Mindi's Review
Porn stars and hatchets. They go together just like Santa and his slay. I mean sleigh. You get the idea. Actually, there is quite a bit of slaying in TRIPLE AXE by Scott Cole, and I’m here for it.
Jesse Jinx is a porn star with dreams of starting her own film production company. The male directors in the business are aggressive and tyrannical, and Jesse is fed up with them. However, Ms. Jinx and her friends are starting to become increasingly disturbed as other female porn stars start to disappear. Suddenly bodies are being found, and now they know that someone is killing porn actors. When Jesse’s friend Foxy almost becomes one of the killer’s victims, the women know that they need to stick together to stay alive. However, Selina, the last friend in their trio, ends up his next victim when she finds herself at a shoot that turns out to be a trap. She wakes up with her hands and feet bound, and barely escapes with her life. Things have now escalated to the point where all three women decide to take revenge into their own hands, especially since the police have no interest in helping them. And Jesse has a friend who may just have a number of weapons they can use to get that revenge and stop the killer for good.
TRIPLE AXE starts out as a mystery, but when the killer is revealed fairly early in the story, the horror really starts to kick in. Cole surprised me a number of times with this story. I never suspected the person who is revealed as the killer, probably because I was invested in the story of the three friends. Cole makes Jesse, Foxy, and Selina a truly likable trio, and you end up rooting for them almost from the very beginning of the story. Good characters are important to me, and Cole makes all of them believable. I never thought I would enjoy a story with ax-wielding porn stars as much as I did, but this one has a lot going for it, including a few twists and an action-packed ending. Pick this one up if you want a bit of erotic and gory fun. I think you will end up rooting for Jesse and her friends as much as I did.
4 Stars
You can find Mindi on Twitter @gowsy33 and Instagram @gowsy33
Jesse, Foxy, and Selina are pornstars. They are disgruntled in their work and dream of starting their own production company. Until they can become their own bosses, they have to deal with the daily grind of being mistreated by their directors and co-stars. When they realize that their fellow actors are being murdered, they go to the police. When the police don't believe them or just don't care about dead pornstars, they band together to protect themselves and get revenge.
I never read the blurb of Triple Axe before I started it, so the description of daily life as a pornstar threw me. I expected to be thrown into a world of violence and murder, especially considering the book is only 89 pages, I expected to get right to the action. But Scott Cole wanted to take his time and warm up the reader with a surprising amount of character development. Our three protagonists are very well developed, and I cared about them going into the climax of the book.
Overall this story was exponentially more humorous than I expected it to be. Some of the pornstar names made me actually laugh out loud. The weapon that the serial killer uses is over the top ridiculous, and the dialogue is hilarious. I'm going to compare this book to Kill Bill, in that you've got a revenge plot, outrageous violence, and characters that a relatable but larger than life.
Underneath all the violence, murder, loads of sex, blood, and other fluids, is a surprisingly sweet story of friends that support each other in their daily lives, encourage their friends' dreams, and assist in some revenge murders. This book is not for everyone as the content is quite graphic in many ways, but if what I've described interests you, you should definitely check it out. I give TRIPLE AXE by Scott Cole
4 stars.
Matt is a middle school math teacher. He's originally from Kentucky but currently lives in Arkansas with his beautiful wife and 2-year-old son. In addition to reading dark fiction, he also enjoys board games and Disney World.