This is a wonderful tale of revenge. The frame up/set up that sent him to prison directs his focus. The plot line is dark & gritty. It’s a fun read for crime fiction fans.

Bad Boy Boogie
A Jay Desmarteaux Crime Thriller
Thomas Pluck
Down & Out Books, March 2017
ISBN 978-1-943402-59-5
Trade Paperback

From the publisher—

When Jay Desmarteaux steps out of from prison after serving twenty-five years for murdering a vicious school bully, he tries to follow his convict mentor’s advice: the best revenge is living well.

But questions gnaw at his gut: Where have his folks disappeared to? Why do old friends want him gone? And who wants him dead?

Teaming with his high school sweetheart turned legal Valkyrie, a hulking body shop bodybuilder, and a razor-wielding gentleman’s club house mother, Jay will unravel a tangle of deception all the way back to the bayous where he was born. With an iron-fisted police chief on his tail and a ruthless mob captain at his throat, he’ll need his wits, his fists, and his father’s trusty Vietnam war hatchet to hack his way through a toxic jungle of New Jersey corruption that makes the gator-filled swamps of home feel like the shallow end of the kiddie pool.

This is one of those times when you can’t help sympathizing with the bad guy; after all, he’s served his time so why is he now facing these unexpected troubles? And since law enforcement isn’t interested in helping him find answers, how is he going to? Clearly, he’ll have to form what current slang would call a posse and what a group of misfits these are!

To understand Jay, we’re taken back to his unhappy childhood that, even so, had times of normalcy—young love and friendships as well as conflicts with bullies—and we learn what caused the teenaged Jay to commit the ultimate act of violence. Perhaps the “friends” that didn’t support him then are the ones that want him out of town now, except for the mayor who has his own reasons. A bright point, maybe, is the connection he makes with high school sweetheart Ramona but Jay is driven by a need to settle things in New Jersey before he heads to Louisiana, the place he really wants to be.

Jay is a complex man and the author truly brings him to life, this ex-con with a hard outer shell that’s slightly penetrated by the life he finds on the outside after 25 years on the inside. There’s a considerable amount of graphic violence, including sexual, here but it’s understandable although this man’s sense of justice is often very different from yours and mine. This is a book that could have resided in the old black & white, hardboiled days just as well as today and I suspect I’ll remember Jay and his story for a long, long time.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, June 2017.

Synopsis/blurb……

When Jay Desmarteaux steps out of from prison after serving twenty-five years for murdering a vicious school bully, he tries to follow his convict mentor’s advice: the best revenge is living well.

But questions gnaw at his gut: Where have his folks disappeared to? Why do old friends want him gone? And who wants him dead?

Teaming with his high school sweetheart turned legal Valkyrie, a hulking body shop bodybuilder, and a razor-wielding gentleman’s club house mother, Jay will unravel a tangle of deception all the way back to the bayous where he was born. With an iron-fisted police chief on his tail and a ruthless mob captain at his throat, he’ll need his wits, his fists, and his father’s trusty Vietnam war hatchet to hack his way through a toxic jungle of New Jersey corruption that makes the gator-filled swamps of home feel like the shallow end of the kiddie pool.

Praise for BAD BOY BOOGIE …

“Thomas Pluck has launched himself into the rare category of…must read novels…must re-read…must tell all and sundry about. It is that fine, that compelling. Just tremendous.” —Ken Bruen, author of the Shamus and Macavity Award-winning Jack Taylor mysteries

“Thomas Pluck’s Bad Boy Boogie is a vivid dose of New Jersey noir with heart, soul and muscle.” —Wallace Stroby, author of the Crissa Stone series

“My first Thomas Pluck novel won’t be my last. Bad Boy Boogie is a superb, taut, little thriller that hits all the right notes and sustains its central conceits to the very last page.” —Adrian McKinty, author of the Sean Duffy trilogies

Not one for the faint-hearted here. Grim and gritty and violent throughout, populated by a cast of characters you probably wouldn’t find sat next to you at Sunday service.

Our novel traverses 25 years and more, digging back into Jay Desmarteaux’s rescue from a horrific and abusive parent in Louisiana. Mama Angeline and Papa Andre are his saviours. We enjoy some of his friendships as a boy growing up in Nutley and the early stirrings of teenage love with Ramona. There’s a tension and conflict present in this period as Jay and his friends clash frequently with a rival gang of bullies.

The storyline doesn’t follow chronologically, we dip in and out of the past discovering a bit more about Jay and the events that have just seen him freed from Rayway prison after being sentenced as a teenager for the killing of Joey Bello. We suffer with him in prison - through conflicts with other inmates and the staff, as well as some moments of solace, with some solid bonds created. Twenty five years is a long time, but Bello’s father, now the mayor and the rest of the community don’t want Jay back in the vicinity.

Jay is fuelled by a sense of injustice. His victim was a bully and a rapist, but his friends remained silent at his trial, afraid and threatened, one of them complicit in the stitch-up. Jay lost his freedom and his family and he isn’t about to let himself get bounced out of Nutley. If he leaves and heads back to Louisiana it’s going to be on his terms.

