Book Review: Bullets, Teeth and Fists 3 by Jason Beech

She’s heavily pregnant. She’s handcuffed to a pipe. The clock is ticking. Belle, the heavily pregnant wife of an important man, is bundled into the back of a car, held against her will, and cuffed to a pipe in an abandoned apartment … and her waters are about to break. Belle is desperate for her baby girl to survive and live a better life than she ever had. All she has to do is get one of her kidnappers onside. All her husband has to do is pay the ransom. Will he? The latest in the Bullets series is here – 20 exciting, violent, and sometimes heartbreaking short stories of noir and pulp fiction. Put your gloves on, it’s bloody round here.

This short story collection opens with a confronting and fast paced tale of the survival of a pregnant woman protecting her baby in a kidnap gone wrong. From there, Beech takes his readers into urban and domestic settings, some seedy, others banal, and finishing off with a zombie tale. There’s Ross on his way home from the supermarket with the groceries, which should be an ordinary trip, but for the suspicious man pulling out in the car beside him. Then there’s a guy just released from prison, a guy with a dog in the pub. Some stories are flash fiction in length. Others are fully fleshed out. All of these stories plunge the reader straight into the action.

Jason Beech has a pleasingly gritty writing style, chiseled, polished, a touch literary which I enjoy, instantly engaging and perfect for the hardboiled pulp and noir genres. The author infuses his tales with irony and astute observation. Good characterisation throughout and clever storylines, each with a satisfying twist and an unexpected ending, make for a highly entertaining read. Recommended for those who want to switch off the telly and sink into some solid British noir shorts for an evening.