Review of Choke Hold by Christa Faust

It’s been over three years since Christa Faust’s first crime-noir novel, Money Shot, appeared on the scene as a Hard Case Crime original publication. That novel told me that Ms. Faust was a talent worth keeping an eye on, as was her lead character, Angel Dare. Part of the reason it took so long for Choke Hold (the sequel to Money Shot) to come out was because Hard Case Crime went out of business due to low book sales. Her novel, which was scheduled for publication in 2010, was put on the shelf, until Hard Case Crime was eventually picked up by Titan Books and the back log of novels was published one at a time.

Was Choke Hold worth the wait? For me, it definitely was. Like a lot of male readers, I have a secret crush on Angel Dare. She’s beautiful, tough as nails, a dynamo in the sack, has a soft spot for birds with broken wings, and refuses to be pushed around or even killed for that matter. You don’t want her on your bad side.

Different from the first novel, Choke Hold, has our heroine on the run with the bad guys quickly closing in. It starts off in Yuma, Arizona where Angel is working as a waitress in a small dinner. She used to be in Witness Protection, but took off when the bad guys (or Croatians, or the men who worked for her former boss) found out where she was. The purpose of working in the dinner is to get a legitimate-looking passport out of the owner, who has connections in the town. All that changes, however, when former co-worker and love interest—Thick Vic Ventura—enters the restaurant to meet his kid for the first time, only to discover Angel there behind the counter. Though Angel doesn’t want to admit it, seeing Vic brings back some good memories, and they make a casual date for afterwards.

Everything then changes again when three drugged-out gangbangers enter the dinner and start shooting, getting Vic in the process. Before Vic dies, he makes Angel promise to take care of his kid, Cody, which is really what the story is about. Cody has aspirations of being a top martial arts caged fighter, but he has to get to Las Vegas by Sunday morning for his television audition. Unfortunately, the kid has been set up to take the fall for some missing coke, and his boss doesn’t think he’s innocent. To get back into the man’s good graces, Cody has to throw some fights down in Mexico and perhaps all will be forgiven. Remember, the key word is perhaps.

If only it were that easy.

The Croatians, however, are still after Angel, and Cody’s boss is certainly not a man of his word. A lot of people are going to die in this novel. A lot are also going to get laid, especially Cody’s martial arts’ friend, Hank, who Angel has the obvious hots for. We shouldn’t forget that Angel used to be a famous porn star, and she does like sex, plus she’s not above using it to get whatever she wants.

Christa Faust has once again proven why she’s the Queen of Crime Noir. There’s no female author writing today who does it better than her. Ms. Faust knows how to create poignant characters with obvious flaws and who live in the real world. The characters are either on the good side or the bad. If the good, they’re in a constant struggle to do the right thing and to rise above their addictions and problems to make the ultimate sacrifice. The characters on the bad side are definitely the kind of people you don’t want to meet in a dark alley, or have chasing you across country. These are folks who like to use electric drills and hot heating irons and sharp instruments to torture you with. In other words, they’re not nice at all.

The plot also has Angel Dare running away this time, instead of seeking revenge against those who originally attempted to kill her. Of course, with Angel in the picture there’s going to be a high body count before the end of the novel is reached. Also, the locale shifts from Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. Like most crime-noir novels, the ending here is not a happy one and Angel doesn’t ride off into the sunset with a big smile of satisfaction on her face. Like Money Shot, she has to deal with a lot of grief over the death of what friends she has in her life. In other words, where Angel goes, death follows closely behind.

Another valid point that Christa Faust has going for her is that she knows how to build the tension and to end each chapter with a hook that forces you to continue on, instead of taking a food or bathroom break. You have to find out what happens next, or go through withdrawal systems at not knowing. It takes a talented author to achieve that with each and every chapter in the book. The only other writer I’ve ever known to do that is Clive Cussler with his Dirk Pitt novels.

So, if you’re after a good crime-noir novel with plenty of sex and violence and suspense, Choke Hold is the one to buy. I hope the author will bring Angel Dare back in future books and that it won’t be a three-year wait before the next one.

Once last comment—I have to wonder just how much of Christa Faust is in Angel Dare.