Childhood abuse, growing up as a boy - far from carefree, prison life and freedom, a rekindled romance with Ramona - a woman with a few secrets and issues of her own, a renewed friendship with Tony – one of his childhood friends and now his employer, a lot of pressure from the cops, crossing swords with former friends and enemies, a kind-hearted cabbie, a reacquainting with some ex-Rayway inmates, nightclub shenanigans, a search for his missing Mama and Papa, conflict with a crime family, and a helluva a lot more to boot.

Pluck packs everything, bar the kitchen sink into this dirty tale of one man and his unwillingness to be further fucked with. Jay Desmarteaux had my sympathy, but not always my admiration in this one.

Admirable qualities he may possess, but a period of incarceration, heaped on top of earlier horrific abuse has damaged him. He doesn’t always make sensible or rational decisions but it’s an interesting ride watching the path they take him.

4.5 from 5


Thomas Pluck has his website here. Catch him on Facebook here and Twitter - @thomaspluck

I read a collection of his short stories – Get Plucked a month or so ago. Thoughts on them are here.

Read in March 2017
Published – 2017
Page count – 352
Source – Net Galley thanks to publisher Down and Out Books
Format - Kindle

Thomas Pluck tells a compelling story. Full reviews posted on Facebook, Amazon and goodreads.

Bad Boy Boogie by Thomas Pluck is a gritty crime novel about past wrongs, secrets, revenge and making things as right as one can no matter what and when many involved wish otherwise.

The main character in the novel is Jay Desmarteaux, a man recently released from prison in New Jersey with a hatchet to grind - pun intended. Desmarteaux spent twenty five years in prison for a murder he committed when 16 years old. Desmarteaux has returned to the area of the killing to set matters straight and to find out why those who should have supported him, instead turned on him.

Desmarteaux is a Cajun with a violent temper and is surrounded by an interesting circle of mentors, friends and villains. The tale is told by use of flashbacks to explain how Jay Desmarteaux arrived to where he is today.

To reveal more would offer spoilers (when I read a review of a novel, I typically want to just know a basic outline of the story and whether the novel is worth the time it takes to read and dislike it when a reviewer needlessly provides pivotal plot points).

This novel is an above average crime novel with interesting characters. While some of the violence is somewhat over the top, it doesn't detract from the novel being enjoyable to read.

Recommended to those that enjoy rip snorting, violent crime thrillers.

I really tried to like the book but I was really put off by the violence in the book. Apologies but this book really isn't for me.

This may not be everyone's cup of tea but it was right up my alley. Pluck writes with an endearing passion that makes the story a total pleasure to read. Gritty and raw, I couldn't put this one down.

Having grown up in the mid-atlantic myself, a lot of the fluff in this book was relatable for me. There's a scene where two characters are sharing cold rich frosted chocolate Entenmann's donuts and remarking about the "snap" of the chocolate shell. That chocolate shell snapping is absolutely one of my favorite food sensations. Having grown up fighting my father for the last donut in the box, I still enjoy a box of these sugar bombs once in awhile. It was nice to read that someone else has had the same blissful experience. Had to stop reading myself and read that passage out loud to my husband who thought I had written it myself :)

I sincerely hope Pluck decides to make this one a series. Would love to read about Jay's next adventures.

Perfect choice for fans of Joe Lansdale.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

This book does deal with some very heavy themes such as violence, but I feel it's worth the read! It was a nice escape as Jay (the main character) definitely does not think similarly to me, although sometimes I would close my eyes at a particular part, remember I'm reading, open my eyes and continue on. The characters and story itself were cleverly written & I enjoyed the ride I was taken on.

While I will say, read with caution because of the content, Thomas Pluck treats the subject matter of sexual abuse respectfully. BAD BOY BOOGIE earns the highest marks for technical effort too because of the constant flashbacks transitioned perfectly between scenes.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Down And Out Books for an advance copy Bad Boy Boogie, an everyday tale of violent revenge in small town New Jersey.

Jay Desmarteaux was jailed as a teenager for the brutal murder of local bully, Joey Bello. 25 years later, thanks to some changes in the law, he is out, free and clear. He is, however, holding a grudge against certain people who left him to carry the can alone all those years ago, so all the money, tickets to New Orleans and threats will not stop him.

Bad Boy Boogie is a tightly written, cleverly plotted novel with flashbacks to Jay's life as a child in New Orleans, a teenager in New Jersey and as a prisoner to explain his character and motivations. Unfortunately it did little for me as I felt no affinity to his character and struggled to understand his thought processes as he battles his opponents. I have no objection to fictional violence and this is an extremely violent novel but Jay is supposed to be smart and I feel he could have used his brain a bit more and his fists and anything else to hand a little less and it would have made for a better read. There isn't even any of the humour which leavens many novels in the same vein.

This is not a bad book and the characterisation is interesting. Jay Desmarteaux is undoubtedly a psychopath with his own moral compass but the other characters' self interest and self preservation, or cowardice as Jay sees it, make the novel more readable.