I think we’ve all had a time in our lives when we were under
the silly impression that we were untouchable… better, faster, stronger,
meaner. Maybe? I don’t know.
Back in college I had this 6ft Jamaican track star for a
roommate. She was solid muscle. Solid. Her name was… I’ll just call her
Gretchen. And Gretchen had a temper;
always knowing just what buttons to push to make you snap. But the trick with
Gretchen, though, was keeping your cool.
Oh, who am I fooling? You never kept your cool with Gretchen
because you never knew what the heck Gretchen was going to do. She was
difficult and mean and she could knock you on your ass with one push if she
wanted to.
Well, that’s what she did to me, anyway.
You see, a couple of weeks after Gretchen moved out of the
apartment she returned and procured all of the pots and pans and baking dishes
from the kitchen. The only person home at the time was a new roommate napping
on the couch, unaware of Gretchen’s thieving. In fact, we were only made aware of the
missing items when we tried to make dinner and found that we had no pots to
boil water in… or cookies sheets to bake cookies on. Tragic!
We might not have seen Gretchen take the pots and pans, but
I knew she did. And even after people told me to leave it be I couldn’t let it
go. So, knowing my neighbor was headed
to work in a few minutes and knowing that she worked with Gretchen, I asked her
to tell Gretchen to bring the pots and pans back because she had taken some
items that didn’t belong to her.
Okay, I may have said something about filing a police
report, but my memory somehow escapes me…
What I do remember is Gretchen kicking in our apartment
door, pulling me by the hair and smashing my head into the television screen
just before dragging me by my flailing arms across the carpet on my knees.
There was yelling. And I may or may not have said a few swear words. Eventually
someone called the police and Gretchen, the smart little thief she was, left
shortly after the sirens could be heard in the distance… leaving me a dazed,
confused, bloody, and blubbering mess.
You know, there’s really nothing like the police showing up at
your place to collect evidence and take photos of your beat-down to make you
feel like a real loser. Or, for Gabriel Hill in Hill Country by R. Thomas Brown, there’s really nothing more
troubling than the police coming by to take photos of the dead pedophile on your
porch… especially when he's the guy you just got your butt kicked
by at the local bar in town.
Now a convenient murder suspect, Gabe quickly finds himself
an unwilling participant in the quest for some supposed treasure that his brother
Mike had his hands on. But unfortunately for Gabe, Mike is dead, and
left in his place are a half dozen or so lively characters that are willing to
do whatever it takes to get the one thing they all feel is rightfully theirs.
You would think being confronted with bizarre, sacrificial killings
in the woods; threats to get out of town; his brother’s murder; a beautifully
dangerous and seductive woman that pops up out of nowhere; a home invasion; a
couple of psychopaths that kill for fun; and the incredibly annoying Mr.
Greenstreet, that Gabe would have left town while he still had the chance. Not
likely. ‘Cause like me, Gabe Hill is
stubbornly smart, and he’s definitely not one to back down from a fight. But unlike my fight with Gretchen and
those stupid pots and pans, Gabe’s unpredictable fight with lost relationships
and madmen shows that he’s better, faster, stronger and meaner than all of them
combined… even if he does shed a tear or two in the end.
I found Hill Country
by R. Thomas Brown to be a wonderful read and quite different from his other
work that I’ve read. While Merciless
Pact seemed tinged with darkness with a side of nightmares, Hill Country
seemed to be, well, tinged with darkness with a side of fun… as much fun as
greed and murder will allow, at least. In Hill
Country the characters are suspiciously shady, the dialogue catchy, and the
setting so perfectly written that it had me reminiscing of my stroll down the
River Walk in San Antonio a couple years back. And it also reminded me of my
fight with Gretchen…
Yeah, Gretchen’s body might not have landed on my front
porch after our little fight, but I did catch her picking up trash on the side
of the road in her bright orange, community service outfit.
*giggles* I wonder if she still has those pots and pans…
*giggles* I wonder if she still has those pots and pans…
BIO: R. Thomas Brown writes crime fiction set in Texas. His novel, Hill Country, from Snubnose Press is currently available. You can find his thoughts on fiction, and other matters, as well as information on his short fiction and upcoming novels at rthomasbrown.blogspot.com.
Hill Country is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
2 comments:
I'm glad that big bully got her due. I love your stories, and I'm looking forward to Hill Country.
Ah, there is nothing in the world--nothing--like a review by Kate/Sabrina. Great stuff!
Post a Comment