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Lowdown Road
Join a road trip across 1970s America as two cousins make the heist of their lives and must avoid the cops and criminals hot on their tails.
It’s the summer of ’74…Richard Nixon has resigned from office, CB radios are the hot new thing, and in the great state of Texas two cousins hatch a plan to drive $1 million worth of stolen weed to Idaho, where some lunatic is gearing up to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. But with a vengeful sheriff on their tail and the revered and feared marijuana kingpin of Central Texas out to get his stash back, Chuck and Dean are in for the ride of their lives – if they can make it out alive…
It’s the summer of ’74…Richard Nixon has resigned from office, CB radios are the hot new thing, and in the great state of Texas two cousins hatch a plan to drive $1 million worth of stolen weed to Idaho, where some lunatic is gearing up to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. But with a vengeful sheriff on their tail and the revered and feared marijuana kingpin of Central Texas out to get his stash back, Chuck and Dean are in for the ride of their lives – if they can make it out alive…
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 11, 2023
76 people are currently reading
1017 people want to read
About the author
Scott Von Doviak
9 books122 followersI am the author of three books on film and pop culture: Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema, If You Like The Terminator, and Stephen King Films FAQ. I have been a freelance writer for more than two decades, including stints as a film critic for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and television reviewing for The Onion's AV Club. My debut novel Charlesgate Confidential was called "terrific" by Stephen King and named one of the top 10 crime novels of 2018. My 70's set thriller Lowdown Road will be published in July 2023 by Hard Case Crime, I live in Austin, Texas with my wife Robin and our pets Sully and Chloe.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 200 reviews
March 25, 2024
Talented writer, Scott Von Doviak. Author of a highly interesting sounding book critiquing (what he’s coined) “hixploitation” films of the 70s - a critique of films made for primarily Southern rural audiences of drive-in sub-B movie double bills. Think Gator Bait. Macon County, et al.
The book is titled Hick Flicks . And I intend to find a gently used copy.
Read elsewhere for plot details. You won’t find it here.
The trials and tribulations of wholesale retail Pot marketing and distribution in the late 60s-mid 70s is touched on in what is essentially a chase thriller.
Bad cops, bad outlaw bikers, Mexican cartels, and most importantly the Redneck Jesus of the era, Evel Knievel, is about to attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon. All figure directly or indirectly into the mayhem that drives the final 100 or so pages of this ridiculous but fast moving read.
Shoulda finished this a week ago. Real life interfered.
The book is titled Hick Flicks . And I intend to find a gently used copy.
Read elsewhere for plot details. You won’t find it here.
The trials and tribulations of wholesale retail Pot marketing and distribution in the late 60s-mid 70s is touched on in what is essentially a chase thriller.
Bad cops, bad outlaw bikers, Mexican cartels, and most importantly the Redneck Jesus of the era, Evel Knievel, is about to attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon. All figure directly or indirectly into the mayhem that drives the final 100 or so pages of this ridiculous but fast moving read.
Shoulda finished this a week ago. Real life interfered.
July 6, 2023
Lowdown Road is a kitschy crime fiction tribute to the mid70’s. Think the Dukes of Hazard meets Evel Knievel, only the cousins Melville are driving a taco truck stuffed to the rafters with marijuana (back when there was no such thing as legal recreational marijuana), not a racing car so slick you can’t open the doors. It moves at a crazy pace like Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, only set a decade earlier.
But it never takes itself too seriously whether it’s stealing 250 pounds of marijuana, a county sheriff who is out to avenge the death of his deputy’s wife who he was madly in love with, the all you can eat steak eating contest, the upchucking on outlaw biker Uptown Mike, the freedom loving hippies who pick up Manson, or the attempts to sell a truck full of weed that is impossible to pawn. No ne in this book knows what they are doing except maybe Knievel who is out to jump the Snake River in a circus atmosphere akin to the Altamont tragedy.
This reviewer was provided a free copy for review purposes.
But it never takes itself too seriously whether it’s stealing 250 pounds of marijuana, a county sheriff who is out to avenge the death of his deputy’s wife who he was madly in love with, the all you can eat steak eating contest, the upchucking on outlaw biker Uptown Mike, the freedom loving hippies who pick up Manson, or the attempts to sell a truck full of weed that is impossible to pawn. No ne in this book knows what they are doing except maybe Knievel who is out to jump the Snake River in a circus atmosphere akin to the Altamont tragedy.
This reviewer was provided a free copy for review purposes.
September 14, 2023
Lowdown Road is a real barrel of monkeys and delivers exactly what it promises, with its over the top crime spree, Smokey and the Bandit style cross country chase and general mayhem featuring two devil-may-care cousins with a nose for trouble and the ladies at the center of it all. Hot on their tails are a homicidal sheriff completely off his rocker and out for vengeance and a hard-edged drug dealer with a lot more depth to him than at first appears. As a bonus, the audiobook narration is amazing, just about the best I've ever experienced.
