Asphalt Warrior (Literary Fiction)
By Gary Reilly
ISBN #978-0984786008
Running Meter Press publisher@runningmeterpress.com
Price $14.95
168 Pages
Rating 5-Stars
“An Artist With Words”
Brandon Murphy struggled through seven years of college, and ended up
driving a taxi in Denver. With a BA in English, he dreams of writing a great American
novel, but so far has nothing to show for it but unpublished manuscripts. Cab
drivers have certain rules they follow, one of which is never get involved with
passengers. Murph had a tendency to break that rule sometimes, which can lead
to disastrous results. One such gentleman is Tony Bombalini, a barber in
Denver. Fearing that his wife is having an affair, Tony offers to pay Murph
three hundred dollars just to trail her in the taxi for one day. That’s more
than he can make on a normal shift, so Murph falls into the scheme. The plot
thickens from this point on.
This is a literary story with very little mystery, however we get plenty
of philosophical views from Murph as he tells the story in first person
narrative. He eats hamburgers three times a day, and watches reruns of
Gilligan’s Island on TV. Single, he lives in the Crow’s Nest apartment, which
he reaches from the metal fire escape. A simple man, he knows he will never be
rich, and all he wants is to make his daily requirement to pay for the lease on
the taxi, and enough to pay rent and eat. It’s an easy life, and should be
uncomplicated – except for his inclination to break that one rule now and then.
The author shows us that a writer with imagination and a grasp of the
English language can tell a yarn without sex and four-letter gutter language. What
language is used is very mild, and the reader doesn’t want to put the book down
until the last page. Story telling is an art, and Gary Reilly is an artist with
words.
Tom Johnson
Detective Mystery Stories
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