A Night at the Shore
by Tony Knighton
Brash Books, 2024
Tony Knighton’s third Nameless Thief crime
novel, A Night at the Shore, is a fast-driving, exciting, and downright
cool heist tale where everything goes wrong in a hurry. Nameless—or the man of
many names and none of them his own—takes what he thinks is a low-risk burglary
job in the Jersey shore town of Margate; a stone’s throw from Atlantic City. Buddy,
a hardnosed poker dealer at an A.C. casino, a fence, and a planner, throws the
job to Nameless without many details.
The
target is a degenerate gambler named Charlie. Buddy doesn’t know his last name,
but he, Buddy, is convinced Charlie’s gambling stake—maybe as much as
$10,000—will be an easy snatch from his home. But for it to work, the job requires
a quick turnaround to be timed with a big Atlantic storm forecasted in two
days, on a Friday night. Nameless, distracted by his girlfriend’s sudden
announcement that she is going away for an extended period (and maybe forever),
neglects to research Charlie on his own. A big mistake since Nameless, after
being interrupted searching Charlie’s house for valuables, spends the entire
night running for his life—from a wicked storm and a cadre of extremely angry
and homicidal cops—while trying to figure out why a simple burglary has made
him so hot.
A
Night at the Shore is
pure adrenaline; from its laconic, muscular prose, to it is compact and tight
plotting, and to its lightning-fast pacing. Nameless is an anti-hero in every
sense—he is violent, emotionless, and pitiless—but, much like Richard Stark’s
Parker, his actions are governed by what is necessary for the situation. He only
hurts those who threaten him and his violence never exceeds what is required,
which gives the reader permission to root for the villain. Even better,
Nameless takes his own lumps along with everyone else. A Night at the Shore
is my first experience with Nameless and Tony Knighton’s writing in general,
but it certainly won’t be my last.
Click here for the Kindle edition and
here for the paperback at Amazon.
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