What They’re Saying About T.K. O’NEILL
ABOUT Northwoods Pulp
From the Ripsaw: “In the spirit of true pulp… an utter joy… downright good reading.”
From the University of Minnesota Duluth Statesman: “… immensely entertaining…”
From the Northland Reader: “… great hard-boiled writing…”
From Murphy McGinnis Newspapers: “Ray Bradbury said zest and gusto are among the most important elements to a writer’s makeup. (O’Neill)… may never have read this advice, but he writes like he has. His work sparkles with gusto…”
“(O’Neill) writes his tales from the dark side well. His dialogue, in particular, sparks with life, and… the clever by-play between characters drives the plot and develops the characters expertly.”
“Another of (O’Neill’s) strengths is his action scenes—and there are a lot of them, as you’d expect with violent and unpredictable characters. His pacing is immaculate, and he handily transitions between introspection, slow scenes and pulse-pounding action.”
“(O’Neill) followed his loves and his hates into a book that holds your attention and enters your psyche. It presents a coherent, if nasty, picture of the human condition and the world we live in.”
“Frankly, a lot of writers don’t get as far as (O’Neill) did… having something to say and saying it with a little zest and gusto.”
From The Paper, Grand Rapids, Michigan: “This new collection of short stories, Northwoods Pulp, is like a peepshow curtain pulled back. You don’t want to look, but you can’t help it. And, when you do, your disgust is tempered by an amazement that makes you want to look – just a little bit more. There are few heroes— at least not the kind who get the girl, the house or win the lottery.”
…. a lean style that he uses well to establish the outlines of his characters early in the stories. Over the course of a few pages he artfully fills in those sketches, refusing to “stay inside the lines.” His laconic descriptions of failed schemes and skewered lives result in wonderfully entertaining tales about the perils and pratfalls of a menagerie of people that can’t help but make you feel better about yourself.”
“These tales are full of people who live their lives to the fullest, in a bizarre way – and examining where, exactly, they end up can be disturbing. Their dreams, often, are the things that make up nightmares for “normal” people. But his characters are the real McCoy…”
From SHOTS Magazine, UK, reviewed by author Russell James: “Four tales of the coldest North American states… crammed with hard men, hard language, snow and speed. The backgrounds are good – low bars, cheap diners, empty motels, lonesome shacks – and the characters are tough and quick with their firearms… These are punch and shoot ’em stories, make it up as you go along; tough and for all we know, authentic … (O’Neill) can write…”
From judge’s comments at Minnesota Book Awards: “…vulgar, violent, venomous.”
From Canadian Chapters.Indigo review: “A beautiful scene in the wilderness—hiding some grisly secrets… mystery writer (T.K. O’Neill) combines the traditional hard-boiled style of James Cain to create a harrowing story of devil worship, death, lawlessness and crime…”
ABOUT Fatally Flawed
From SHOTS Magazine, Great Britain, reviewed by Mike Stotter, Editor: “….His writing is dark and twisted, like his characters. I defy anyone to dislike Fatally Flawed.”
From Reader Weekly: “(Keith Waverly), like an F. Scott Fitzgerald protagonist, remains true to himself to the end… part of O’Neill’s talent… a character that no one likes but everyone wishes well.”
“You won’t come away from this novel with a warm feeling for the Sunshine State… if anything, you’ll realize how the suffocating heat of the humid Southland seems to encourage slithering snakes and festering parasites.”
From Murphy McGinnis Newspapers: “(T.K. O’Neill) throws worlds of hurt at his ne’er-do-well characters… in the spirit of Raymond Chandler… his writing process builds on trouble… the underside of the American Dream… a perfect example of noir…”
ABOUT Northwoods Standoff
From The Corresponder (Minnesota State University): “(O’Neill) is a writer who isn’t afraid to take chances with his story. There are no good guys or bad guys here, and Keith (Waverly) is certainly not the average tortured hero. (O’Neill) lets his characters run wild and take the reader on a fast paced ride. Northwoods Standoff feels like classic crime noir with the insanity of a mental ward tossed in for good measure.”
From the Lake Superior Sounder: “…his prose soars fast and high and reflects a keen eye for character, plot and setting, and follows the most convoluted stream of events with ease.”
“At the beginning, it appears antihero Keith Waverly has come a long way from his days roaming the streets of Zenith, Minnesota… forced to leave the area due to circumstances beyond his control… he heads south to escape retribution and make a new life for himself…. At the end of (author’s previous book, Fatally Flawed), Waverly is again “running for his life” as he heads back north, but this time with $250,000 in cold, hard cash.… Northwoods Standoff finds him in Madison, Wis. The year is 1979 (where) he’s inadvertently invited to a private “sex soiree” where he meets—and becomes enamored of—the beautiful and mysterious Dana, business manager/hostess of the event. The Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland is an island of sanity compared to the goings-on at this party”… Waverly’s trip through life goes downhill faster than a luge at the Winter Olympics, but along the way he experiences a host of memorable characters, including a Native American philosopher, an assortment of low-lifes, plus a stint in a mental institution where he can hardly tell patients from doctors.”
“Be warned: this is a trippy book, not for those who lean toward the “cozy” side of pulp-like fiction. For those who lean the other way, Northwoods Standoff keeps you reading, which is all I ask for in any book, Losing interest is the worst thing that can happen, and it didn’t happen here. “
From barnesandnoble.com, reviewed by Kim Lamson-Scribner: “(O’Neill’s) talented writing in the noir Keith Waverly books is not for the fainthearted of rough talk and experience. In this third novel, Northwoods Standoff, Keith steps into white-, blue- and no-collar decadence and further unraveling. The character of Keith Waverly repeatedly moves toward escape in misperceived deliverance; this only turns on him, taking from him rather than delivering in its alternate reality. While the fog encompasses, the author allows for Keith’s periodic lucidity, but the fog never clears. His Waverly series gives keen insight to the exterior and interior world of a lost man.”
“While the language and environment entered through this book are in rough-hewn speak, (O’Neill’s) writing has an underlying elegance and his characterization a developed depth. Earlier stories of the series have some playful surface dry humor weaving in and out of a tough world context. Expressed through the series and in this book is a substantially perceptive sense of humanity and lost humanity.”
“While on a wholly different track, and in a style all his own, there are darkened shades reminiscent of David Lindsey, James Lee Burke and John D. McDonald in the Keith Waverly series.”
[…] Reviews […]