August 23, 2025
Ahead of a steep downward grade, Chuck noticed the paint had chipped away from the 'S' on a caution sign that had once read SLOW DOWN. "Check it out, cuz," he said. "We're on the 'Lowdown Road.'" [Dean replied] "S***, Chuck - I've known that all along." -- on page 158
Lowdown Road is apparently only author Von Doviak's second novel, but this is assuredly no mere sophomore slump of an effort. As presented under the Hard Case Crime banner - those folks known for quality pulpy and noir paperbacks, both new (like this endeavor) or reissuances / revivals of 20th century books that have fallen out of print - this was an engaging down 'n dirty little crime story. In what could be titled Quentin Tarantino's The Dukes of Hazzard with little loss in accuracy, Lowdown Road presents the story of the Melville cousins Chuck (fresh from five years incarceration at TSP-Huntsville) and Dean (who deals a little marijuana as a side gig from his day job of manning a taco truck), two twenty-something ne'er-do-well fellas from central Texas circa the summer of 1974. These quasi-good old boy types quickly run afoul of both the law (Chuck is unluckily present during a premeditated domestic dispute murder, and he is soon mistaken as the triggerman) and employer (Dean purloins a particularly large stash of hash from his dealer), leading the cousins to take to the open road to flee, but with an actual plan. Their unlikely destination? Twin Falls in Idaho, where motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel is planning to jump his rocket-powered Skycycle X-2 over the Snake River Canyon in front of an audience of thousands . . . and the Melville boys hope to unload their contraband to some of the attendees for a tidy profit. Sounds easy, riiiiight? Sure, as long as they can dodge a 1.) a biker gang boss who seems to be a tad too easily offended . . . after Chuck vomits on him (!), 2.) a thoroughly corrupt sheriff who has gone increasingly rogue in a misguided pursuit of justice, and 3.) the militant drug dealer who wants both his product back and to exact revenge on those Melvilles, amongst other loose-cannon types. Author Von Doviak deftly mixes some 'Me Decade' fact (Knievel's jump, President Nixon's resignation, CB radios, American sedans being roughly the size of yachts) into a shlocky but suspenseful saga that sounds - just by description alone - like something that would have been featured at a drive-in theater during the same era.
Lowdown Road is apparently only author Von Doviak's second novel, but this is assuredly no mere sophomore slump of an effort. As presented under the Hard Case Crime banner - those folks known for quality pulpy and noir paperbacks, both new (like this endeavor) or reissuances / revivals of 20th century books that have fallen out of print - this was an engaging down 'n dirty little crime story. In what could be titled Quentin Tarantino's The Dukes of Hazzard with little loss in accuracy, Lowdown Road presents the story of the Melville cousins Chuck (fresh from five years incarceration at TSP-Huntsville) and Dean (who deals a little marijuana as a side gig from his day job of manning a taco truck), two twenty-something ne'er-do-well fellas from central Texas circa the summer of 1974. These quasi-good old boy types quickly run afoul of both the law (Chuck is unluckily present during a premeditated domestic dispute murder, and he is soon mistaken as the triggerman) and employer (Dean purloins a particularly large stash of hash from his dealer), leading the cousins to take to the open road to flee, but with an actual plan. Their unlikely destination? Twin Falls in Idaho, where motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel is planning to jump his rocket-powered Skycycle X-2 over the Snake River Canyon in front of an audience of thousands . . . and the Melville boys hope to unload their contraband to some of the attendees for a tidy profit. Sounds easy, riiiiight? Sure, as long as they can dodge a 1.) a biker gang boss who seems to be a tad too easily offended . . . after Chuck vomits on him (!), 2.) a thoroughly corrupt sheriff who has gone increasingly rogue in a misguided pursuit of justice, and 3.) the militant drug dealer who wants both his product back and to exact revenge on those Melvilles, amongst other loose-cannon types. Author Von Doviak deftly mixes some 'Me Decade' fact (Knievel's jump, President Nixon's resignation, CB radios, American sedans being roughly the size of yachts) into a shlocky but suspenseful saga that sounds - just by description alone - like something that would have been featured at a drive-in theater during the same era.
July 27, 2023
Lowdown Road is the equivalent of having dessert for dinner, but the dessert is 250 pounds of sweet Mary Jane🚬 As Scott says in the afterward, this novel reads like a 'Hick Flick.' Sherrif Giddings also rivals such psycho sheriffs the likes of Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me and Stephen King's Sheriff Entragian in Desperation.
"I don't do business with any triflin' motherfucker would steal from a library."
"It was karate time."
"Yeah, that's what happens when you kill someone. They die."
-Scott Von Doviak
"I don't do business with any triflin' motherfucker would steal from a library."
"It was karate time."
"Yeah, that's what happens when you kill someone. They die."
-Scott Von Doviak
March 24, 2024
PeckerWoodstock
Review of the Titan Books Hard Case Crime paperback edition with reference to the Kindle eBook (both published July 11, 2023).
This is one crazed redneck noir road saga about two cousins who hijack a ton of weed and a taco truck in Texas with the goal of selling it all for $1 million dollars at the on-location fan fest of Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump in Idaho in September 1974. They end up being pursued by a crooked small town sheriff, the marijuana king-pin, and a hoard of outlaw bikers.
Weed dealer Dean Melville and his cousin prison-parolee Chuck Melville end up in all sorts of unlikely situations along the way including a run-in with a family of bootleggers, a 72-ounce steak eating challenge and a barroom/restaurant brawl. They finally arrive at Snake River Canyon, a scene which ends up resembling Hieronymus Bosch's Hell panel from The Garden of Earthly Delights.
I don't know if this is an actual alternative cover, or just a mockup done to promote the book. In any case, Stephen King gave it a blurb 🤭. Image sourced from author Scott Von Doviak's Twitter.
I read Lowdown Road due to its nomination for Best Paperback Original in the 2024 Edgar Awards.
Soundtrack
This book cries out for a playlist, but no one seems to have assembled it yet. The cousins’ journey from Texas to Idaho is accompanied by songs played on the 8-track like Little Feat's Willin', ZZ Top's Waitin’ For the Bus, Neil Young's Revolution Blues and jukebox and radio plays of songs like Barry White's Can't Get Enough Of Your Love and Eric Clapton's I Shot the Sheriff. Arriving at Snake River Canyon there are live cover band renditions of Santana's Evil Ways, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama and Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower.
Trivia and Links
The first chapter of Lowdown Road appeared in slightly different form as the short story Late Pickup at Sonny's Icehouse in the blogazine Tough, November 15, 2021.
