Book Review: Fierce Bitches by Jedidiah Ayres (2013)

Fierce Bitches by Jedidiah Ayres

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb: Across the border lies Politioburg: hell on Earth, home to putas, punks and psychos.

Escape is not in the stars, redemption is not in the cards, but reckoning might just be on the menu.

Stand back. The pit is about to spit something back out.

Thoughts: All you gringos listen up, Marias are some fierce bitches and they're gonna have their revenge for all the times you mistreated them. You had better hope they haven't read this call to arms from Jedidiah Ayres before you spit on them, slap them, cut them, and rape them or you may not have a face left for next time. Or any flesh for that matter.

Existing as some kind of awful halfway house between life and death, America and Mexico, heaven and hell, Politoburg is a shanty town created by a crime lord to house/contain/dispose of (delete as appropriate) you and your fellow low level underworld brethren. Populated by Ramon the bartender, a parade of Marias (hispanic hookers) and a revolving cast of degenerates, if you end up in Politoburg you'll soon learn that you've reached the place that, sooner or later, you will die in. And die people do, horrible violent deaths for the most part.

Jedidiah Ayres' prose is sparse and his tale is bleak as fuck, mirroring the carefully constructed locale and the unforgiving sun baked desert that surrounds it. This appears to be his first novella but its written with the skill and voice of a much more experienced man to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if this was Jim Thompson still writing after faking his death back in '77. Most impressive is his use of the second person narration, a device that can horribly backfire in the wrong hands but in this case was so perfectly done that I hardly noticed it until the chapter was over. Jedidiah Ayres where have you been all my life? This is the work of true master of the genre and I for one will be unsatisfied until there is an entire shelf filled with the man's work.

Jedidiah Ayres and Warren Oates, never seen in the same place at the same time.

This is another class release from Crime Factory Melbourne, a new specialist publisher who has recently entered my consciousness with a "buy whatever they put out" kind of statement. This one is a particularly beautiful classic looking publication and pretty much fits in the palm of my hand (for a mere $7 this is an essential paperback purchase people) but feel free to check out the recently loved Hard Labour and Lee, an anthology of stories inspired by the life of iconic actor Lee Marvin. All titles are now available for only $2.99 on Kindle from the Crime Factory Amazon store.

A Fuckload of Shorts is a collection of short stories by Jedidiah Ayres and published by Snubnose Press, one of which was adapted in to the micro budget film Fuckload of Scotch Tape.

View all my book reviews