SIZE

Flinty, gritty, and original second novel from Gray, whose strong first (Bino) had one asset that this venture lacks: likable characters. When Size Brandon, who's been in the slammer twice for murder and assault, handcuffs his FBI watchdog to the urinal and skips out on his grand jury testimony rather than rat on longtime friend Pecos Jim Fontenot, it's a tossup who's more eager to find him--the Feds or Pecos Jim, who wants him silenced permanently. Then when Size's car blows up with an innocent buddy in it, he hightails it to Vegas and plans a scam to retaliate against his homicidal pal, bankrolling the scheme with his poker winnings. (Size is a professional card player with ""an IRS Gambling Tax Stamp."") Soon he meets cocktail waitress Merrillee and falls in love. But, meanwhile, he has to sidestep assorted tails placed on him by Pecos Jim, the Feds, and, inadvertently, the DEA, who were staking out his poker-playing pigeon Emilio Garza Burista, a.k.a. El Gato Grande Malo--in Vegas to deliver two thousand kilos of drugs, which Size appropriates for his and Merrillee's security. But his scheme only partially works, setting up a confrontation between all the good guys/bad guys--including himself and Pecos Jim's main triggerman--for a kill-all ending. Again, Gray's sharp dialogue, incisive lowdown on lowlifes, and jangling narrative drive compel one to keep reading and, here, almost make one forgive his mawkish handling of Size's demise. But the crunchy style could have used a bigger plot: this reads as a major work's secondary thread. And one redeeming character would have been welcomed. Nonetheless, Gray is the hard-boiled talent to keep your eye on these days.