Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Fun and Games
    Unavailable
    Fun and Games
    Unavailable
    Fun and Games
    Audiobook7 hours

    Fun and Games

    Written by Duane Swierczynski

    Narrated by Pete Larkin

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The first of three explosive pulp thrillers arriving back-to-back from cult crime fiction sensation and Marvel Comics scribe Duane Swierczynski.

    Charlie Hardie, an ex-cop still reeling from the revenge killing of his former partner's entire family, fears one thing above all else: that he'll suffer the same fate.

    Languishing in self-imposed exile, Hardie has become a glorified house sitter. His latest gig comes replete with an illegally squatting B-movie actress who rants about hit men who specialize in making deaths look like accidents. Unfortunately, it's the real deal. Hardie finds himself squared off against a small army of the most lethal men in the world: The Accident People.

    It's nothing personal-the girl just happens to be the next name on their list. For Hardie, though, it's intensely personal. He's not about to let more innocent people die. Not on his watch.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJun 20, 2011
    ISBN9781611139303
    Unavailable
    Fun and Games
    Author

    Duane Swierczynski

    DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI is the author of The Wheelman, The Blonde, Severance Package, and Expiration Date, and writes for Marvel Comics. The Wheelman was nominated for the Gumshoe Award. He lives in Philadelphia.

    Related to Fun and Games

    Related audiobooks

    Action & Adventure Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Jan 27, 2023

      By Kate Webb In this Wiltshire-set contemporary police procedural from the historical novelist, DI Matt Lockyer has been demoted to the “cold case” unit after a conflict of personal and professional loyalties. He then receives a surprising phone call

      2 min read

    • Article

      ‘I Gasped When I Read It’: Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis And Louisa Harland On Ulster American

      Nov 27, 2023

      What could be cosier than lunch beside a crackling fire in the company of three affable actors wearing autumnal knitwear? Nothing really – although the subject that has brought Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis and Louisa Harland together, in this quiet L

      5 min read

    • Article

      Leonard Pitts: Nobody roots for Goliath

      Jul 15, 2020

      Dear Karen: I wanted you to know that I got your email. Yours, your husband’s, your brother’s and your best friend’s. All were vexed at my recent evocation of the meme that uses your name as shorthand for a certain type of white woman: rude, entitled

      2 min read

    • Article

      PAUL BAILEY On This Year's Booker-shortlisted American Author Percival Everett

      Nov 16, 2022

      ‘To accept the absurdity of a situation is to accept the humanness of it,’ Percival Everett once observed in a rare interview. His extraordinary novels and stories are brimming over with the everyday absurdities of life, alongside unfunny matters lik

      3 min read

    • Article

      Non-stop Action

      Apr 21, 2023

      By JD ROBB Hachette Famous movie star Eliza Lane and her beloved husband, Brant Fitzhugh, host a glamorous event celebrating her triumphant return to a play in which she’d previously starred as a young up-and-coming actress. But chaos erupts when Br

      3 min read

    • Article

      Review: She Sees Dead People … Again. Psychic Crime Stopping In NBC's 'The InBetween'

      May 28, 2019

      In "The InBetween," which arrives Wednesday on NBC, Harriet Dyer plays Cassie Bedord, who sees dead people, among other things you (probably) don't. In the service of television, Cassie uses her various psychic powers to help the police – not the fir

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Sentimental Sadist

      Feb 7, 2017

      The Sentimental Sadist
      8 min read

    • Article

      In Tune With The Crimes

      Jun 20, 2021

      German bestseller Simone Buchholz writes like the noir equivalent of a jazz musician, offsetting familiar elements with originality and style, leaving readers unsure where the melody of her Chastity Riley series may go. In HOTEL CARTA-GENA, translate

