Triple Axe by Scott Cole
Grindhouse Press (July 2018)
134 pages; $11.95 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre
Triple Axe is essentially a murder-revenge story involving the serial murder of porn actresses and the decision of a few to fight back. There isn’t much more to the plot itself than that and you likely already know whether or not you want it.
Scott gets what makes pulpy stuff work. He hits the gas right away and keeps it all moving along briskly. There is a lot of murder, a little bit of mystery and some super fun gags aimed at our dear 4chan freindos. The fedora usage alone is super fun but the murder weapons, a marvelous permutation on the old “stab them with an ice pick” methodology, are pure bonkers — especially by the time you near the end.
On the other end, the characters don’t have much depth to them. Also, I could have used a bit more emphasis on the scenes of violence. There were several points that should have been set-pieces of tremendous and glorious grue, but they were just sped through and that made me sad.
Ultimately, Triple Axe makes for a super quick, quite fun read that reminded me of what Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse segment, Death Proof, could have been if it wasn’t so mired in masturbatory dialogue.
