Since writing a book review blog, I follow a number of publishing trends, including self-publishing. Self-publishing, once know also as ‘vanity press’ has become much more legitimate thanks largely to Amazon, and there are a number of authors I read who self-publish. Some major press authors are beginning to work their way into the self-publishing market as they realize that they can keep more of the profits from a book sale if they publish themselves. Brandon Sanderson is one of those big-name authors planning to self-publish (and raised more than $41million in a Kickstarter).
While nowhere near as famous or popular as Sanderson, one name I keep coming across in the self-publishing world is Michael Anderle. With nearly 900 books with his name on the byline, Anderle may be one of the most prolific authors ever. Of course it is likely that the name Michael Anderle is a ‘house name’ – used by a number of writers (like Victor Appleton, Franklin W. Dixon, Carolyn Keene, Jerry West, etc). There’s no ‘byline’ on the cover of this book, only a “created by” line.
Justice Before Law is the first book in Anderle’s Pain and Agony series. Pain (first initial “M”) is an ex-mercenary. “Ex”, but since his skill set is pretty specific he works as a vigilante. Alicia Goni (A. Goni) is former cop, skilled but now operating on the gray side of the law. The pair are brought together completely by accident and while they bicker and complain about each other, they clearly have a grudging respect for the others’ abilities. Which is good, since they’re going to need each other to avoid being killed by the criminals in their sights.
Essentially this is a modern pulp action story. It’s fast-paced and the story is right there in front of you – no need to look for deeper meanings or sub-plots.
As you might guess from the name of the series, the book is driven by the characters – the plot is just a device to throw these two together, have them fight some villains, and banter, banter, banter. Really.
The dialog here is like a 1970’s Stan Lee-written Marvel superhero comic dialog.
“Do you at least have a vehicle nearby?”
“Define vehicle.”
“Wheels!” she shouted.
“Define nearby.”
Damn, the man was infuriating. He possessed all the calmness of someone who was about to tell her that all they had to do was step out of the window.
And clearly Anderle (or his ghost writer) is proud of his dialog because sometimes it just takes over a scene:
“Watch the crowd.” He shouted the order with no time to explain. She didn’t take the command graciously but complied while he waited for a few seconds and then shouted, “Olly olly oxen free motherfucker Ben!”
Only one man with a phone to his ear froze and he now had her undivided attention.
“Got him!” she reported as he made a sudden move that separated him from the crowd. “But Olly olly?” she asked her companion as a stream of obscenities could be heard as a reply through the phone. “Maybe you can give me a warning before you start screeching like a schoolgirl.”
I thought it was a very manly screech.” He defended himself cheerfully.
“So would Howdy Doody, I’m sure!” She had no intention to let it go.
“Howdy Doody was a quality program, Miss Peanut Gallery.” He wouldn’t let it go either.
“Sure,” she snapped because they were on a roll now, “if you like creepy-ass puppets who pre-dated the dinosaurs.”
“He was a marionette, not a puppet!” Pain was mentally gearing up the same way she was. “Jim Henson would back me up on that.”
If you like an action story that’s easy to read and doesn’t make you think too hard, then this is probably the kind of book that will appeal to you. The price was right for me (free) and so I picked up the first three books in the series, and I’ll probably read on to the next couple of volumes, but I do hope we can put some of our middle-school patter on the back burner and get a bit more story in the next book.
Looking for a good book? Justice Before Law by Michael Anderle is a modern day pulp fiction action story – lots of campy dialog, lots of fighting, and just a touch of plot.
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Justice Before Law
author: Michael Anderle
series: Pain and Agony #1
publisher: LMBPN Publishing
ISBN: 9781685004644
paperback, 238 pages
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