Book Review: The Last Straw by Ed Duncan

Title: The Last Straw
Author: Ed Duncan
Publisher: Self published
Publication Date: 2nd December 2017
Pages: 227
Series: Book#2
Format Read: Paperback
Source: from author Via Book Publicity Services

Blurb
 When a teenage girl witnesses a carjacking gone bad, she is marked for death by a crime boss with no apparent motive. A black lawyer and a white enforcer with an unlikely history forge an uneasy alliance to protect the girl from a hit man with an agenda of his own.

After they find out that the crime boss is the father of the black teenage carjacker, Paul Elliott - lawyer and close friend of the witness’s family - begins counseling them.

As the long-simmering feud between Rico and John D'Angelo reaches boiling point, bodies start to pile up in rapid succession... and old scores will be settled.


My thoughts 
If you haven’t read Pigeon Blood Red, go read it first. You don’t necessarily need to read it to understand The Last Straw but you will want to because Rico is so freakin awesome.

Rico as cool as a cucumber, hit man for hire, is the best anti-hero I’ve read for a long time. Rico claims he never took out anyone who didn’t deserve it. A motto that left some wriggle room. He doesn’t have friends but he does have respect and Paul Elliot is a man he respects, they are worlds apart but also very similar in many ways. When Paul ends up as a revenge target of one of Rico’s enemies, Rico knows he must step in and protect an innocent man.

Rico always gives his enemies a chance whether they take it or not is up to them. We see a much softer side of Rico when he is with girlfriend Jean. He is protective but not controlling.

’He was a ball of contradictions; as faithful as a cocker spaniel or as vicious as a pit bull’

Duncan gives the reader a deep connection with each character; explaining their background and current circumstances.

The plot was well-rounded with defined characters and excellent pacing. The ending tied up a little too nicely for this realist but this was a minor concern in an overall superb read.

Content: infrequent coarse language. Some violence.

4/5 stars

I received a review copy from the author via Book Publicity Services

About the author

 Ed is a graduate of Oberlin College and Northwestern University Law School. He was a partner at a national law firm in Cleveland, Ohio for many years. He is the original author of a highly regarded legal treatise entitled “Ohio Insurance Coverage,” for which he provided annual editions from 2008 through 2012.

Ed currently lives outside of Cleveland, OH. The Last Straw is the second installment in the Pigeon-Blood Red trilogy.