      2 min read

    • Article

      Thursday, Oct. 13

      Oct 6, 2022

      Thursday, Oct. 13
      2 min read

    Reviews for Fun and Games

    4/5

    128 ratings21 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This is a crazy, original book with twists and turns that will keep you turning pages until there simply aren't any more. I'm glad the sequel is ready and waiting.
    • 5/5
      I actually read Hell And Gone first, but I am not sure it matters. This book is more of a straight-up run from the bad guys thriller. This book was a fun, crazy joyride from cover to cover. Warning, there are no
      dull moments in this book. You will not be able to put it down. Most importantly, watch out for the Accident People. They are out there
      watching you.
    • 4/5
      Those Jack Reacher books are just a lot of fun. They're getting a little thin these days, with any chapter over three pages being a surprise, but you can't beat Lee Child's series for escapist reading. Don't get me started on the movie being made. That Reacher, a bulky, tall and weathered guy who owns only the cheap clothes on his back, an atm card and a toothbrush can be transformed into a blow-dryed and stylishly dressed Tom Cruise in a sportscar (Reacher takes the bus or hitchhikes, dammit!) means that I'll be skipping the movie. So when my brother told that Charlie Hardie reminds him of Reacher, and that he read the first in the trilogy, Fun and Games in one sitting, it was inevitable that I'd be reading it too.Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski introduces the reader to Charlie Hardie, a house sitter who just wants to drink and watch old movies. He doesn't do pets or plants, but his police background makes him an attractive choice for those with expensive homes. He flies into Los Angeles, renting a car and driving up to a house in the hills owned my a Hollywood composer. He's a little surprised to find the house occupied by an actress. A terrified and battered actress with an unbelievable story about a sinister group out to get her. And off we go. This was a fun, page-turning read. Lots happened. Hardie is reminiscent of Reacher, a non-invincible Reacher who really, really just wants a comfortable chair and a dvd player. Swierczynski, who also writes for Marvel Comics, has a talent for describing action and creating atmosphere. I've got the second book ready to go, but it will have to wait until I can read it all at one go.
    • 4/5
      And I thought The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes was high octane. Wow. Fun & Games is even more so. And like Sakey's book, Fun and Games is also movie perfect--plenty of action with high suspense.My husband was excited to see this title among the Independent Literary Award short-listed nominees for the Mystery category. He is familiar with the author in his capacity as a comic book writer. That made me even more curious, although I really had no idea what to expect. From page one, I had trouble tearing myself away from the book when I had to. It didn't help that the chapters often ended with little teasers leading me straight into the next chapter. I have a love/hate relationship with those types of chapter breaks. I tend to read on, not even noticing I'm going from one chapter to the next--something that hampers finding a good stopping point. Of course, with chapter endings like that there is no good stopping point, is there? The author really knows how to build on suspense, creating an intense read.I was caught up in the Hollywood landscape. Swierczynski did a good job of setting up his characters and the story as well as in creating his version of L.A. I love it when an author researches the area he writes about, adding in a little history here and there. It ties me a little closer to the setting, making the story more real.I really am not sure what else to say about this novel in terms of content, frankly. As cliche as it sounds, with every new chapter, it was like peeling back the layers of an onion. To say much at all about the content of the story or the characters would be to give too much away.I will say that I really liked Hardie. He comes across as a nice guy trying to do the right thing. He is very hard on himself, especially because of his past. It colors just about everything he does. He is up against some very deadly people who are not only cunning but smart. I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like in Hollywood if The Accident People truly did exist. Parts of the book seemed to be taken straight from the headlines, including the B-rated actress, Lane, who reminded me a lot of Lindsay Lohan.Believability? With books like this, who cares? I had no trouble losing myself in the story and setting aside my disbelief. Swierczynski proved he is a talented writer who can take me out of my own life for awhile and transport me into the pages of his book.The book did slow down for me a little towards the end, but just a tad. The climax was well worth the wait. I can't wait to get my hands on the second book in the trilogy.
