Whiplash River audiobook

This is the second very entertaining novel from Lou Berney featuring Charles "Shake" Bouchon, who first appeared in Gutshot Straight in 2010. Shake is a former wheel man and ex-con who's determined to put his checkered past behind him. He's made his way to the Caribbean paradise of Belize and realized his life-long dream of opening a restaurant. It's a lot of work, and building a successful enterprise like this takes time and money. To make ends meet, Shake has borrowed money from a violent drug lord known as Baby Jesus. He's in danger of missing his next payment, and this could lead to serious problems. But this restaurant is a labor of love, and Shake couldn't be happier until one night a gunman barges into the restaurant in the middle of the dinner hour and attempts to shoot an elderly customer. Shake intervenes and saves the customer, breaking the gunman's nose in the process. But in doing so, he effectively blows up his own island dreams and puts himself in considerable jeopardy.The assassin's target is a gentleman of the old school named Quinn who appears to have stepped directly out of the pages of a Ross Thomas novel and onto the stage in this book. He claims to have been involved in nefarious adventures in various parts of the world over the years. Maybe he was with the C.I.A.; maybe he was on the other side of the law; maybe both. It's not exactly clear.Quinn attempts to enlist Shake in his next grand scheme and, against his better judgement, Shake agrees. What follows is an excellent adventure that sounds like a mash-up of Elmore Leonard and the aforementioned Mr. Thomas. There's action galore, exotic locales, interesting and very dangerous adversaries, and--even better--some interesting and very dangerous women. It's a lot of fun and a worthy sequel to Gutshot Straight, although any reader contemplating this book would certainly want to read "Gutshot" first.Lou Berney won the coveted Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original for his novel, The Long and Faraway Gone, and he's clearly a rising star in the crime fiction field. The guy can't write books fast enough to suit me, and any fan of crime fiction who hasn't yet discovered him will be very happy to make his acquaintance.

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.

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.

From cover to cover, Whiplash River is completely entertaining. It grabs your attention from the start with an exotic destination that happens to be one my favorite places: the Caribbean. Then the book pulls you in, willingly, with its wonderful characters. Each one is different and unique, but more to the point, each one is real in terms of their individual hopes, regrets, and personalities. There are no favorites, which makes switching between storylines a real pleasure. As you leave one character’s story, the next character in line is enthusiastically received.Based on the above, you might believe that this is a character-driven book. However, the plot drives this story in that there is never a dull moment. It's an extraordinary find to come across a book that provides deliciously interesting characters that are entwined within a captivating plot, but be assured, this is one of those books.

'Whiplash River' is a fast-paced sequel to Lou Berney's Gutshot Straight, with lots of whacky characters, humor, action, exotic locales, violence, a little sex, and a plot that's made for the movies. I'm not sure who'd play the part of the inimitable Shake, but there's everything here for a high budget blockbuster.Shake had a problem. His restaurant wasn't doing well, he was late in repaying a loan to a gangster, a pretty FBI agent is tracking him down for his past sins, people are shooting at his patrons in his restaurant, his place of business explodes, and he needs to get out of town, fast. Problem is, town is a tropical island and all he has is an old ex-CIA guy who won't shut up and who's also being chased and a slow tourist boat they stole to get them to Mexico. That's only the beginning.....It'd be very easy to spoil the remainder of this and I won't do it....the fun is just starting and you just have to get to know the characters. This book is a blast!By the way, I've heard comparisons of the writer to Hiassen and I can certainly see them. He also has a lot of Elmore Leonard in there as well with the great dialogue and characters that may be a little criminally-inclined but fun to hang with as well.

I loved Lou Berney's first novel, Gutshot Straight, so I was thrilled when I saw he had written another. I was even happier when I realized this book also starred Shake Bouchon, ex-wheelman for the Armenian mob. Shake apparently decided to start living quietly and bought himself a bar in Belize. Life would be great, if it wasn't for the fact that he owes cocaine runner Baby Jesus several thousand dollars he can't pay back. Then his bar gets shot up when someone tries to kill one of his customers, and before he can sweep up all the broken glass, the place explodes. It's suddenly time to get out of Belize, so he turns to the one man who says he can help, who's also the same guy who started all the trouble in the first place.Quinn claims he's an expert at bringing people together, like the authorities and surrendering drug dealers, and now he's got a line on something that will make both him and Shake rich: a copy of Teddy Roosevelt's speech stolen from the American museum in Cairo. All they have to do is travel to Egypt and con it out of the guys who took it during the uprising. But to do it, Shake needs to bring in one more person: his ex-girlfriend Gina, who happens to hate his guts.Shake is a great character, as are Gina, Quinn, and just about everyone else on these pages. I liked this book, but not nearly as much as I liked Gutshot Straight. This time, there were too many subplots going on, and most of them did not get the attention they deserved before the story moved onto the next phase. I love the relationship between Shake and Gina, and would have liked to see more of that, but it almost felt as if Gina was added to the story as an afterthought. Despite that, this was a very readable book--just not as good as the first--and I'll definitely read Berney's next one.

