Eric Beetner’s top-notch novel, “The Devil Doesn’t Want Me,” is proof positive that we have entered another golden age of crime fiction. This book is so good that it is not at all clear what Beetner could possibly do as an encore. It has a hardboiled feel to it, but is firmly planted in a modern electronic age.
It is the story of an old hand at contract killing, Lars, who has been chasing down “Mitch the Snitch” for the family for seventeen years, sometimes coming close to finding him, but always just missing. Lars is the consummate professional killer, calm, cool, dispassionate. He has never wavered from his mission all these years and, in the hot desert land of New Mexico, he may be coming close. Lars had had no life outside the hunt for all these years and musically he is stuck in the early eighties heavy metal era. Curiously, this professional hitman also does yoga to keep limber.

Enter the young gun, Trent, who has no respect for Lars’ professional ways and can only see that through nearly two decades, Lars has not gotten the job done. Within days, iphone earbud-wearing Trent who has no respect for Van Halen or Motley Crue, finds his target and prepares to execute.

There is tension between these two men, one an ancient, withered man from another decade, another an unprofessional goofball bent on using modern technology. Lars doesn’t like being replaced and doesn’t like a hit being done unprofessionally- at the wrong time with the target’s family watching. Lars doesn’t like collateral damage. And, when the smoke clears, Trent may have gotten the kill, but Lars is off and running with Mitch’s not-so-cute, not-so-worldly, teenage daughter. From the old gun-young gun yin and yang of Trent and Lars facing off, you now have added to it the old hitman and young, innocent teenager driving cross-country with all the guns of the family and the FBI trained on them.

This is one terrific book and was an absolute joy to read from beginning to end. The prose is tight. The action is intense. The story is filled with humor. It is hard-edged and gritty and it just works real well. Could actually see this being made into a movie. ( )

Lars is a hit man for an East Coast crime family, but for the past seventeen years he’s been living in the desert trying to locate Mitch the Snitch who is in the witness protection system. Then comes Trent, an up and coming hit man who has located Mitch the Snitch and together they go after Mitch. But Lars hasn’t conflicting feelings when he sees Mitch and his daughter. Trent wants to kill everyone, including Lars but is too hyper and although gets Mitch, Lars gets the drop on him and takes off with the daughter. He tries to find a safe haven for the teenager while trying to collect money he has stored around the county and keeping one step ahead of the mob.

When I began reading this book, I wasn’t sure if it would be entertaining, but was I wrong? Although Lars is a criminal and Shaine, the teenager gets to be a pain, together they make an interesting couple. And I have to say Trent to wanna-be wise ass hit man is the comic relief. This story has humor, action and feeling. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. ( )