    • 5/5
      The Bookish Dame Reviews :Talk about fun and games! Take a wild ride with Duane Swierczynski (czyn=sin). If he's driving you're being slammed left and right, high and low and you're scared to death. He writes like a heart attack on wheels, and you'll have to tear yourself away from his book before your ride is over. Oh, this is good writing...fast and furious, and peppered with reckless people who riddle the book throughout making you hold your breath while they find a way through impossible situations. Did this book fire me up? Yep. I loved the action. Duane doesn't let up on us...once engaged he simply takes us for a spin like it's real life and we're going down with his characters.Speaking of his characters: Lane, his primary female protagonist, is a feisty, smart and beautiful girl who is nobody's fool. I loved that about her. She could easily have been a wimpy movie star mowed over by his other characters, but Duane made her worthy of a respectable battle. Nice! She was tough and tender, making her a character women can identify with and follow with enjoyment.Charlie Hardie is a complex character. Swierczynski keeps referring to his "lizard brain" and I'm not too sure I understand that. Did he mean that he was a guy who just reacted instead of thinking a situation out? I suppose that was it but when he had to, he planned and executed along with the best of them. It seemed to me he was fast thinking and not afraid to act in a tough spot which made the action twice as interesting."They" were despicable. The people out to kill Lane and others were so skillfully drawn that I actually hated the leader and found myself fighting against them in my mind. This is significant because it shows how involved the reader becomes in Duane's book! I can't remember being so tied up in knots about a thriller scene such as he describes it. Not just one, but one after another after another hard-hitting engagement comes at the reader and we're just incapable of putting this book down for hours.I was happy to know at the end it seemed we weren't going to see the last of Charlie. I'm now pretty attached to him. "Fun & Games" is, happily, the first in a series with the newest book "Hell & Gone" being released in October. I highly recommend "Fun & Games" because it's a wild ride of excitement and suspense. Welcome to the world of Charlie Hardie... Duane Swierczynski is a crime writer extraordinaire!5 well-deserved starsDeborah/TheBookishDame*Rec'd this complimentary book for review without monetary compensation. The review, however, is my own honest and thoughtful opinion.
    • 4/5
      An exciting, action packed story of a large "Hero" type guy who was drinking his way through survivors guilt after not dying when his best friend and family was killed. Charlie Hardy had been isolating himself as a "House Sitter" on both coasts for almost three years. Once he determined his new residence was secure, he would spend his time with Whiskey and old rental movies. It wasn't a particularly rewarding life but, he didn't have to interact with any people. His agent in the east kept him in House Sitting assignments. His sterling reputation as a Sitter and ties to the Philadelphia Police Department provided sufficient credentials for him to remain fully booked. Then one of his sitting jobs puts him in the middle of an assassination of a bonafide Hollywood Starlet. He suffered her physical abuse, listened to her incredulous story and then tried to act in a rational fashion as he perceived it. He confronted and survived numerous deadly encounters while accumulating physical damage, he maintained his ability to confront the antagonists and protect the Starlet, eventually coming to believe her story and winning her trust. His actions give him another chance to be the hero and vindicate himself with the potential to overcome the psychological demons that have been haunting his life. He is faced with an unbelievable series of challenges and manages to just scrape through more through doggedness than particularly intelligent action. The range of activities that were applied to finish Lane Madden (the Starlet) and stop Charlie is exhausting and are only a lead in to the next family assassination attempt that Charlie is on track to prevent. Exciting action continues through the final page. Make sure you have snacks and refreshments close at hand before you start to read this. You won't want to have to tolerate interruptions!
