[Book Review] Jailbait Justice

When was the last time you read a book that was so fun that you just couldn’t stop reading? Well as they say on their website, Pulp Press are “dedicated to providing entertainment and escapism in the form of dime novels, penny dreadfuls and spicy stories that will be accessible to everybody.” As a Pulp Press title, Danny Hogan’s Jailbait Justice does not disappoint.

Set in a future where an apocalypse has returned Texas to its Old West roots, Jailbait Justice tells the story of gunfighter Jezebel Misery St. Etienne, who mooches around Austin drinking whiskey and killing the unrighteous. She takes a commission to escort a young woman named Alice to Houston where Alice intends to claim the three thousand gold bits left by her father with a local businessman. Of course, this is a pulp novel, so expect prison breaks, shoot outs and even zombies…

Part road trip, part Western, part horror and part thriller, Jailbait Justice starts out at a cracking pace and doesn’t let up. Jezebel is a hard-talking, fast-shooting anti-hero, the whiskey-swigging lovechild of Snake Plisskin and Ripley. Danny Hogan piles misfortune on her, leaving you wondering how she’s going to get herself out of one bad situation after another. Alice proves a good foil for her, and the mutual respect they end up discovering is a thing of beauty.

Jailbait Justice is incredibly violent AND incredibly fun, and I zipped through it, always wanting to know what happened next. It’s a terrific read, and I hereby award it five blunt pencils out of five!