The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo's Reviews > Donnybrook

When was the last time you described something as balls to the wall? I can't remember either, but that's what this book was. Author Frank Bill is a wildman, and Donnybrook is his love letter to lowlife scum doing scummy stuff in the backwoods of America. It was exactly what I expected it to be.

Angus and Liz are siblings looking to sell bucketfuls of meth for a whole lot of money at Donnybrook, a middle-of-BFE bareknuckle free-for-all where the last man conscious takes home a hundred grand. After all, the spectators are gonna need on-site vendors! It might've been a good idea; it's just too bad they hate each other. Liz gets a loser named Ned to shoot Angus, and the two of them take off with the goods. The thing is, Ned botched the job. Now Angus is after both of them - and he knows right where they're heading... Jarhead's purpose is a little more noble, if not his methods. He steals the $1,000 entry fee by robbing a gun store. He wants to win the prize money to get his wife's back fixed so she can get off the oxy.

I challenge you to find a single page - a single paragraph even - where drinking, fighting or f*cking is not mentioned. Ha, I win - you can't find one!

There were a lot of instances where I contemplated DNF'g because it's just the same insanity page after page. Still, every now and then, a batshit bit of gonzo fiction serves as a good palate cleanser. I'll never read it again, but there were times it made me chuckle. And also shudder.