    • 4/5
      Fun and fast paced thriller. Will definitely follow this series from now on!
    • 4/5
      Fun and Games features a former "police consultant" named Charlie Hardie who carries more than his fair share of baggage. This is the first book in a trilogy. The book starts with a bang and then keeps going. The story is fast paced but very predictable in many spots. While reminiscent of a hardboiled, noir style the author still needs to develop his voice in this genre. I agree with several of the other reviewers that the characters could use more development. What I liked was the the interlude and the merging of what appears to be two distinct story lines. Charlie Hardie has lots of potential as a down on his luck hero although his superman type antics push the character over the edge at times (what does it take to really injure him?). The ending was very predictable but I look forward to reading the next installment of this series. I gave it four stars for the fast paced, action packed writing style. As mentioned before, the characters have lots of potential and I hope the author develops them in greater detail in the next book. If you are looking for a fun, fast paced read this summer, check this book out.
    • 4/5
      There is a very specific type of Hollywood actions - you have a hero (a police officer, a private cop, an ex police officer, an ex-navy, you name it - at least this is what he appears to be at the start - which ends up being part of the truth in most cases) who gets himself into a big mess within 5 minutes of the start of the film and then spends the next 80-90 minutes surviving all kind of against-all-odds situations while the bad guys try to use his always interesting past and family to get to him and a woman either betrays our guy or dies without him being able to save her or stay with him to the end. All this is accompanied with a lot of wrecked cars, explosions, enough firearms to win a war and at least a few mistakes from the bad guys. It does not matter why all that happens in some cases (even though the films in the last 10 years or so are trying for a plot....) - it is all about the speed, the almost miracles and about showing that one man can win against all odds. As formulaic as they are, they are enjoyable enough in some cases -- when I have 2 hours, nothing to do and just want to relax a bit, this type of a movie is my best companion. Fun and Games is a book version of these films. Charlie is an ex-cop (check), with a very complicated past (check) and a hidden family (check) who is not exactly what he appears to be (check), get stabbed pretty fast (check), meets two women (check), ends up trying to save one of them (check) and the bad guys spend the whole time trying to get him (check). Add to that the past of some of the other characters and a few actions that seemed like a staging up for the next book (because this is the start of a trilogy) and the things start to get pretty well covered. It is an enjoyable book - for someone that likes this type of thrillers and action films - so I had no issues with the book, even when the language was veering into the 18+ zone. However - the book is marketed as a vintage thriller... and that will probably cause some wrong expectations and disappointments. I will probably be reading the next 2 parts of the trilogy - I do not expect any surprises plot-wise or in what happens really but as already mentioned, I like this type of movies. And the book works at least as well. :)
    • 2/5
      I was really looking forward to this book, since it seemed to be a reinvention of the hardboiled style of writing that I love. Unfortunately. I was disappointed.This book reads like a movie script, for a film that is all action. The characters are flat, and I never developed any attachment to them. (Good thing, too, considering what happens to them.) I finally developed some sympathy for the main character, Charlie, but that was in the last five pages of the book. That was too little, too late. The plot is just one unbelievable attack after another. Charlie is nearly killed on every page, and it was too much to believe that he was still up and walking around - let alone fighting back - after everything he suffered.Reading this reminds me of sitting through a montage of every action scene from every action film produced in the last twenty years. And with a slightly depressing twist to it all.Sorry, but I won't be reading the rest of the trilogy. I just never developed any affinity for the characters; they were stock characters anyway. I'm not into blood and gore for the sake of blood and gore. But if that's your thing, then enjoy.
