Muscle by Alan Trotter

Meet Box and _____. They’re a pair of tough guys who get the job done first and ask questions later, if at all. As they cross paths with a pulp writer over the poker table, and an unscrupulous private detective, it springboards what could be a classic, straightforward mystery.

But straightforward it is not. Muscle requires attention, pressing at the far corners of the imagination, daring readers to let go and follow the ride as its turns become increasingly surprising, destruction in its wake, and corpses piling high at the side of the rails.

Trotter’s writing is witty and fascinating all at once, taking the noir genre and twisting it in directions often unseen and certainly unexpected. Dry laughs will escape, toes will curl, ears may or may not be cut off, the mind will run in circles in search of the answers.

Each step goes deeper into a world of delirium; even at its most uncertain times, Muscle proves difficult to step away from. A dark and addictive fever dream.