title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Eyesauthor: Mike Dennispublished: 17 December 2011
publisher: self-publishedgenre(s): noir,
thrillerspages: 21
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the blurb
In this short story, Harry's a blackjack dealer at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. The kind of guy you'd never notice. Ordinary-looking, inconspicuous, practically invisible. Lives in a little apartment behind the hotel. Been working graveyard shift for twelve years now. Got no life of any consequence.
But one night Petra sits down at his table, and then...
my review
Until I began reading Mike Dennis’ work, I never really got too into noir fiction, but I most definitely a fan now. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Eyes is a great story that takes the “average guy meets a femme fatale” plot and gives it a twist and a gripping story. Harry is just a normal guy, until his femme fatale Petra walks into his life. A short story it may be, but it doesn’t lack for anything, including a twist that I didn’t see coming.
If you like noir fiction, definitely pick this up, and others by the author.
About Mike Dennis
After thirty years as a professional musician (piano), Mike Dennis left Key West and moved to Las Vegas in 2006 to become a professional poker player. He turned to writing when his first novel, THE TAKE, was picked up by a publisher in 2009.
His next book, SETUP ON FRONT STREET, was the first of a series of Key West Nocturnes, standalone noir novels. These books will lift the veil on Key West and reveal it as a true noir city, on a par with Los Angeles, New Orleans, or Miami. THE GHOSTS OF HAVANA is the second book in that set. The third, MAN-SLAUGHTER, is now available, and the fourth, THE GUNS OF MIAMI, will be coming in 2013.
Mike has also introduced the Jack Barnett/Las Vegas series, about a reluctant ex-private investigator living in Sin City, USA. The first entry in that series, a novelette called TEMPTATION TOWN, is now available. The second installment, HARD CASH, also a novelette, is currently available, as is the third entry, a full novel called THE DOWNTOWN DEAL.
Mike also has a collection of short stories, BLOODSTAINS ON THE WALL. In addition, his stories have been published in A Twist Of Noir, Mysterical e, Powder Burn Flash, Slow Trains, and The Wizards Of Words 2009 Anthology.
In addition, Mike has an experimental rockabilly novel called CADILLAC’S COMIN’, a hard tale of a one-hit wonder who recorded for Sun Records in the chaotic early days of rock & roll.
In late 2010, Mike moved back to Key West, where he enjoys year-round island living with his wife Yleana, whom he married on a warm December night in 2012 on the rooftop of an apartment building in Havana, Cuba.
Thanks for the good words, Kim. Much appreciated.