    • 4/5
      I was a little disappointed by Swierczynski's last book (Expiration Date), but much happier with this one. More in the vein of his "The Wheelman", this is a fun read -- the kind of book I like to take on the plane with me when traveling. The action keeps up all the way through, and I'm left looking forward to the second installment.
    • 5/5
      Charlie Hardie flies to Hollywood to house sit, but when he arrives, the keys aren't in the mailbox and someone is already in the house. Things go downhill from there when he discovers a B-movie actress in the house who is convinced that people are trying to kill her. The action is non-stop in this first book of a trilogy, and my only complaint is how long I have to wait to read the next two books.Thanks to LibraryThing early reviewers for a chance to read this outstanding book.
    • 4/5
      If any book (that isn't actually about a roller coaster) deserves to be called a roller coaster ride, it is this one. Swierczynzki drags you, willing or not, into this sordid tale of an ex-Philadelphia cop and a young actress who both have big secrets to hide. She is on the verge of a comeback; he has been reduced to drunken housesitting. But when he shows up at his next assignment in the Hollywood Hills, the two meet and one of the more interesting relationships in noir fiction begins. This book is ultra-graphic and revels in some pretty disturbing images, somewhat dulled by the fatalistic attitude of the ex-cop, Hardie. There were a couple of times it was almost too much for me, but the author keeps throwing in twist after twist and you have to keep reading. The thing is, you see, Hardie and the actress are being pursued by "The Accident People" who treat murder as an exercise in scenario planning and possess a bizarre variety of electronic devices, drugs, poisons, and other handy implements. The book is way over the top and full of implausibilities, and there are far too many times when someone should be dead but isn't, but it doesn't give you much time to reflect too much on its weaknesses until it is done. On a more positive note, the depiction of the book's various locations is great, and will probably have you on Google Maps before you know it.In the end, it is a very satisfying read, with the important caveat that this is only the first book in a trilogy. By the end, I'm hoping all the bad guys get what they deserve, but it is a reasonable question as to whether it deserves what projects to be something in excess of 800 pages. The best comparison I can think of is Tarantino's Kill Bill films. By the end of the second installment, much of the novelty and admiration for the director's technique wears off. Let's see if Swierczynski fares any better in the last two-thirds of this series.
    • 3/5
      Propulsive, pulpy fun. Some of the fat could have been trimmed to make an even leaner read, but there was enough goodness there to make me want to track down the next two in the trilogy.
    • 3/5
      I guess I've seen too many action movies or read to many thrillers. Nothing wrong with this one more a comment on my reading and viewing habits really
    • 4/5
      Wow. Charlie Hardie, the protagonist of Duane Swierczynski’s crime novel FUN AND GAMES, is pretty much unkillable in this book, the first in a trilogy. Not to say that people don’t try their best to do him in. The action never stops in this story set in Hollywood, as Hardie heads to a quiet boozy house-sitting job and ends up in the middle of a high-octane mess involving an evasive actress, killing drugs, lethal hit-and-runs, and nasty home invasions.
      Hardie is up against some very mean people who are excellent at covering their tracks and they want the actress dead. She’s not very forthcoming in why and Hardie has to use some amazing powers of deduction to figure some of it out.
      A bit of a stretch is needed if you believe one person can live through all that happens to Hardie, but it would sure make a great action movie. At first I was put off by the improbabilities but then I just went with it and ended up really rooting for him.
      If you like crime fiction I recommend FUN AND GAMES. I look forward to reading HELL AND GONE, the next book in the series.
    • 4/5
      Blurb.........
      Mulholland Books presents... FUN AND GAMES

