Big Maria

Blake Crouch reviews Johnny Shaw’s new crime humor novel Big Maria

For me, there are several variations on the "amazing reading experience."

1. When you can't put a book down due to perfect plotting.
2. When you find yourself caring deeply about its characters.
3. When those characters are people who in real life you would shudder to have as neighbors and yet you still care.
4. And this is truly the rarest of all and nothing short of an absolute gift. When every few pages you stumble across a one-liner that makes you smile, laugh, shake your head, and wonder just how long this writer can sustain this lovely train of thought.

Such is the wonder of Big Maria, the second novel, following Dove Season, by Johnny Shaw, which somehow manages to achieve all of the above and more... Read the rest of this review at www.kindlepost.com.