Before turning in one night this past summer, I picked up my
reader and skimmed the first few paragraphs of SKULL MEAT by Tom Leins. It had
been a long day and I didn’t think I would be awake for very long.
Thanks to Tom Leins I didn’t get any sleep.
I couldn’t put it down. Tom’s writing is kinetic and
fast-paced, perfectly suited for the break-neck feeling of this novelette.
Start reading a few lines and the next thing you know it’s well past the
witching hour. SKULL MEAT delivers dirty, British crime at its best. Descriptive.
Violent. Bloody. Grotesque. Wait until you meet 'Swollen' Roland. I loved it!
The story goes…
Meet Joe Rey. Joe is a tough guy hired to sort out problems
for unseemly businessmen and violent crime-leaders. His latest brutal assignment
comes with a few complications, however, and soon a game of cat and mouse
ensues. Rey tears through his seedy seaside hometown of Paignton, with his
trusty pig-knife, dealing justice or vengeance. Joe is as tough as the streets
he walks.
 |
| Charming, quiet beach towns will never look the same. |
Perhaps the most intriguing character in the novelette is
the setting, Paignton. Leins admittedly gives the burg an “apocalyptic edge”
and in doing so creates a depressing setting with wildly dangerous characters
ready and willing to do anything. The danger feels life-changing, bigger than
the town.
The next time you day-trip to your nearest quaint beach town,
I guarantee you’ll be checking around corners and avoiding alleys.
SKULL MEAT has mobsters, ex-cons and unscrupulous undesirables.
It’s a grimy tale, disconcerting in a thrilling way. You may feel a little
dirty after reading, but it is worth the guilt. Realistic violence and snappy
dialogue keep the story moving at a scary pace.
Former film critic and current rapscallion, Tom Leins is one
of the best voices in British crime writing, well known for his short stories and
flash fiction. He’s been published by the likes of Akashic Books, Shotgun
Honey, Near to the Knuckle, Flash Fiction Offensive, Horror Sleaze Trash and
Spelk Fiction.
Currently he is working on a collection of wrestling-themed tall
noir tales and finishing REPETITION KILLS YOU, a project he has described as a “literary
jigsaw puzzle.” Not one to rest he is also completing another novella in the
Paignton series, BONEYARD DOGS.
If you like your stories down and dirty, you need to put
SKULL MEAT on your TBR list.
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