      NUMBER OF ACCIDENTAL DEATHS PER YEAR
      By suffocation: 3,300
      By poisoning: 8,600

      STAGED BY PROFESSIONALS: You have no idea.

      Ex-cop Charlie Hardie's latest job is guarding an isolated mansion in LA's Hollywood Hills. But it comes with an unwanted guest - a D-list actress who says she's being hunted by professional hitmen.

      Charlie thinks she's just high and paranoid.

      But he's wrong.

      The killers are real.
      They've tracked her to the house.
      And they're not letting anyone out alive.

      The first in a trilogy starring Charlie Hardie. Fast, frenetic, funny, plenty of action, likeable main characters, likeable supporting characters, slight stretch of the imagination to "buy" the plot - but isn't all fiction just made up words? Fantastic interplay between Hardie and Mann, the main adversary.

      I read it in just over a day, which would have been quicker if life hadn't interfered.
      The most enjoyable of his books to date, having previously read Secret Dead Men, The Blonde, The Wheelman and Severance Package.

      I'll keep an eye out for the series follow-ons as this was a real blast.

      4 from 5

      Bought new last year from somewhere or other, Buzzard Books in town maybe.
    • 4/5
      Charlie Hardie is a former under-the-table employee of the Philly police force before an incident altered his life and forced a drastic career change. Charlie is now a house sitter who agrees to sit on your couch, down beers and watch old movies why you're off having a life somewhere else. Hardie takes a job watching a home when upon arrival, he's attacked by well known actress/socialite, Lane Madden.

      Madden is spouting off conspiracy theories about "them", an unknown group dubbed, "The Accident People" who eliminate higher-ups while constructing detailed alibis that make death appear accidental and plausible. The planned killing of Madden threw a wrench in their mission and now she's on the run and inadvertently dragged Charlie into the situation. Can Charlie escape with his life or is he doomed to suffer Madden's fate as well?

      I really, really like Duane Swierczynski and he's quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. His work is so gripping that he never fails to keep me interested throughout any of his novels.

      I'm not sure what he has in store for the next two Hardie stories but I really feel like this was strong enough to stand on it's own. Hopefully he always had a trilogy in mind and based on the release/publication dates of the remaining installments, I assume that was always the case.

      While Hardie himself can seem sort of bland at times, the "Unkillable Chuck" angle that Swierczynski attaches to him creates a nice level of intrigue as well as making me want to know more about his past. Hopefully we'll know more about him as the books move forward.
    • 5/5
      Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

      Duane Swierczynski is a name I’ve come across several times before. It’s a hard one to forget, even though I probably couldn’t spell it if my life depended on it. Amazon has been quite sure that I would enjoy his work, and has recommended him many times over. Swierczynski seems to write the kind of genre fiction I find myself enjoying lately, intense crime thrillers that occasionally edge into more speculative territories.

      The first book I picked up by Swierczynski was his fourth, Severance Package… and I couldn’t get into it. Not sure why, it just didn’t click. I made it a few chapters in and took it back to the library. I wasn’t so sure that Amazon knew what it was talking about. Even still, every new book of his that I came across had an intriguing description. Sometimes I’m just not in the right mood to read a particular book, and I figured I might just need to give Swierczynski another shot.

      And what a shot it was. The kind that picks you up off your feet and tosses you across the room. Little blue birdies dancing in your vision the whole way down. I don’t know what kept me from getting into Severance Package, but there was no such hesitation when I started reading Fun and Games today over my lunch break. Within 20 pages I knew I was going to finish it this evening, and within a few short hours I’d torn through the rest in a mad rush. In my considered opinion, Duane Swierczynski has arrived, and just careened right up my list of Must Read Authors.

      Fun and Games is the first in a trilogy, which, thankfully, will be completed promptly over the next two years (book two this winter, book three in 2012). The main character, Charlie Hardie, is a former police consultant whose life was ruined in a tragedy three years earlier. Ever since then, he’s drifted through life in an alcoholic haze, making ends meet by house-sitting for the rich and absent. He wants nothing more than to drink himself into a stupor while watching old movies and forgetting that his life ever happened.

      However, he gets more than he bargained for when he starts a job housesitting for a movie composer who lives in the Hollywood Hills. On his first day, Charlie is assaulted by a crazed woman who is squatting in the composer’s bathroom. The woman, Lane Madden, wallops him with a microphone stand and then starts babbling about a mysterious “them” who are trying to kill her and make it look like an accident. At first Charlie thinks she’s just a washed-up drug addict, but then he realizes that Lane is Somebody Famous, and that she may actually be telling the truth.

      Charlie gets all the proof he needs when “they” – sometimes referred to as “The Guild” or “The Accident People” – try to kill him. Once The Accident People make their move, Fun and Games sets off at breakneck speed and only slows down long enough to let you catch your breath before the next white-knuckle action scene. Most of the action takes place in a very short amount of time, maybe 24 or 48 hours, as the protagonists are cornered, escape, and then get cornered again. The story is full of twists and turns, misdirections and reveals, all neatly doled out with masterful pacing that kept me glued to the page.

