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Sweet Jimmy
By Bryan Brown
Published by Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781761065224
Seven short stories about crime and revenge entertainingly told by Bryan Brown from his imagination of what happens when people make wrong choices that land them in seriously hot water.
Six stories are all set in Sydney’s suburbs and I particularly like the way Bryan Brown tells the reader where the suburbs are, so if you are reading this from another state, or you’re in another country it gives you a sense of place. One story is set in Las Vegas and takes the reader on an epic, nail biting journey as the characters intention is to drive south to LA.
Each story is told with one thing in mind - revenge. To get back and nail the person who landed the hero character in trouble. A Time to Do highlights how scams work. Particularly getting people to inadvertently become drug carriers. Similar to stories that we would read about in the news where someone falls in love with a trickster that can have dramatic consequences, They wouldn’t normally do the things they are asked to do and it can ruin their lives. You can’t help feeling sorry for them. Frank Testy isn’t going to let this go, he wants his life back.
One of the other short stories shows how wrong choices which ultimately lead to time in prison doesn’t necessarily mean their life will be wasted.
Rather how it’s a turning point, discovering a skill that they didn’t know they had and, once out of jail, becoming a success, falling in love, becoming happily married and building a thriving business … that is, until the bad guys he was friends with, who were part of the hair brained scheme that landed him in jail, turn up. They haven’t yet turned over a new leaf.
Each story is enjoyable to read, and you can almost see what’s coming next, but there’s a twist in the tale, except for the last story called Sweet Jimmy.
It highlights a major problem from the era up until the 1960/70s and the effect it can have either leaving the person heartbroken forever, and living with it or completely unable to deal with the decisions that were made for them.
Bryan Brown is a master story teller and most of the stories could easily be made into either movies or gripping tv series. Hopefully he will continue writing stories and a couple of these stories will be made into a movie.
Sweet Jimmy is a fun, entertaining and light hearted book to read, but be aware some stories include a lot of swearing, a lot - so keep this one on the top shelf or hidden from younger children! Interestingly, the swearing doesn’t detract from the stories, it is all in context.
This is independent review, I am not paid by the publishers, so.If you Liked this review, Buy me a coffee