Lowdown Road is part of the Hard Case Crime (2004-) series of new works, reprints, and posthumous publications of the pulp and noir crime genre founded by authors Charles Ardai and Max Phillips. GR's Listopia is not complete (as of March 2024) and the most current lists of publication can be found at Wikipedia or the Publisher's own Official Site.
You can watch a documentary about the Snake River Canyon Jump on YouTube here.
Scott Von Doviak's research included reading the article "King of the Goons: Deliver Us From Evel", written about Evel Knievel and the Snake River Canyon Jump by then journalist Joe Eszterhas who wrote for Rolling Stone in 1974 prior to his screenwriting days. The article was written in the so-called "gonzo journalism" style of Hunter S. Thompson so its veracity might be in doubt. The original piece appears to have been completely eradicated from the internet, but an article in the Billings Gazette quotes from it (you have to do a quick screengrab before the paywall comes down) at 40 Years Later, Rolling Stone Article Still Controversial:
Review of the Titan Books Hard Case Crime paperback edition with reference to the Kindle eBook (both published July 11, 2023).
Ahead of a steep downward grade, Chuck noticed the paint had chipped away from the S on a caution sign that had once read SLOW DOWN. “Check it out, cuz,” he said. “We’re on the Lowdown Road.”
“Shit, Chuck. I’ve known that all along.”
“This is some end times shit right here,” said Antoine. “Lord of the Flies with a bunch of redneck peckerwoods. Let’s get this deal done before this whole thing goes nuclear.”
This is one crazed redneck noir road saga about two cousins who hijack a ton of weed and a taco truck in Texas with the goal of selling it all for $1 million dollars at the on-location fan fest of Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump in Idaho in September 1974. They end up being pursued by a crooked small town sheriff, the marijuana king-pin, and a hoard of outlaw bikers.
Weed dealer Dean Melville and his cousin prison-parolee Chuck Melville end up in all sorts of unlikely situations along the way including a run-in with a family of bootleggers, a 72-ounce steak eating challenge and a barroom/restaurant brawl. They finally arrive at Snake River Canyon, a scene which ends up resembling Hieronymus Bosch's Hell panel from The Garden of Earthly Delights.
I don't know if this is an actual alternative cover, or just a mockup done to promote the book. In any case, Stephen King gave it a blurb 🤭. Image sourced from author Scott Von Doviak's Twitter.
I read Lowdown Road due to its nomination for Best Paperback Original in the 2024 Edgar Awards.
Soundtrack
This book cries out for a playlist, but no one seems to have assembled it yet. The cousins’ journey from Texas to Idaho is accompanied by songs played on the 8-track like Little Feat's Willin', ZZ Top's Waitin’ For the Bus, Neil Young's Revolution Blues and jukebox and radio plays of songs like Barry White's Can't Get Enough Of Your Love and Eric Clapton's I Shot the Sheriff. Arriving at Snake River Canyon there are live cover band renditions of Santana's Evil Ways, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama and Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower.
Trivia and Links
The first chapter of Lowdown Road appeared in slightly different form as the short story Late Pickup at Sonny's Icehouse in the blogazine Tough, November 15, 2021.
Lowdown Road is part of the Hard Case Crime (2004-) series of new works, reprints, and posthumous publications of the pulp and noir crime genre founded by authors Charles Ardai and Max Phillips. GR's Listopia is not complete (as of March 2024) and the most current lists of publication can be found at Wikipedia or the Publisher's own Official Site.
You can watch a documentary about the Snake River Canyon Jump on YouTube here.
In my research I came across a 1974 Rolling Stone article by Joe Eszterhas called “King of the Goons.” Long before he penned Showgirls, Eszterhas went full gonzo journalist on Knievel’s Snake River Canyon event, making it sound like something out of a Mad Max movie. Having subsequently read more about the event in Leigh Montville’s definitive biography Evel and the quickie paperback Evel Knievel on Tour by Sheldon Saltman (and viewed clips on YouTube and in the 2015 documentary Being Evel), it seems clear that Snake River was indeed a horrific shitshow, but the account in these pages is fictional. - from the author's Afterword.
Scott Von Doviak's research included reading the article "King of the Goons: Deliver Us From Evel", written about Evel Knievel and the Snake River Canyon Jump by then journalist Joe Eszterhas who wrote for Rolling Stone in 1974 prior to his screenwriting days. The article was written in the so-called "gonzo journalism" style of Hunter S. Thompson so its veracity might be in doubt. The original piece appears to have been completely eradicated from the internet, but an article in the Billings Gazette quotes from it (you have to do a quick screengrab before the paywall comes down) at 40 Years Later, Rolling Stone Article Still Controversial:
Weeks have passed since I left the canyons of the snake. ... My pores have finally been freed of that foul dust and my sun-broken lips have finally shed their deadman’s crust. God damn it, though, I can still hear the howls behind that kiddyland picket fence; a jiggling Jello-like wall of flesh is strung around rocks, cottonwoods and sagebrush. Thousands of voices, hypnotic and obsessed, howl at the sun. ‘Eeeeeeeeeeevel. Eeeeeeeeeeeevel. Knieeeeeeeevel!’ Then with a whoosh the beer-bottle-shaped rocket zooms the blue sky and the cheap picket fences come creaking down and swarms of shrieking bodies are hurtling wildly through the dust storms of their own demented creation toward … the abyss, a few hundred feet from them, where the earth stops and there is nothingness, a headlong suicidal swan dive into the vomit green waters of the forsaken Snake.
July 9, 2023
Pure, awesome entertainment... 70s style! Really enjoyed this one, it's the perfect summer crime caper.
