DeLuca by Darren Arthurs

 

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The Blurb...

Breanna Deluca is a wisecracking, streetwise woman whose mundane life of delivering groceries and dreaming of becoming an international DJ is interrupted when she's asked to find her old childhood friend who mysteriously disappeared a few months before.

What should be an easy payday turns into something more complicated than she had ever imagined where she will find her herself mixing with drug lords, European criminals, gym owners, car salesmen and a dangerous gangster with his own reason for finding the missing woman.

DeLuca is a character you'll immediately love and find yourself rooting for in this funny story of lost friendships and family connections.

 

My Review...

While the plot is interesting, the main driver is the colourful personality of the main character the self named Breanna DeLuca. Her life is drudge, interspersed with daydreams of success as a hip, D.J. She is approached by an old friend's father to help find his missing daughter. He thinks DeLuca may have an insight as to where his daughter may hide and is willing to pay.

We follow the sassy and brassy, innocent, fast talking, kind hearted and cunning girl on her adventures. It must be a challenge to write a unworldly, naive but brash extrovert into one person. You would think that some of those character traits do not sit well together but the author pulls it off in fine style. She is  a character you can really get behind and you end up living the adventure through her eyes. Also I thought it very brave for a male author to attempt to write this through a young, black, female's viewpoint too. I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it! Does he pull it off? You would probably have to ask a young, black, female but I thought it was great.

In any good double act there is a straight man. Breanna's comedy/investigative partner is Pavek. He is a big grumpy, quiet, Polish, freelance bruiser who likes nothing more than to sit in peace and feed the ducks. He's my type of guy. Some of the best scenes are between these two. 

Breanna takes us on her underworld odyssey through sweaty gyms, handsy car mechanics, hacking boltholes and libraries to find her old friend. Setting us up for an O.K  corral of a showdown. 

As well as being a grumpy old man, I'm also a bit on the miserly side. One of the perks of reviewing is often free books! There is a nasty rumour that I even turn the gas off when I turn the bacon over! 😲 But I am willing to actually pay to read the forthcoming sequel. That's how much I enjoyed this novella.

DeLuca is refreshing palette cleanser of a mini novel. It is short (168 pages) and bright and breezy. If your'e looking for a "Shuggie Bain" or "Angela's Ashes" this ain't for you. It is however a revitalizing reset for the reader. Perhaps something is telling me to take a break from the heavy stuff and enjoy the literary lighter side.

An enjoyable, feel good, happy, vivid, character driven, short, cosy crime thriller.    

                                                                              

Selected quotes...

"But money enjoys the company of money, and once you have a lot, it seems more lines up to join the party."

"She would work much faster with Herman Munster  behind her cracking skulls and fetching her drinks."

"Say what you will about Pavek," thought Breanna he's got more going on in that head than previous steroid abuse."

"Maybe he was just bringing her along for the ride to stop her from redecorating his place with pink wallpaper and posters of Beyónce."

"then she would travel like a fat man on a greased slide."

"...let alone a woman with an afro and tiger print matching tracksuit, a lesser man could feel intimidated by being confronted by curves and animal print clothes. The sight of her purple toenail varnish beneath her white Adidas sliders might make him run a mile."

"nothing stands between an uncomfortable woman and a toilet."

About the Author...

Darren is a hobbyist writer living in Swindon. He comes up with stories whilst driving to work and they niggle away at him, fleshing out details and characters until he has to write it down. He mostly reads crime and historical drama. DeLuca is his third book and a sequel has already been written and is in the editing phase. He is currently being plagued by plans for a fantasy book that he is worried will keep him busy for all of 2021.