By Elliott Swanson
Booklist
October 31st, 2011
PM Press’ Switchblade imprint focuses on gritty crime writing at the grim fringe of the genre. The narrative point-of-view here is apparently that of a junkie, and it provides an intimate, inside-the-skull look at the world as experienced by “the Kid.” Otherwise unnamed, Graham’s Hispanic noir protagonist has his short, violent life dissected like a frog on a breadboard. Spanning the Kid’s life from his barrio origins to his inevitable end, Graham builds a razor-sharp character study of a knife-wielding sociopath. Fans of James Sallis’ Drive (2005) and the recently released movie based on it will feel right at home in the Kid’s world.
