J.B. Kohl

“Over Their Heads” is far more than just another drug-deal-gone-bad- story. It is a dark comedy that sort of captures the attitude of Willeford

in his Miami Blues/Hoke Moseley era. Told in short chapters in four alternating points of view, it offers us readers a tale of three ordinary guys who somehow get mixed up in criminal mischief that includes drug deals, kidnapping, gunfights, and absolute destruction on a grandiose scale.
What sets this tale apart is the sardonic mood of the characters from the guy whose wife is about to go into labor as he tries to make ends meet by offering a supply chain for people he really shouldn’t be dealing with to the henpecked fat guy on vacation with the wife and bratty kids, afraid that his partners are about to sic the FBI on them. Then, of course, there’s the tweaker who is determined to show his kingpin boss that he can be depended on, the Vietnam vet ready to relive his past glory, and the car rental clerk who doesn’t have one iota of a clue what is going on or why his life is now hanging by the thinnest of shreds. This story moves quickly and is a lot of fun. While the idea of an innocent mistakenly taking a bag has been around from way back in the heyday of pulp writing, it has rarely, if ever, been so hilariously funny.… (mehr)