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"Russell James (grandiloquently named the "godfather of British noir" by Ian Rankin [the subject of our furth-previous tip]) is a writer of what he terms "low-life thrillers" and "crime novels." Well, take your pick of either variety, 'cause James does both quite nicely.
James' heroes are underdogs looking for something better or--if they can't get that--looking for revenge. His characters have been compared to those of American noir writer David Goodis (THE MOON IN THE GUTTER, SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER), whose books explore the lives of those who inhabit the gutter and revel in its "ambiguous charms." (Who can resist this great phrase from Maxim Jakubowski's review of James' OH NO, NOT MY BABY.)
COUNT ME OUT covers classic James territory: double crosses and playing both ends against the middle. In this novel, Jet Heywood is a boxer who's recovering--more or less--from a head injury while fighting with social services about his eight-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, Jet's brother has gotten mixed up with a bad crew and tangled up in an armored car robbery. The robbery's mastermind (who can resist a novel with a blimp-sized villain named Gottfleisch?) and his gang of killers are on the hunt for the brother with the stolen boodle, and Jet gets squeezed in the middle." - Duane Spurlock at www.emazing.com
"Full of good things ... Two of the most memorably drawn villains I've come across for quite some time ... A vivid evocation of life on the road with the travelling boxing booth ... An ending that will chill you to the bone." - Bob Cornwell in CADS.
"Excellent" - Drayton Bird.
"Awash with sleaze and excitement ... what I really liked about this book was the immediacy of the characters. The setting of a fairground added a magical quality and the plot kept me guessing till the end. It's different, original and well worth a read. I shall certainly be looking for more books by Russell James." - Lynda Ross in Tangled Web magazine.
"This is a bleak, uncompromising look at a hardscrabble underclass existence. Using a compressed, laconic prose style to great effect, James conveys a dark, suffocating world from which there is no escape and where, in fact, good intentions and well-laid plans are the surest route to disaster."
- Booklist (4/15/97 issue) included a mystery showcase, in which COUNT ME OUT received this *starred* review.
"Russell James is emerging as one of Britain's best Noir writers, producing dark, powerful novels with a distinctive South London setting. In his novels, humour and humanity flourish in strange places, accentuating - and occasionally redeeming - the bleakness of the setting. ... The combination of an honourable loner, a powerful narrative and an interesting specialist background suggests an unexpected parallel: the novels of Dick Francis." - Andrew Taylor in Tangled Web magazine
"James has created an entirely loathsome and creepy pair of criminals (bringing to mind Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in their roles in the MALTESE FALCON) who balance the plucky and admirable father-and-daughter team of Jet and Stella." - Publishers Weekly
"What a splendid offering ... The consistently high quality of Russell James's work must put him up amongst the elite of crime writers, and this book is no exception to his excellence ...This is a wonderfully evoked work in all aspects: pace, plot, characterisation and narrative are all excellent. An absolute must." - Steve Freeborn in A Shot In The Dark magazine.
"A very good writer ... a strong sense of realism" - Peter Walker in Crime Time magazine.
"Russell James's novels about south-east London gangland are stealthily emerging as one of the major bodies of work in British crime fiction. This latest may well be his best." - John Williams in the Mail On Sunday.
"COUNT ME OUT deftly combines chilling suspense and insightful characterization, leaving us both breathless and satisfied after a heart-stopping finale." - Peter Handel in San Francisco Chronicle.
"James is a British crime poet of lost souls and grey streets with all the empathy for the downtrodden of a David Goodis. His tale of two doomed brothers is as English as Graham Greene or Ted Lewis, and ranks as his best in ages. Relish the darkness." - Maxim Jakubowski in Time Out.