      One of the great things about Fun and Games is that it’s very much a Hollywood thriller that could only be set in Hollywood. There’s a generous dose of satire layered over the proceedings; The Accident People are exactly the sort of assassins that someone would dream up for a movie, but they’re also the sort of the assassins that people who make movies might use to knock each other off. They are always concerned with the “narrative” of their kills, wanting to ensure that no hint of the true story peeks through. That Charlie Hardie will not die does not fit into their neat little storyline.

      It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a book this much, and it’s certainly been a few months since I’ve read something in one sitting. I’m definitely sold on Swierczynski now, and can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of this trilogy, not to mention his earlier books. Mulholland Books just added another one of my favorite authors to their roster.
    • 4/5
      I recently discovered Duane Swierczynski’s writing with Expiration Date. Swierczynski is of the school of writers who want to glue their books to your hands until you finish them and finally set them aside with a sigh of pleasure – and immediately reach for the next book in the series. The writing is smooth and fast and fun. In Fun and Games, Swierczynski starts a trilogy of novels starring Charlie Hardie. Charlie is an ex-policeman of sorts (what sort is not yet clear) who now housesits for the wealthy for his living. Housesitting, to him, means making sure the house is secure and then sprawling on a couch in front of a television set, watching old movies and drinking himself into unconsciousness. Hardie drinks to forget how he managed to get his best friend and his entire family killed – enough to drive just about anyone to the bottle. Hardie lands a housesitting gig in the Hollywood Hills. The house belongs to a composer who is writing a score for a film in Russia, apparently having been called in at the last minute and therefore in such a rush that he has to leave the keys in the mailbox, rather than mailing a set to Hardie. When Hardie arrives, the keys aren’t there, and he has to climb over the roof and get in through the patio door. It’s pretty clear by now that Hardie isn’t your typical housesitter, who would have called a locksmith or the agency that doles out his jobs rather than climbing a roof. But Hardie quickly has reason to display his uniqueness in great detail, for the house contains an intruder. She’s a little thing, this intruder, but she has starred in a lot of action films, and she knows how to defend herself from any and all threats, and Hardie sure as hell seems like a threat to her. Once she’s satisfied herself that Hardie is not, in fact, what she’s afraid of (after doing him some serious damage), she explains about Them. They’re The Accident People, the folks who make sure that the powerful (however you might wish to define that term) are never held responsible for anything they do wrong. A movie star is involved in a hit and run, killing a child? Easy to cover up. That same movie star starts to have an attack of conscience and wants to come clean? Then that movie star has to die to protect everyone involved in the cover-up. And it’s plenty easy to do, too. Soon Hardie has joined forces with the woman he finds in the house, fighting for his life as well as hers. The bad guys are some of the most interesting villains I’ve come across. And Swierczynski writes this improbable tale of conspiracy featuring a hero that should have died ten times over with such panache that the reader never starts questioning the tale until long after finishing the book. Hardie is the best hero since Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, and has the added benefit of seeming a lot more human despite his unearthly resilience in the face of constant attack and injury. He’s the kind of guy I want to meet – and have watching my back if I’m ever in trouble.
    • 4/5
      This is the start of a new trilogy by Swierczynski. It's got rollercoaster action. I enjoyed the main character, Charlie Hardie, quite a bit—he's an interesting mix of the cynical, depressed noir detective and the wrong-guy-to-piss-off action hero with a sense of humor (albeit a dark one). I like that we've got a complete episode in this book while the larger conspiracy angle will span the three volumes. It's fairly violent, though it skirts around being too much. As with the first of his books I read (Expiration Date), there's this sense of Swierczynski's background as a comic book writer: a quick, fast-paced and breezy style of writing that's perfect when you're in the mood for something not so serious.