Savage Night

If you read the papers or watch the news, you know there are bad people out there, people who'll kill you and not think twice about it. That's the kind of people Al Guthrie's writing about in Savage Night. It begins with a horrific scene and then builds from there, but to the people involved in all the violence (and believe me, there's a lot) it's just business as usual.

The plot has to do with revenge, one family striking back at another because, well, that's what you do. Somebody screws you around, you kill them, or somebody close to them. Guthrie tells it in a straightforward style but not in a straightforward way. There are lots of flashbacks and tricks with time, and there are plenty of twists and turns so that you'll never be quite sure what's coming next (or at least I wasn't).

And the horrible thing about all this is that it's also funny, in a dark and gruesome way, of course, but funny nevertheless. I found myself horrified and laughing at the same time. You might want to look away, but I doubt that you'll be able to. Potent stuff.