The Villains Really Needed the Shellacking They Got. A Review of The Scorned

 The Scorned is an old-fashioned hard-boiled detective novel but with modern problems. like human trafficking. At first, I was annoyed because most of the women are described as wearing form-fitting dresses. Then I thought, yeah well, that's how the hard-boiled detective novels were. Fortunately, the major women's characters have depth. They weren't just mannequins in tight clothes.

An interesting thing the author does is to make the despicable male characters likeable. That's not easy when your characters enjoy beating people up. One way is that the two men are rescuing women and child victims of trafficking and other abuses. So, the bad guys are really rotten and they're kind of deserving the iron rebar smacking them upside the head. The good guys also have soft spots for their love interests and for children.   Well yeah, the good guys do cause a lot of blood to splatter but for a good cause, if blood splattering ever has a good cause. I mean, the villains really needed a can of whoop-ass opened on them.

There is lots of graphic, grim violence. There is child abuse, but it is mostly seen off-screen, as they'd say in the movies. I'd go so far as to say some readers may be triggered.

If you like buddy movies, a hard-boiled tinge, some romance, and lots of whoop-ass, this novel will hit the spot, sometimes with a big 'ol' pipe across the nose. Thanks to Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Scorned.