July 14, 2023
Read it in one day, total action-packed thrill ride. I can see why people compare it to "Smokey and The Bandit" similar themes. Two brothers, down on their luck, decide to steal a jackpot of marijuana from the local drug dealer and drive it up from TX to an event in Twin Falls, ID where Evel Knievel is attempting a jump over Snake River Canyon. Violence and chaos follow them every step of the way.
January 15, 2024
A love-letter to the cross-country chase films of the 1970s with a great sountrack and a fantastic Third Act.
July 13, 2023
Novels like this are exactly why I read Hard Case Crime. What a goddamn ride.
September 6, 2023
This would have to be the best Hard CASE crime book I have ever read, hands down. This is the best book I have read all year. Probably THE best I will read this year. The only problem was that it was too short. It ran at 280+ pages, but it could have gone on longer. As the author wrote in the afterword, this was like on big 1970's drive-inn movie.
When I first picked this up, I saw the Steven King blurb on the cover saying, "A Great F**king Story." I thought he has just written so many books that he ran out of words to describe this. No, that Mother F**ker was right, this is a great story.
When I first picked this up, I saw the Steven King blurb on the cover saying, "A Great F**king Story." I thought he has just written so many books that he ran out of words to describe this. No, that Mother F**ker was right, this is a great story.
July 31, 2024
It's late summer 1974 and cousins Dean and Chuck Melville are making a road trip from Texas to Idaho. It's not your normal road trip. Chuck is recently paroled from the Texas state penitentiary. Dean is a low-level marijuana dealer selling out of his taco truck. They are both good old boy rednecks...Dean is just significantly more good than Chuck. Why Idaho? Well Evel Knievel is going to make his jump across the Snake River Canyon over the Labor Day Weekend. And Chuck and Dean have a taco truck packed with 250 pounds of weed and are supposed to have a connection at the jump site to sell it. Unfortunately they're being chased by Ivor County Texas Sheriff Bob Giddings and by Antoine, Deans other boss...the one from whom they stole the 250 pounds of weed.
Now all of that sounds a bit like Smokey and the Bandit or any of a number of 70s movies. And on the surface it kind of is. But this book has a lot more edge than any of them had. There is underlying humor here, particularly in the first two acts. But it's still darker and it gets a whole passel darker in the close-out. And overall, that's fine.
If you grew up in the 70s or even into the 80s with older siblings this is going to push a lot of good buttons. I was almost seven when Knievel made his Snake River Canyon "jump." There were a whole lot of us boys on the playground who were playing with the Ideal Toys Evel Knievel stunt cycle. And we would watch Wide World of Sports whenever he was on there. And I grew up just about forty miles east of the canyon jump site. Oh yeah...it was the talk of the schoolyard. Not that any of us went there. That was no place for little kids.
And the fact that I grew up there and I knew and know Twin Falls, Idaho was maybe not a great thing for the third act of this book. I know it's fiction. And I made a number of allowances. But...there was definitely stuff that took me out of my willing suspension of disbelief. Because Von Doviak definitely didn't know Twin Falls...and certainly not that town circa 1974. Now mostly it was like water off a duck's back. But there was one piece that I just could not let go. The taco truck was towed from its parking place in Twin. The impound was to the west, out past Hollister (very doubtful but okay...not to mention that Hollister is mostly south of Twin). So, Dean and Antoine go to get it and end up having to steal it (the impound has bullet-proof glass at the lot office...not a damn chance in 1974 Twin...probably not now). The police are called and start chasing them coming from the west (now leaving aside the issues of geography, and they are huge, I guess it's possible there was a statey or a sheriff's car west, but I suspect most law enforcement was dealing with the shit-show in Twin). And Dean pulls over in Hollister. At a McDonalds. Look...there's never been a McDonalds in Hollister, Idaho. And there never will be. The population of Hollister in 1974 would have been about 30. And no...I didn't drop a zero there. Hell, I'm like 99% sure there was only one McDonalds in Twin in '74 and I think it was toward the north end of Blue Lakes. But I could be wrong since I never set foot in one until I was in college (I wasn't paying). Now, is any of this important? Not really. But it absolutely took me out of the story.
Don't get me wrong, I liked this book. I liked Von Doviak's earlier book "Charlesgate Confidential" as well. I like this one better, but I don't love it. It's a good neo-noir with some decent underlying humor. But if you happened to live in Southern Idaho in the 70s parts of it can be damn jarring.
Now all of that sounds a bit like Smokey and the Bandit or any of a number of 70s movies. And on the surface it kind of is. But this book has a lot more edge than any of them had. There is underlying humor here, particularly in the first two acts. But it's still darker and it gets a whole passel darker in the close-out. And overall, that's fine.
If you grew up in the 70s or even into the 80s with older siblings this is going to push a lot of good buttons. I was almost seven when Knievel made his Snake River Canyon "jump." There were a whole lot of us boys on the playground who were playing with the Ideal Toys Evel Knievel stunt cycle. And we would watch Wide World of Sports whenever he was on there. And I grew up just about forty miles east of the canyon jump site. Oh yeah...it was the talk of the schoolyard. Not that any of us went there. That was no place for little kids.
And the fact that I grew up there and I knew and know Twin Falls, Idaho was maybe not a great thing for the third act of this book. I know it's fiction. And I made a number of allowances. But...there was definitely stuff that took me out of my willing suspension of disbelief. Because Von Doviak definitely didn't know Twin Falls...and certainly not that town circa 1974. Now mostly it was like water off a duck's back. But there was one piece that I just could not let go. The taco truck was towed from its parking place in Twin. The impound was to the west, out past Hollister (very doubtful but okay...not to mention that Hollister is mostly south of Twin). So, Dean and Antoine go to get it and end up having to steal it (the impound has bullet-proof glass at the lot office...not a damn chance in 1974 Twin...probably not now). The police are called and start chasing them coming from the west (now leaving aside the issues of geography, and they are huge, I guess it's possible there was a statey or a sheriff's car west, but I suspect most law enforcement was dealing with the shit-show in Twin). And Dean pulls over in Hollister. At a McDonalds. Look...there's never been a McDonalds in Hollister, Idaho. And there never will be. The population of Hollister in 1974 would have been about 30. And no...I didn't drop a zero there. Hell, I'm like 99% sure there was only one McDonalds in Twin in '74 and I think it was toward the north end of Blue Lakes. But I could be wrong since I never set foot in one until I was in college (I wasn't paying). Now, is any of this important? Not really. But it absolutely took me out of the story.
