Camaro rides a Harley, drinks beer, plays blackjack and isn’t afraid to go after a man she finds attractive. She’s also a stone-cold killer.
That’s how Sam Hawken introduces us to Camaro Espinoza, a former Army medic and Iraq veteran who is now “a woman searching for a place in a world that looks entirely different to her. A woman with the unfortunate habit of getting involved in things that frequently turn violent.” Frequently, indeed.
Camaro Run is the first of a series of novellas Hawken intends to write, and if the rest of the series is anything like the first, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.
When Camaro rolls into Las Vegas from parts unknown on a blazing hot afternoon, a quiet night at a casino for a shower and a roll in the sack with a good-looking guy she meets at a blackjack table turns into an astonishing fight for life in the hotel room. Camaro witnesses some bad guy murdering her brand-new lover for a mysterious “package,” and the game is on.
Now dogged by the killers — who seem to be up to a double-cross of their boss themselves by framing Camaro — and a Mexican crew intent on killing her, and Las Vegas detective Marlene Brown (who just knows she’s up to no good), Camaro hotfoots it out of town on her Harley. But with this herd after her, she has to think quick and shoot even quicker.
With a slam-bang breathless style, Hawken tears through the story. It’s less than 100 pages, but it feels like a lot less. I read the entire thing in an afternoon on my back porch, never once thinking of putting it down until the end.
And Hawken is good enough to leave you wanting more. There’s a lot to Camaro, a lot we don’t know yet. But after Camaro Run, I can’t wait to find out.
Check out more of Hawken’s work at his blog here.
Available June 21.
Phillip Thompson 