Skinny Annie Blues

by Neal Barrett Jr.

Book Overview

Receiving a mysterious call that informs him that his father is dead and warns him not to return home, Wiley Moss travels to Texas anyway and must solve a murder while preventing his own death.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1575661349
• ISBN13: 9781575661346
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Great fun to read! Another "road movie" book of Barrett!

It is a while ago since I read this book. I had a lot of fun reading it and the book did not last me a week. I felt like I have to cheer in to compensate for the dissapointed readers! Yes, the charakters are overdrawn and nothing in Barretts book happens just normal. But this is what makes the story so exciting! The author describes things very visual and for example I really felt that Texas heat! This book is something that you either like or dislike. Don't we say that about many great books or movies? I highly recommend all books in Barretts "blues" series!

Don't let the people who don't get it scare you off

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and Neal Barrett is certainly not for everyone, but this, and the other books in the "Blues" series, are top-notch writing and storytelling. Few do it better than Neal Barrett, and frankly Carl Hiassen does not even compete in the same league as Barrett (although fans of Hiassen might find a new friend in Barrett). As evidenced by the previous reviewers who did not like the book, this is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those who do not appreciate the bizzare and the off-color.

One heck of a fun read

Neal Barrett Jr. has crafted another fun and quirky mystery. Wiley Moss is the latest in Barrett's line of poor schlep protagonists who seems to end up causing more problems for himself than he actually solves. This is a theme begun in Barrett's excellent novel "Pink Vodka Blues" and has served him well ever since. "Skinny Annie Blues" is well plotted and at times very, very funny. You may have to reread the ending twice to realize who really committed Moss' father's murder. My favorite character: the local mob boss' hired muscle who loves to disgust people by eating dead birds like popsicles. My only real problems with the book is that Barrett piles on one or two too many subplots. One subplot about a beautiful redhead Moss keeps bumping into (at least once in the Biblical sense) doesn't really work for me. Another subplot featuring the title character is briefly mentioned, then strangely dropped and we never hear more about Skinny Annie after that. Fans of Joe Lansdale would be well served to give Barrett a try. He's just that good.