Don't get me wrong, I liked this book. I liked Von Doviak's earlier book "Charlesgate Confidential" as well. I like this one better, but I don't love it. It's a good neo-noir with some decent underlying humor. But if you happened to live in Southern Idaho in the 70s parts of it can be damn jarring.
July 18, 2023
Set in 1974, cousins Chuck and Dean rip off a truckload of weed from Dean’s dealer Antoine and head off from Ivor County, Texas to Idaho where they intend to off load the consignment at Snake River Canyon, where Evil Kinevil will attempt to jump the canyon on his motorcycle. The cousins are being pursued across country by Antoine, rogue Sheriff Giddings from Ivor County and a group of bikers led by Uptown Mike who was puked on by Chuck ! Along the way there are killings and violence aplenty, they encounter a snake farm where the snakes run free, are abducted by a strange family of bootleggers, play chickenshit bingo, take part in the 72ounce steak challenge and instigate a good old bar room brawl. These are just a few of the events the cousins encounter during their road trip which as expected doesn’t entirely go to plan.
The best description that I can come up with is, if you imagine The Dukes of Hazzard as written by Elmore Leonard and you get pretty close to the feel of this novel. It’s fun and also funny but there is a darker side to it too, as there is a few killings and quite a lot of violence, as Giddings especially comes up with some bizarre means of exacting revenge from Chuck and Dean.
Another great Hard Case Crime title and I’ve also now got to check out Scott Von Doviak’s debut Charlesgate Confidential.
The best description that I can come up with is, if you imagine The Dukes of Hazzard as written by Elmore Leonard and you get pretty close to the feel of this novel. It’s fun and also funny but there is a darker side to it too, as there is a few killings and quite a lot of violence, as Giddings especially comes up with some bizarre means of exacting revenge from Chuck and Dean.
Another great Hard Case Crime title and I’ve also now got to check out Scott Von Doviak’s debut Charlesgate Confidential.
July 28, 2023
A rootin tootin good time is what I had reading this! A kitschy 70s crime thriller that packs a lot of action!
August 3, 2023
Lowdown Road by Scott Von Doviak is a book of 1970s hick-flick crime-spree fiction. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Join a heart-racing road trip across 1970s America as two cousins make the heist of their lives and must avoid the cops and criminals hot on their tails. It's the summer of '74. Richard Nixon has resigned from office, CB radios are the hot new thing, and in the great state of Texas two cousins hatch a plan to drive $1 million worth of stolen weed to Idaho, where some lunatic is gearing up to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. But with a vengeful sheriff on their tail and the revered and feared marijuana kingpin of Central Texas out to get his stash back, Chuck and Dean are in for the ride of their lives - if they can make it out alive. With Lowdown Road, he cements his reputation for pedal-to-the-metal storytelling that also makes you think about just who we are and where our darker roads might lead us.”
Lowdown Road is the latest crime novel from Scott Von Doviak, full of action and high jinks. Cousins Chuck and Dean are like a more salacious version of Bo and Luke Duke from the 1970s – 80s television series The Dukes of Hazzard, even the back of the book declaring ‘Just two good old boys. Never meaning no harm.’ This novel would make an excellent season to that TV show, but with more violence and sex so it could appear on Cinemax. Chuck and Dean hatch a plan to steal two hundred and fifty pounds of weed and sell it at an Evel Knievel event in Idaho, but they’ve pissed off a kingpin weed dealer, a malevolent county sheriff, a biker bent on revenge, and practically everyone else they encounter. When their plan starts to unravel, can they sell enough of their contraband to make the wild road trip worthwhile?
There’s definitely pedal-to-the-metal storytelling in this novel with a high-speed plot involving many twists and turns as the stakes for the two cousins rises exponentially the closer they get to their Idaho destination. The banter between the cousins is funny at times and they do get themselves into plenty of trouble ala Dukes of Hazzard. There were plenty of times when I wished some of the action would slow down and we’d hopefully get an opportunity to savor some of the scenery and characters in a deeper way. But this wasn’t that type of novel and that just wasn’t going to happen; this novel does not make us “think about just who we are.” You will get the pronouncement “It was karate time” though, which was hilarious. So, does it give a blockbuster ending to all this mayhem? The answer: definitely. Druglord Antoine describes it best when he says ‘This is some end times shit right here. Lord of the Flies with a bunch of redneck peckerwoods.’
There is one moment about three-fourths of the way through the story where Dean stands at the edge of the canyon, looking to where Evel Knievel will soon be jumping his motorcycle across to certain death. I thought, finally some introspection. Dean’s realization that ‘no one takes anything with them when they die, so fuck it’ is a bit of eye-rolling cliché that nobody really needs. But if you’re looking for a rollicking good time in book form with fast action and some laughs, then you can’t do any better than Lowdown Road. Von Doviak admits in his acknowledgments that Lowdown Road is the “`70s drive-in movie playing in my mind, my own hick flick in novel form.” And that’s exactly what this book is. Plus, the cover art is throwback perfection.
I enjoyed this book and I recommend it. I would give this book 4 stars.