A remarkable action packed story with a basically "Good Man" career criminal wheel man, Charles "Shake" Bouchon, who has paid his price and is trying to go straight as a highly leveraged restaurant owner in Belize. Characters abound filling out the story with an assortment of memorable, strange people ranging from a FBI Special Agent taking her vacation in Belize to try to squeeze Shake for damning info on the Armenian Mob to a loving pair of "Would Be" assassins trying to earn their credentials at Shakes restaurant, an evil killer and bad guy, Babb who is masquerading as an FBI Special Agent, Idaba, Shake's second in command and conscience, Quinn, an ancient but colorful and talkative restaurant customer reputed to have a CIA background and maybe some current connections to the agency, Baby Jesus and his strong arm henchman who insured that Shake satisfied his loans from the local island mob gangster, a lovely lady, Gina, who Shake would love to get to know better and break his long dry spell at romance and a link to former associate, Sticky Jimmy who is now cleaned up and has political asperations for high political office. The story just keep looping around with the poor sypathetic anti-hero Shake constantly running to just avoid getting further behind and being threatened from all sides. One of those people who can't get a fair break in life but, is loveable still and you can't help but keep on rooting for him. Keeps you interested and involved throughout without even a hint of a slow place. The fast paced action, tension and concern for the health of Shake and his assortment of peers keyes this book as one of the better books of the season. Treat yourselves with a great read!

Whiplash River is second in Lou Berney's series featuring former getaway driver, Charles "Shake" Bourchon. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed both books and do believe it really helps to have read Gutshot Straight before Whiplash River. Bourchon is the classic "criminal with a sense of honor" - a basically good guy who's taken a couple of wrong turns but still has a strong sense of "right and wrong" (he would never turn in any of his former associates to lighten his sentencing), and is now attempting to go straight. As Whiplash River starts, he is living out his dream of running his own restauranton the Belize coast, but is deep in debt to a Belize loan shark/drug dealer. Anything that can go wrong does and ultimately "Shake" is back to try "just one more job" and get his life back together. I like Berney's combination of humor and suspense and thoroughly enjoy the oddball cast of character he assembles. Looking forward to see what happens to Shake next. I won Whiplash River from LibraryThings.com Early Reviewers.

Yeah this is an author to follow.Laugh out loud dialog, very well written characters. Author Berney takes the time to develop minor characters, and it pays off in the reading. Whiplash River takes you on a wild ride, yet I'm eager for the next one.

This book was a lot of fun to read--kind of like the old Ross Thomas books I devoured years ago--with a cast of characters so well-defined and unique that you won't forget them for a long time, and miss them a bit after the last page.

My third book by the author, whose November Road is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s been fun to see his development as a writer: Gut Shot Straight was his first (I think), Whiplash River his second and it was better written, same main characters as Gut Shot. Shake Bouchon has achieved his dream of owning his own restaurant, on Belize, and if you’ve ever watched Restaurant Rescue on Food Network you know a restaurant can be a giant pain and a fast way to go broke, which Shake is learning. But then, bullets start flying, shit blows up, and Shake is suddenly back to his old criminal ways. It’s a good caper book, funny and a little bit of romance.

Funny, kind of off the wall.

Shaken up!Shake and Gina are at it again. Another tension filled adventure trying to outwit the bad guys and hit the big pay day. Nothing ever seems to go according to plan though. And that is where all the fun and excitement comes from. Simply to much conscience. Too much sexual tension. Too much fun and excitement. I love these characters. I hope Mr. Barney has more Shake in that devious mind of his and shares it with us.

I have to admit that I had a hard time warming up to a criminal as the main character. He is described as too nice a guy for the life he's led and not nice enough for any other. He is charming and even sincere. He has done some prison time and he just seems to keep getting tangled in the seedy side of life, such as when he takes a lone from the Belize drug lord to get his restaurant going. These bad occurrences just seem to happen TO him without his purposefully seeking them out. He was a well drawn, rather sad character. I particularly liked the FBI agent, Evelyn, as she doggedly follows "Shake" with the intent of convincing, or manipulating, him to testify against the Armenian mob that he worked for in the prior book. I would love to see a series based on Evelyn's character because she is such a well developed, complex, and driven character. The ex-girlfriend Gina is a character you don't trust from the moment she is introduced. She lies like it is second nature, and goes on the Egypt job mainly to torture Shake for dumping her. Then there is Quinn, man of mystery, maybe prior CIA - but shady and despite being in his seventies, he is no good through and through. The hired assassin, Meg, is one of those screwed up people whose life is crime and violence and she doesn't like, nor want, a different life. She is very effectively portrayed as one scary gal.Both Belize and Egypt are aptly portrayed. So much so that my desire to vacation in Belize has been squashed after this peek into its criminal underbelly. The paradise with a criminal network is beautifully portrayed with just enough sunsets and yet the tension of organized crime in the shadows. Egypt was perfect to carry on a delicate and dangerous criminal operation that had been mis-advertised from the start.The plot is involved with several components going simultaneously, yet seamlessly. This could have caused confusion, but was deftly handled. All the components met for the finale in grand fashion. The pacing was consistent throughout and kept my interest to see how it turned out at each turn.This is not an "Ocean's Eleven" kind of slick criminal, Shake is a messy case without the suave side. Shake is a criminal who dreams of being a simple restaurant owner, until it is blown up and he has to resort to what he knows, illegal tactics, to get away from the people trying to kill him. If you are put off by the "F" bomb, this is full of it along with some crude references - but I have definitely read worse language in not as well done novels. It says a lot about the author who can take an anti-hero like Shake, a criminal, and have the reader routing that he gets his simple dream back.Rating: Good - A fun read with minor flaws (example is language and violence if those are an issue for you). Maybe read an excerpt before buying. Otherwise an excellent read that surprised me, put this author on your watch list.Obtained Through: TLC Tours Mysteries and My Musings http://www.mysterysuspence.blogspot.com