The Liquid City

The Liquid City by Curtis J. Hopfenbeck

(Summary taken from the back book cover) "Shadoe Kilbourne is the consummate intellectual assassin, with an impressive arsenal of both wit and weaponry at his disposal. As Seattle's most successful nightclub owner and restaurateur; he is also a man of great resource, humor and humanity. His lethal charms and deadly ideologies are a devastating double-edged sword; brandished at will to put the bad guys in their place and get the good girls back to his. Driven by vengeance, derived from a painful and poignant past we can only speculate on, his ties to the highest echelons and lowest corridors of humanity also make him him the perfect middleman for those who seek to solicit his fervor and favor in the hunt for his brand of justice, both inside and outside of the law."

Mr. Hopfenbeck definitely has a very large vocabulary! This book is full of "big" words, and it is very refreshing. At first I thought maybe he was just showing off, but as the book goes on I realized that they fit the character well. I was skeptical because I thought the words might seem forced, but I got pulled into the story and enjoyed the writing a lot. The main character, Shadoe Kilbourne, is very hard to get a handle on. My feelings on him changed from page to page and sometimes from paragraph to paragraph. Do I love him because of his charity and generosity or do I hate him because of his brutality? Do I like him because he is likable and fun or do I dislike him because he is telling three women at the same time that he loves them? His trusty side-kicks are humorous, yet brutal as well, but the three of them together are hilarious. I love the banter back and forth and I really enjoyed the tennis ball bouncing scene.

The characters in this book are all different and interesting. They have good depth and are well portrayed. I enjoy Mr. Hopfenbeck's writing style, and even though there are some cliches and a few corny references to the Utah culture, I enjoyed this book. It does have language in it along with some brutal deaths and violence. The topics discussed are serious and sobering: drugs, alcohol, human trafficking, prostitution, and gang violence are only some of them. The book does not make light of these issues at all, but does try to show the seriousness of them and shows how Mr. Kilbourne and his associates try to combat them. I would not recommend that anyone follows their lead, but I guess they get the job done. Despite the heaviness of the topic, Mr. Hopfenbeck does a good job of throwing in some humor and love as well.

Rating: R (Remember this does not follow the movie ratings, it just means that younger readers should not read it.) For the above stated reasons: drugs, alcohol, prostitution, human trafficking, gang violence, death, shootings, domestic violence.

Recommendation: 18 and up. I don't want to be discussing what a mercenary is with my 15 year-old boy. I wouldn't want him to get any ideas. And I don't want to be discussing human trafficking or prostitution with him either. (Or a daughter of the same age.)

I would recommend this book with the above cautions. I am not one for violence but I did get pulled into the story and I love it when the good guys (is that what they are?) win. I look forward to hearing more from Shadoe Kilbourne and his associates Deity, Gio, Koda, and Rama.