Kinx's Book Nook: Blog Tour: The Chupacabra

The Chupacabra: A Borderline Crazy Tale of Coyotes, Cash & Cartels
Written by Stephen Randel
Published by Knuckleball Press
Released on August 19, 2012
233 pages
Dark Comedy

Synopsis:

He is called El Barquero. He makes his trade along the border, smuggling guns and killing without remorse. As he faces his one last mission, his perfect plan is unwittingly foiled by Avery, a paranoid loner obsessed with global conspiracy theories who spends most of his time crafting absurd and threatening letters to anyone who offends him. That means pretty much everyone.

What unfolds is a laugh out dark comedy of madcap adventure stretching from Austin to the West Texas border featuring a lunatic band of civilian militia, a group of bingo-crazed elderly ladies (one packing a pistol nearly as long as her arm), a murderous and double-crossing cartel boss, a burned –out hippy, and a crotchety retired doctor and his pugnacious bulldog. Read it to believe it.

What a wild ride!! If you like Coen Brothers films, you will enjoy this book. All of the characters are larger than life and hilarious. Stephen Randel jumps around a lot with a lot of different characters, so you have to stay on your toes to keep up. But believe me, it’s worth it!

Most of the book is comedy. However, the dark aspect comes from El Barquero, who is a nasty piece of work. He is a serious sociopath who has no conscience at all. He kills for his convenience and it is a little bit disturbing. He has no redeeming qualities. He is a very bad man. El Barquero is looking to double cross one of the Mexican Cartels which is a very bad idea. Randel gives the reader a good feel on how bad it is in Mexico. The Mexican Cartels have taken over the drug trade from the Columbians and Randel gives you somewhat of a lesson how the takeover took place. It’s pretty interesting.

Now we get to the crazy part of the book and that would be Avery, STRAC-BOM (Southwest Texas Revolutionary Armed Confederate Border Operations Militia), and Aunt Pearl. Avery is a different breed o’ cat! His paranoia and schizophrenic tendencies keeps the reader very entertained. STRAC-BOM is a wacky group of militia wannabes led by General X-Ray. His militia is armed with old shotguns and slingshots in hopes of tracking down illegal aliens. Instead of finding illegal aliens, El Barquero finds them and all hell breaks loose. Now Aunt Pearl is a pistol-packin’ little old lady that doesn’t take crap from anyone. She is mad as hell all the time, especially if her Bingo Night is messed with. Her intervention is a riot to read!

There are so many different characters and plotlines in this book and I wasn’t sure how Randel was going to bring it all together. In the end, he created a wonderful climax that brought all the craziness under one roof. All characters are hilarious (except for El Barquero) and unique. You will laugh your pants off at some of their escapades.

About the author:

Stephen Randel, CFA, was born in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of Texas Christian University. Steve now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and their two rescue dogs.

Steve is a natural storyteller with a background as a financial services executive specializing in fiduciary liability, institutional consulting, and as a public speaker. His passions include cooking, college football, international travel, and English soccer. Unfortunately, he’s a long-suffering Queen’s Park Rangers supporter. Oh, well, maybe this is the year.

His favorite authors are Kurt Vonnegut, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, and Ferrol Sams. One of these is not like the others.

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