glance, he’s got Elmore’s language, he’s onto the master’s tricks. But any look closer and it’s not even close to imitation. It’s not even homage. It may be a debt owed but he’s doing something so completely his own, from his own heart and guts, it’s in another zipcode.
And this zipcode is my zipcode, you better believe it. There are Shake and Quinn who joke about Faulkner and Don Quixote and Ten Wanted Men. Baby-faced crime bosses named Baby Jesus who read The Four Hour Workweek to decide if they should shoot their gun thug for putting a scratch on their boat. There’s twists and flips and triple-crosses and I laughed out loud and chewed my nails and held my breath and got choked up until I had to look away and blink to see the page. The crackling chemistry Shake had with Gina is missing but you don’t even notice until the halfway mark and holy shit, the hot blue spark is back. Then it’s just two Evinrude motors, full bore, breakneck.
Plus this time, there’s a lady Fed with a SIG Sauer and Cairo, Egypt and Terry and Meg, my darling Meg. The plot’s a little tighter. The love’s a little deeper. There’s bullshit by the metric ton but all the earnestness a heart can hold and there’s not a trace of anything ironic or detached within a square mile. Everybody’s self-aware and badass and scared shitless and bold and smart and dumb and funny and unexpectedly deep, all of my favorite things in a person.
Like Elmore said, a sequel’s got to be better than the original or it’s not gonna work. This one proved the first one wasn’t a fluke. Now I just wish Berney’s catalog was already sixty deep so I could read so much more.
P.S. Nice with the hat tip to Ted Griffin via Shake and Gina’s bit on the writer of Ocean’s Eleven. (“The one with Sinatra, you mean?”)
- - -
Re-read September 2013: I was going to read this a second time, longer and slower this time. I guess I did. It lasted two days. So then I tried a third time and finally did it, taking a whole week to savor the fun.
I wouldn’t even know how to explain how to push all my buttons, but boy, this sure does. Quinn and Meg and Terry and Shake and Gina! I could grab this book and pick a chapter, any chapter, any time I want to brighten my day.
It’s goddamn delightful. It might be one of the books I read most this year.
If I really, really liked Gutshot Straight, I loved loved loved this one. This guy is— hang with me here— the William Gay to Elmore Leonard’s Cormac McCarthy. At first glance, he’s got Elmore’s language, he’s onto the master’s tricks. But any look closer and it’s not even close to imitation. It’s not even homage. It may be a debt owed but he’s doing something so completely his own, from his own heart and guts, it’s in another zipcode.
And this zipcode is my zipcode, you better believe it. There are Shake and Quinn who joke about Faulkner and Don Quixote and Ten Wanted Men. Baby-faced crime bosses named Baby Jesus who read The Four Hour Workweek to decide if they should shoot their gun thug for putting a scratch on their boat. There’s twists and flips and triple-crosses and I laughed out loud and chewed my nails and held my breath and got choked up until I had to look away and blink to see the page. The crackling chemistry Shake had with Gina is missing but you don’t even notice until the halfway mark and holy shit, the hot blue spark is back. Then it’s just two Evinrude motors, full bore, breakneck.
Plus this time, there’s a lady Fed with a SIG Sauer and Cairo, Egypt and Terry and Meg, my darling Meg. The plot’s a little tighter. The love’s a little deeper. There’s bullshit by the metric ton but all the earnestness a heart can hold and there’s not a trace of anything ironic or detached within a square mile. Everybody’s self-aware and badass and scared shitless and bold and smart and dumb and funny and unexpectedly deep, all of my favorite things in a person.
Like Elmore said, a sequel’s got to be better than the original or it’s not gonna work. This one proved the first one wasn’t a fluke. Now I just wish Berney’s catalog was already sixty deep so I could read so much more.
P.S. Nice with the hat tip to Ted Griffin via Shake and Gina’s bit on the writer of Ocean’s Eleven. (“The one with Sinatra, you mean?”)
- - -
Re-read September 2013: I was going to read this a second time, longer and slower this time. I guess I did. It lasted two days. So then I tried a third time and finally did it, taking a whole week to savor the fun.
I wouldn’t even know how to explain how to push all my buttons, but boy, this sure does. Quinn and Meg and Terry and Shake and Gina! I could grab this book and pick a chapter, any chapter, any time I want to brighten my day.
It’s goddamn delightful. It might be one of the books I read most this year.
krista7's review
4.0
I have no idea how to rate this book. It's not a style I normally like and I sometimes wanted the book to be over already. (Like one character's ramblings, it felt like I wanted it to hurry up.) But yet--it was funny. The author had a great sense of absurdity, both of people and of life. And it had a certain madcap charm. So if you are interested in crazy people running around the world on one last great adventure, this might be the book for you.
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