Lowdown Road is the latest crime novel from Scott Von Doviak, full of action and high jinks. Cousins Chuck and Dean are like a more salacious version of Bo and Luke Duke from the 1970s – 80s television series The Dukes of Hazzard, even the back of the book declaring ‘Just two good old boys. Never meaning no harm.’ This novel would make an excellent season to that TV show, but with more violence and sex so it could appear on Cinemax. Chuck and Dean hatch a plan to steal two hundred and fifty pounds of weed and sell it at an Evel Knievel event in Idaho, but they’ve pissed off a kingpin weed dealer, a malevolent county sheriff, a biker bent on revenge, and practically everyone else they encounter. When their plan starts to unravel, can they sell enough of their contraband to make the wild road trip worthwhile?
There’s definitely pedal-to-the-metal storytelling in this novel with a high-speed plot involving many twists and turns as the stakes for the two cousins rises exponentially the closer they get to their Idaho destination. The banter between the cousins is funny at times and they do get themselves into plenty of trouble ala Dukes of Hazzard. There were plenty of times when I wished some of the action would slow down and we’d hopefully get an opportunity to savor some of the scenery and characters in a deeper way. But this wasn’t that type of novel and that just wasn’t going to happen; this novel does not make us “think about just who we are.” You will get the pronouncement “It was karate time” though, which was hilarious. So, does it give a blockbuster ending to all this mayhem? The answer: definitely. Druglord Antoine describes it best when he says ‘This is some end times shit right here. Lord of the Flies with a bunch of redneck peckerwoods.’
There is one moment about three-fourths of the way through the story where Dean stands at the edge of the canyon, looking to where Evel Knievel will soon be jumping his motorcycle across to certain death. I thought, finally some introspection. Dean’s realization that ‘no one takes anything with them when they die, so fuck it’ is a bit of eye-rolling cliché that nobody really needs. But if you’re looking for a rollicking good time in book form with fast action and some laughs, then you can’t do any better than Lowdown Road. Von Doviak admits in his acknowledgments that Lowdown Road is the “`70s drive-in movie playing in my mind, my own hick flick in novel form.” And that’s exactly what this book is. Plus, the cover art is throwback perfection.
I enjoyed this book and I recommend it. I would give this book 4 stars.
July 29, 2023
It’s Von Doviak Time!!
This is the wildest thrill ride I’ve read in a long time. Now that I’ve thrown some well-earned hyperbole at you let me tell you what I loved about Scott Von Doviak’s Hicksploitation film in a book. The author has captured the full-throttle qualities those 70’s films like “Gator”, “Dixie Dynamite” and “White Lightning” possessed. The Fuzz and good ole boys with muscle cars crashing and careening all over the backroads. This book steps on the gas from the first chapter and doesn’t let up.
Chuck and Dean Melville are Texas cousins who bring out the wildness in each other. Chuck makes a poor romantic decision that embroils Dean in a wild plan to escape the law by moving a lot of marijuana in a risky business proposition up in Twin Falls, Idaho. Why the Hell so far away from Texas? Because the deal is taking place under the shadow of the greatest American spectacle of the Seventies. Superstar daredevil Evel Knievel attempts to jump the Snake River.
Roadtripping in a stolen taco truck, they haul two hundred pounds of pot on their quest. They got a psychotic Texas Sheriff on their tails. Not to mention the cunningly cerebral drug dealer Antoine, whose weed supply they stole. They anger some crazy bikers on the way as well. Chuck and Dean fumble their way to the big event but can they keep the wheels between the lines or are they headed off the cliff’s edge? You gotta read it to believe it!
This is the wildest thrill ride I’ve read in a long time. Now that I’ve thrown some well-earned hyperbole at you let me tell you what I loved about Scott Von Doviak’s Hicksploitation film in a book. The author has captured the full-throttle qualities those 70’s films like “Gator”, “Dixie Dynamite” and “White Lightning” possessed. The Fuzz and good ole boys with muscle cars crashing and careening all over the backroads. This book steps on the gas from the first chapter and doesn’t let up.
Chuck and Dean Melville are Texas cousins who bring out the wildness in each other. Chuck makes a poor romantic decision that embroils Dean in a wild plan to escape the law by moving a lot of marijuana in a risky business proposition up in Twin Falls, Idaho. Why the Hell so far away from Texas? Because the deal is taking place under the shadow of the greatest American spectacle of the Seventies. Superstar daredevil Evel Knievel attempts to jump the Snake River.
Roadtripping in a stolen taco truck, they haul two hundred pounds of pot on their quest. They got a psychotic Texas Sheriff on their tails. Not to mention the cunningly cerebral drug dealer Antoine, whose weed supply they stole. They anger some crazy bikers on the way as well. Chuck and Dean fumble their way to the big event but can they keep the wheels between the lines or are they headed off the cliff’s edge? You gotta read it to believe it!
June 15, 2023
Scott Von Doviak is a one percenter, i.e. one of the one percent of new writers who get the privilege of publishing work via Hard Case Crime, on e of the most distinctive publishers out there.
It's not hard to see why having read his latest novel. Chuck and Dean find themselves on the run to Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon jump with a scorned Texas sheriff, a double crossed drug dealer and a biker gang on their tails.
The opening chapter reads and is a short story previously published at Tough and sets up the entire book tremendously. Von Doviak's prose goes down like the smoothest whiskey and even as things ramp up he never leaves you lost trying to pick of the thread of the thing.
Lowdown Road is Von Doivak's ode to the Hixploitation movies of his youth, but it hits with a depth of feeling that I can't imagine was resonant within the flicks.
The characters are colourful and the plot drags you along like the character pulled by a motorcycle, but without the scars to show for it.
It's an old school crime caper written by one of the new stars of crime fiction complete with hidden depths and outrageous subplots and plot points.
