ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
Latest editorial
Crime fiction with Mat Coward: April 1, 2025
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
NOT recommended for the squeamish, the easily shocked or the easily offended, if you think you’ve got the stomach for it Christa Faust’s The Get Off (Hard Case, £9.99) is top-quality modern pulp fiction.
The protagonist, former porn star Angel Dare, has appeared in two previous novels, knowledge of which is not necessary to enjoy this one. In her third and final outing, Angel’s on the run from the law, and from a social media posse, following a revenge killing that went as wrong as it possibly could.
She gets entangled with cattle barons and rodeo stars as she makes her way across the USA towards sanctuary in the wildlands near the Canadian border. And although she doesn't mean to do it, everywhere she goes she leaves dead bodies behind her. The advanced pregnancy doesn't exactly help, either. Can someone like Angel really choose to “get off,” and start a new life?
More from this author
Edinburgh can take great pride in an episode of its history where a murderous captain of the city guard was brought to justice by a righteous crowd — and nobody snitched to Westminster in the aftermath, writes MAT COWARD
Well, MAT COWARD did, and here’s his introduction to it
MAT COWARD introduces the creator of the Good Food Guide, communist and crime fiction writer – Raymond Postgate
A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley
