Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Dream Land and Plastic Fantastic / Keith Nixon


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Crime Fiction

Approximate word count: Dream Land: 8-9,000 words
                                      Plastic Fantastic: 9-10,000 words
Availability    
Dream Land
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

Plastic Fantastic
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

During the day Keith Nixon is in a senior sales role, traipsing around Europe for a UK based high tech company. When he settles in for the night he reads and reviews as one of the most prolific of the pals at Books and Pals as well as writing his own fiction. His first novel, The Fix, was picked up by Caffeine Nights Publishing, a small UK based publisher who is now publishing this new series.

Description:

Dream Land

The first of the Konstantin Novellas series, we’re introduced to Konstantin Boryakov, a Russian with shady past and from what I can tell a shady present as well. Just arrived in the UK to lie low for a while, things don’t go according to plan.

Plastic Fantastic

Konstantin is finally set with a place to live and staying under the radar. But then a neighbor with an agenda stirs the pot, forcing Konstantin’s hand.

Appraisal:

Dream Land

The first of this new series of novellas introduces us to Konstantin. What a great character Keith Nixon has created here. Obviously a Russian, and it appears ex-KGB, Konstantin seems to have fallen afoul of the powers-that-be.  At a minimum, he needs to go to ground. While he doesn’t go looking for trouble, trouble seems to find him as he makes short work of a group of thugs almost immediately after arriving in England. From his talk and actions, Konstantin initially seems amoral with no qualms about doing anything to anyone if it will benefit him.

However, as the story progresses and I got to know him better, I realized I was wrong. Konstantin has a strong moral code. He doesn’t mess with those who don’t mess with him, but those who do, look out. He has someone he cares very much about, yet suppresses his wants, it appears in order to protect this other person. Even someone he’d just met receives his help when he feels a more powerful person is meting out abuse. Konstantin is an interesting and complex character. I’m looking forward to future installments of this series.

Plastic Fantastic

In the first installment of this series we met Konstantin, a shady character with an unsavory past who is trying to stay invisible to the authorities and avoid trouble. In this installment he’s drug into someone else’s fight, but in the process it solidified my opinion that while Konstantin isn’t bothered by legalities or the rules of civilized society, he does have his own ideas of what is right and wrong, and will land on the side of right. Although much different in execution, the appeal of this character and series pulls the same emotional strings as Don Pendleton’s “The Executioner” series or Charles Bronson’s Death Wish movies and its sequels. The rest of the series promises to be a heck of a ride.

FYI:

Adult language.

Uses UK spelling conventions.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues


Rating: ***** Five Stars


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