It's not hard to see why having read his latest novel. Chuck and Dean find themselves on the run to Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon jump with a scorned Texas sheriff, a double crossed drug dealer and a biker gang on their tails.
The opening chapter reads and is a short story previously published at Tough and sets up the entire book tremendously. Von Doviak's prose goes down like the smoothest whiskey and even as things ramp up he never leaves you lost trying to pick of the thread of the thing.
Lowdown Road is Von Doivak's ode to the Hixploitation movies of his youth, but it hits with a depth of feeling that I can't imagine was resonant within the flicks.
The characters are colourful and the plot drags you along like the character pulled by a motorcycle, but without the scars to show for it.
It's an old school crime caper written by one of the new stars of crime fiction complete with hidden depths and outrageous subplots and plot points.
January 24, 2024
I gave this book five despite not liking the genre and plot. Well, actually because of that. It's a testimony to Scott's fine writing which convinced be to go into a ride to a Dukes of Hazard kind of adventure that is apple pie American.
Expect all-around stereotype American characters with a peculiar sense of humour that some people somehow think it's funny and see how Scott challenges you despite all that to finish the book and give it five stars!
Expect all-around stereotype American characters with a peculiar sense of humour that some people somehow think it's funny and see how Scott challenges you despite all that to finish the book and give it five stars!
September 2, 2023
Great fun, in a lowdown, dirty kind of way.
August 17, 2023
Well done. So fun until it wasn’t. This’ll make a great movie one day
July 26, 2023
This is the latest Hard Case Crime release.
It is redneck noir. There are a bunch of car crashes, hot woman being picked up in cowboy bars, a significant dose of gratuitous violence, plenty of booze and drugs, everyone has at least one gun and a spectacularly crooked good old boy sheriff.
Chuck Melville has been out of jail for six months. He steals his cousin's car. He picks up a hot woman at a bar. Her husband the police officer catches up with them. The police officer and the wife end up getting shot by Chuck. The Sheriff in that town was fooling around with his dead officer's dead wife. He swears vengeance on Chuck. That is the first 30 pages.
Chuck's cousin Dean, the owner of the car, is dealing drugs out of a taco truck. Chuck and Dean come up with a plan to steal 250 pounds of pot from Dean's boss, drive cross country, and sell it for one million dollars to the concession guy at Evel Knievel's Snake River motorcycle jump.
Von Doviak has great fun with a cross country chase of Dean and Chuck in a Taco Truck by the Sheriff of Ivor County, Texas, Dean's black gay drug lord and a mad motorcycle gang leader named "Uptown Mike". All of whom want to kill Dean and Chuck.
The final section of the book at Snake River is an apocalyptic comedy of errors. The town descends into anarchy as it is flooded with low life fans of Evel from all over the country. It is a crystal meth Woodstock. In the middle of it all, Von Doviak plays out his enjoyably complicated caper story.
This is just fun, although a bit harsh for my old man taste.
Oddly, it reminded me of the 1963 Stanley Kramer comedy, "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". That plot was a group of strangers racing each other across country to try to recover a pile of cash and the hi-jinx's as they try to sabotage and double cross each other. This is an enjoyable evil twin of that plot idea.
It is redneck noir. There are a bunch of car crashes, hot woman being picked up in cowboy bars, a significant dose of gratuitous violence, plenty of booze and drugs, everyone has at least one gun and a spectacularly crooked good old boy sheriff.
Chuck Melville has been out of jail for six months. He steals his cousin's car. He picks up a hot woman at a bar. Her husband the police officer catches up with them. The police officer and the wife end up getting shot by Chuck. The Sheriff in that town was fooling around with his dead officer's dead wife. He swears vengeance on Chuck. That is the first 30 pages.
Chuck's cousin Dean, the owner of the car, is dealing drugs out of a taco truck. Chuck and Dean come up with a plan to steal 250 pounds of pot from Dean's boss, drive cross country, and sell it for one million dollars to the concession guy at Evel Knievel's Snake River motorcycle jump.
Von Doviak has great fun with a cross country chase of Dean and Chuck in a Taco Truck by the Sheriff of Ivor County, Texas, Dean's black gay drug lord and a mad motorcycle gang leader named "Uptown Mike". All of whom want to kill Dean and Chuck.
The final section of the book at Snake River is an apocalyptic comedy of errors. The town descends into anarchy as it is flooded with low life fans of Evel from all over the country. It is a crystal meth Woodstock. In the middle of it all, Von Doviak plays out his enjoyably complicated caper story.
This is just fun, although a bit harsh for my old man taste.
Oddly, it reminded me of the 1963 Stanley Kramer comedy, "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". That plot was a group of strangers racing each other across country to try to recover a pile of cash and the hi-jinx's as they try to sabotage and double cross each other. This is an enjoyable evil twin of that plot idea.
July 11, 2023
Scott Von Doviak's Lowdown Road is a great southern-fried tribute to 70's drive-in fare. I am a big fan of Hard Case Crime and Scott's first book Charlesgate Confidential and managed to get an early review company.
This is a great 1970s era heist story that pulls you in, twists and turns and leaves you wanting more. Two Texas cousins steal a taco truck loaded with 250 pounds of high-grade Mexican pot to drive up to Idaho where Evil Knievel will attempt the to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle with visions of unloading the pot for millions of dollars. The only problem is they're being trailed by a sherif who's gone off the deep end, a biker gang and, the pot dealer himself. You'll meet a whole range of colorful characters along the way as the cousins jive their way through trouble.
This is a great summer read and a whole lot of fun. Be sure to check out Von Doviak's first book, Charlesgate Confidential as well as other Hard Case Crime books.
