Cradle of the Deep

Jackpot! If you are in the mood for tough, hard-nosed Canadian crime fiction, Cradle if the Deep delivers. Bobbi has had it with Lonzo, the local crime boss. He was a powerhouse when she met him, a leader of men. Now he bores the crap out of her and she has reached her limit. Denny, a Californian and a long haired draft dodger also has a plan to get even with his ex boss. This is an odd couple pairing that has them on the run through the cold Yukon with a pair of suitcases full of money, no plan, no idea, and a determined killing machine, Lee Trane, hot on their heels. Step by step, Bobbi and Denny leave civilization and head off into the wilderness and have no idea whatsoever how they are getting out of this tightening vice. Great pace, well-developed characters, and a great sense of humor make this a crime novel to read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
I’ve read Dietrich Kalteis before so I had some idea of what to expect and I certainly wasn’t disappointed with Cradle Of The Deep. Like Elmore Leonard, his books deal with criminality, in other words how far you’d push the envelope to make money, preferably while staying alive and out of prison. Always chock full of colorful characters, here we have Bobbi Ricci and Denny Barrenko , mistress and chauffeur of known mobster and all around sleazeball Tomasino Alonzo Palmieri ( AKA Lonzo ), who decide separately but at the same time to take a half million bucks of Lonzo’s get away cash. Awkwardly the heist goes down, and Bobbi and Denny find themselves thrown together and on the run from Lonzo’s thug enforcers. The chase leads to the woods of Western Canada and meeting up with a cast of characters straight out of Fargo. Proving we all have a little larceny in us and the line between good bad guys and bad bad guys is very fine, Cradle Of The Deep is a well written romp of a book.

Is it possible to have a Canadian noir crime romp? Yes, it is and this is it. This tale of mismatched thieves and thugs takes you down a rabbit hole of bad behavior but it's actually funny in spots. Bobbi and Denny have taken off with Mad Dog's money and he's angry (to put it mildly). He sends Lee Trane after them to take it back, among other things. Where this shines is when these three find themselves out of their normal environment- none of them knows about the wilderness (for want of a better word) but all of them are determined to best the others. No spoilers. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This would make a great movie.