I received an advance review copy of this novel from the publisher (Darkfuse) through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have been reading Darkfuse publishing titles for a couple of years now and can say that they are a reliable source of quality horror and crime/noir. Their output is usually of the literary variety, at least as much or even mostly about characters as about the plot/action. Nausea by Ed Kurtz is no exception. I also enjoyed his prior Darkfuse release, Angel of the Abyss.

Our protagonist (Nick Drake) is a hitman. It isn’t just his profession. It is his life. His conscious existence is spent moving from one named target to the next. No outside life. No one waiting at home. No time for thought outside of the current target. When he thinks about his favorite movies he can only remember films from his childhood. He hums tunes from the Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis. His forward development as a person stopped when he took his first contract.

When you think of a hitman your mental image is of a sociopath with ice in his veins. No thought beyond the hit. No emotions. Our protagonist is aware of this model as well and he tries to convince himself that he fits this bill and for the most part he has succeeded. Problem is that it isn’t working anymore. He calls himself a sociopath, but it is clear that he is being torn up inside by conflict. Sociopaths don’t worry about the state of their soul or if they even have one. Sociopaths don’t obsess over the lives of the people they just murdered. Cold as ice hitmen don’t throw up after a killing. After 35 hits he is falling apart, emotionally and physically.

Structurally, the novel tells two stories at the same time. Nick Drake’s transition from 19 year old drifter to contract hitman and the story of how he falls apart years, and many hits, later. The beginning and the end. It works very well. Through the story the reader sees how Nick’s existence is basically shaped and governed by the will of strong women: his boss (with the Freudian moniker “mother”) and a psychotic repeat customer (in that she frequently utilizes his services). It is evident that Nick’s life has been shaped by his struggles against the powerful people that control him and his inability to escape their dominion over him. His struggles for independence and identity provide the depth beneath the surface of this fast paced and gritty noirish thriller.

Highly recommended. 4 stars.
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So Ed Kurtz has joined the great list of noir writers who have penned hit man novels from Lawrence Block's Keller to Max Allsn Colllins' Quarry and others too numerous to mention. This novel about a loner professional killer reinvents the genre and leaves the reader with questions about the very nature of what was just read. It's not a normal story. It's not told in the ordinary way and it kind of leaves your head spinning, wondering if Nick was a post-punk slacker loser, a psychopathic killer, a Schizophrenic, or just a mixed up joe. When a story is told in alternating flashbacks and streams of consciousness, anything is possible. It's a dark story. It's about killing and a hitman who is creeped out by someone knowing about the killing. His relationships are bizarre whether it's with Misty or with Lorraine. Despite what Nick has done, you actually get the sense that there's a part of him that still feels innocent - that believes someone leaves him codes in bus station lockers. In the end, there was something captivating about this dark world that Nick lives in - even if it doesn't all seem to make sense. You find Nick trying to make sense of it - to make sense of whether or not he feels anything. ( )

Nausea is the first book I have read by Ed Kurtz and it is not a bad introduction. Nick is a career hit-man, who as of late, has been unnerved by an unexpected case of nausea that developed since his most recent killings. Something is clearly wrong. Is Nick losing his edge? Is age catching up to him? Is it time to get out of the business? The story jumps between Nick's genesis as a killer to the current timeline from chapter to chapter. This technique allowed the author to place seeds throughout the story that deliver the right clues at just the right moment. A fun and quick read! Looking forward to reading more by Mr. Kurtz. ( )

opinion between reviewers who find the story fascinating and unputdownable whilst others struggle to finish.

Now I did not struggle to finish Nausea, and I really did want to like this short novel. I enjoyed the premise a hitman questioning the reasoning behind his chosen profession...”I do a job, fine, it’s good. Somebody disappears and I get paid”

The real problem I had with the story was the timeline. We meet Nick after a particular bloody kill and we are introduced to the young Nick at the start of his “career” A lot of reviews are positive in respect of this, I however found it very confusing and had to constantly backtrack on the text to remind myself where exactly I was....past or present?

As one kill merges into another the moral deep within the story and the questions that Nick needs to ask keep recurring...”The doubt. The overthinking. What was the point in it all? It wouldn’t bring any of them back. And it wouldn’t stop anyone else from getting what was coming to them, either. Even if Nick bowed out straightaway, vanished into the night never to be heard from again, there was always going to be someone else....”

A hitman is a great subject to have at the centre of a moral dilemma as to fulfil his role he must be divorced from the normal rules that govern society and yet possess single mindedness, inner strength and cunning. It is only when these qualities disappear that the human frailty present within Nick begins to emerge and reassert itself...”Murder. That was the stuff of human instinct, wasn’t it? Kill and f**k and eat and s**t and see who’s standing atop the mountain of cadavers come dusk, dripping blood and screaming victorious....”

There were of course enjoyable moments and characters in the course of this “noir” telling: Nick is enamoured with the music of Nat King Cole....”and on the same night he’s asked to kill a dude called Nathan K. Cole” I also admired the puzzling character of sweet Lorraine and her connection to the killers clients, her psychotic behaviour made an interesting paradoxical to the morally adrift Nick

The few highlights could not however rescue the confusion I felt throughout. I had very little sympathy with the main character, and the ending when it occurred was totally justified. ( )

The new crime noir novel from Ed Kurtz is certainly long on style, even If I felt it was a bit lacking in substance. I think that may come from a lead character that I just couldn't connect with. Nick Drake is a killer, a low-rent hit man who fell into his line of work, more or less, by accident.

Nausea is told in two separate story-lines. The current timeline and one detailing the events which lead to the early years of Nick's, now, long time profession.

The writing is solid as is the way the story is told...

A few minutes later he ground the butt under the heel of his boot and narrowed his eyes at the purplish ribbon of the gathering dusk. The air was getting a bit nippy now that summer had ended; even this far from town he could smell woodsmoke. It was an odd, familiar smell, a comforting one. He gazed at the shooting stars made by the headlights of the semis on the freeway an wished he could vomit again."

Nausea is a suitably gritty tale. The writer does an excellent job in creating atmosphere and there is definitely a solid story here. It just wasn't one I found to be particularly compelling. I much preferred his previous release from Darkfuse, Angel of the Abyss. Read my review here http://frankmichaelserrington.blogspot.com/2014/11/angel-of-abyss-by-ed-kurtz-wo....

Nausea is available now in both paperback and e-book formats from Darkfuse publishers. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Recommended.

Ed Kurtz is the author of Angel of the Abyss, The Forty-Two, and A Wind of Knives. 2015 was a year of personal tragedy for Ed. 2016 begins with a new job and a new life in Minneapolis, MN. I wish him nothing but the best and look forward to his next novel. ( )