Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Viva La Madness-J.J. Connolly

Viva La Madness


J.J. Connolly

Overlook, May 10 21012, $25.95

ISBN: 9781590208595



In 2001, the former drug dealer has retired. His plan is to stay below the radar screen while enjoying the sun in the West Indies. Though he has no plans to return to his capitalism days, his retirement ends when his friend and former business associate Mister Mortimer offers him a venture that he could not refuse.



Before long he is entrenched in London’s criminal world and fleeing Venezuelan drug cartel killers in Mayfair. However his biggest problem is not drug dealers, money launderers, financial fraudulent bankers and trained killers; it is the daughter of a South American drug lord who seduces the no longer retiree as he finally found something worth leaving the Caribbean for; if he lives long enough to enjoy her.



The zany sequel to Layer Cake is an over the top of Big Ben crime parody. Incredibly fast-paced and filled with witty sarcasm and asides, Viva La Madness is a wild contemporary crime caper that satirizes the laissez faire gurus who should demand the market place fix the illegal drug problem rather than a government sponsored war. The storyline stars the nameless antihero who knows he should have stuck to early retirement before he becomes permanently retired under the ground by the underground.



Harriet Klausner



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