Scan barcode
eleellis's review against another edition
3.0
In Last Call For the Living by Peter Farris, Charlie Colquitt is a modern-day milquetoast, fond of rockets and a steady schedule of day-to-day sameness while working as a bank teller at a local small-town bank in Georgia. Hobe Hicklin is a White supremacist former convict, tasked by The Brand, AKA The Aryan Brotherhood, to rob banks with other members to supplement income for The Brand's organization.
Hicklin, a man of no known redeeming qualities and quick to utilize violence, decides to rob Colquitt's bank without the others and after the violent robbery, takes the docile Colquitt along as a hostage. Hicklin then drags Colquitt to a decrepit hideout to lie low along with Hicklin's methamphetamine-addicted girlfriend "Hummingbird."
Because Hicklin has gone against the orders of The Brand and has apparently fled with the money for himself and Hummingbird, not only is Hicklin being hunted by authorities, but also other violent members of The Brand, and to The Brand, any form of non-conformity only has one result: a violent death.
Joining in the chase, aided by more capable investigators, is Sheriff Tommy Lang, a weary and world-worn man that needs and enjoys the drink too much while ruminating on his own failures as a family man. Lang knows he is in a pursuit beyond his skillset and has come to the belief that safely freeing Colquitt may lead to his own salvation.
Last Call for the Living is more than a mere hunt and pursuit crime novel, with Farris developing each character and plotline with depth and layers. The novel is with violent depictions and language some may find offensive but language that is genuine to the characters involved.
Last Call For The Living is recommended to those that enjoy crime novels, with a touch of rural noir and bleak characters.
Hicklin, a man of no known redeeming qualities and quick to utilize violence, decides to rob Colquitt's bank without the others and after the violent robbery, takes the docile Colquitt along as a hostage. Hicklin then drags Colquitt to a decrepit hideout to lie low along with Hicklin's methamphetamine-addicted girlfriend "Hummingbird."
Because Hicklin has gone against the orders of The Brand and has apparently fled with the money for himself and Hummingbird, not only is Hicklin being hunted by authorities, but also other violent members of The Brand, and to The Brand, any form of non-conformity only has one result: a violent death.
Joining in the chase, aided by more capable investigators, is Sheriff Tommy Lang, a weary and world-worn man that needs and enjoys the drink too much while ruminating on his own failures as a family man. Lang knows he is in a pursuit beyond his skillset and has come to the belief that safely freeing Colquitt may lead to his own salvation.
Last Call for the Living is more than a mere hunt and pursuit crime novel, with Farris developing each character and plotline with depth and layers. The novel is with violent depictions and language some may find offensive but language that is genuine to the characters involved.
Last Call For The Living is recommended to those that enjoy crime novels, with a touch of rural noir and bleak characters.
louvie's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to like it and I -for some reason- wanted to finish it to make sure I would not miss something. I finished the book and it looks like I did miss something by reading other reviews because I found the story to be boring and the characters to be stereotypical and dull.
I think I would have liked it more if the story had focused on Charlie and Hicklin instead of switching POV all the time. It would have helped build empathy and understand that Stockholm syndrome - father/son relationship. I did not care to read about all the other characters and the abundance of italics really put me off.
I think I would have liked it more if the story had focused on Charlie and Hicklin instead of switching POV all the time. It would have helped build empathy and understand that Stockholm syndrome - father/son relationship. I did not care to read about all the other characters and the abundance of italics really put me off.
howjessicareads's review against another edition
4.0
Dark, but good. Full review in Shelf Awareness soon...
jamiereadthis's review
2.0
Very interesting premise, very first-novel execution. What I really liked got mired in what was trying too hard and ultimately, it just didn’t click. The characters fell flat for me in a way that made the book seem tame, not something that should happen when violence is roiling like electricity. It was very written, and maybe that’s a nebulous kind of distinction to make, and a personal one, but I’m hypersensitive these days to when the writer keeps interjecting over the freight-train story and doesn’t just get out of the way.
Three stars, possibly, had it not been for the dreams, and also Charlie. By the end I still didn’t know who he was, although the very end: that was right on.
And well, shit. I hate leaving less-than-enthused reviews for Goodreads authors because they’re real people, not a name on a book jacket, and I clicked through to Farris’s website and he’s reading Rick Bass and listening to Patterson Hood. Goddamnit. Four stars now?
Three stars, possibly, had it not been for the dreams, and also Charlie. By the end I still didn’t know who he was, although the very end: that was right on.
And well, shit. I hate leaving less-than-enthused reviews for Goodreads authors because they’re real people, not a name on a book jacket, and I clicked through to Farris’s website and he’s reading Rick Bass and listening to Patterson Hood. Goddamnit. Four stars now?
More...