Tuesday, February 23, 2010

ANOTHER FINE MESS

Bitch Factor
Author: Chris Rogers
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0-553-58001-9
Price: $5.99
pub. date: October, 1998
319 pages, paper

A debut novel by an author who writes with authority, clarity, and tells a very good story. The title and cover hype shouldn’t put readers off. Someone has tried to position this female bounty hunter and ex assistant district attorney, into a hard-surfaced prickly feminazi who is supposed to have all the aggressive, macho attributes of some western male lawman. It isn’t true, which in no way detracts from a fine story or an interesting, worthwhile character. Dixie Flannigan is a Houston, Texas, based bounty hunter. She’s smart, competent, beset by an aggravating family, and seems to be the kind of interesting personality one would enjoy hanging out with. Her moral construct is strong and believable. She has a wide range of fascinating friends who are sometimes able to assist her in logical ways.

If the story sags a bit in the middle, the premise holds up well and the last third is a tense,
bounding race to a surprising conclusion. A worthy effort.

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