This is a great 1970s era heist story that pulls you in, twists and turns and leaves you wanting more. Two Texas cousins steal a taco truck loaded with 250 pounds of high-grade Mexican pot to drive up to Idaho where Evil Knievel will attempt the to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle with visions of unloading the pot for millions of dollars. The only problem is they're being trailed by a sherif who's gone off the deep end, a biker gang and, the pot dealer himself. You'll meet a whole range of colorful characters along the way as the cousins jive their way through trouble.
This is a great summer read and a whole lot of fun. Be sure to check out Von Doviak's first book, Charlesgate Confidential as well as other Hard Case Crime books.
July 24, 2023
4.5 stars to the rip roaring, wild ride of a story! Scott Von Doviak has outdone himself telling a road-trip tale of Chuck and Dean just one step ahead of the law and criminals who are in hot pursuit of the duo. In 1974 Chuck and Dean happen upon a large stash of weed in Texas that they are planning on selling to a buyer way up in Idaho, at the Eval Knieval event where the daredevil is set to jump the Snake River Canyon as one of his many intense exploits. The story is equally hilarious and terrifying and really surprised me as it ended in a way I did not see coming. This book reminded me of Smokey and the Bandit with a great crime novel kind of bent to it. One of my favorite reads this year, such an entertaining story, I look forward to reading future books by Scott.
July 24, 2023
Holy Heck did I love this book. This was a HC that I wasn’t too sure I even wanted to read, due to it being set in the 70’s. It took only a few pages and I was hooked. I found myself caring about the characters. There was action, heart, sex and stupid decisions. One of my favorite reads of this year.
July 5, 2023
Scott Von Doviak’s Lowdown Road is a big ol’ hick flick in print. Take some Smokey and the Bandit or The Dukes of Hazzard without the laughs, mix in a bit of Joe Lansdale flair — our good ol’ boys, Chuck and Dean, are from Texas after all — and filter it through a Tarantino-like lens, and you’ve got yourself Lowdown Road, which is to say it’s a pretty damn good time.
Read my full review now at https://michaelpatrickhicks.substack....
Read my full review now at https://michaelpatrickhicks.substack....
April 28, 2023
This is the second book(Charlesgate Confidential) of Von Doviak's I've read. LOWDOWN ROAD is a wild ride!! Dean and Chuck (cousins) get themselves in a real multi-state mess!! Between rouge women, a shady sheriff, a local drug dealer,Evel Knievel, and a taco truck full of drugs, things go off the rails! Pick this one up! You can't go wrong!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2023
Book was a fun ride from beginning to end.
October 12, 2023
I love these Hard Case Crime books, with their vivid cover art and cool crime stories that are always a quick fun read. Usually, they have a noir element, even the Stephen King entries, whether or not they're set in the classic post-WWII era. Lowdown Road, however, is more post-Vietnam, meaning the wild 70s, and this book plays like a B-movie from that era, a kind of a novelized Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry or Smokey and the Bandit. And it certainly delivers on the gritty, often over-the-top action and wild characters.
Starting with two cousins whose mission to make some quick cash takes them on a road trip from Texas to Evel Kneivel's attempted jump at Snake Canyon in Idaho, the author throws everything at them -- a crooked cop out for revenge, a cool drug dealer, a crazy moonshine-making redneck family, angry bikers, goofy hippies, roadhouse bar maids, you name it.
It doesn't all work (which is why I couldn't quite round the 3 1/2 stars I'd give this up to 4). There are a few too many coincidences and in spite of the randomness, the author tries to find deeper meaning and social commentary on the era, which sometimes seems forced or out of place. And true to the stories of that era, but hardly modernized, the women serve mostly as sexy temptations and not much else.
And even with the colorful array of characters, the cousins seem interchangeable. It's easy to envision the stars of movies from that time in the roles -- Burt Reynolds, Peter Fonda, maybe Treat Williams or Jeff Bridges... but who to cast as Chuck or Dean? They seem to trade roles as the reckless one and the sensible one. One is supposed to be more handsome and charming with the ladies, but they both seem to be unforgiving womanizers. The back cover of the book references the Dukes of Hazzard, only I don't know which is Bo and which is Luke... but maybe it doesn't matter. Lowdown Road doesn't need to be a philosophical journey when it's just such a fun joyride.
Starting with two cousins whose mission to make some quick cash takes them on a road trip from Texas to Evel Kneivel's attempted jump at Snake Canyon in Idaho, the author throws everything at them -- a crooked cop out for revenge, a cool drug dealer, a crazy moonshine-making redneck family, angry bikers, goofy hippies, roadhouse bar maids, you name it.
It doesn't all work (which is why I couldn't quite round the 3 1/2 stars I'd give this up to 4). There are a few too many coincidences and in spite of the randomness, the author tries to find deeper meaning and social commentary on the era, which sometimes seems forced or out of place. And true to the stories of that era, but hardly modernized, the women serve mostly as sexy temptations and not much else.
And even with the colorful array of characters, the cousins seem interchangeable. It's easy to envision the stars of movies from that time in the roles -- Burt Reynolds, Peter Fonda, maybe Treat Williams or Jeff Bridges... but who to cast as Chuck or Dean? They seem to trade roles as the reckless one and the sensible one. One is supposed to be more handsome and charming with the ladies, but they both seem to be unforgiving womanizers. The back cover of the book references the Dukes of Hazzard, only I don't know which is Bo and which is Luke... but maybe it doesn't matter. Lowdown Road doesn't need to be a philosophical journey when it's just such a fun joyride.
July 25, 2023
"It was karate time."
That one line encapsulates the time period, tone, nostalgia, and greatness that is LOWDOWN ROAD. I had already been laughing and enjoying the cousins' antics before reading this line, but as soon as I read it, I knew I was all in on this book. What a hell of a ride. Having this much fun reading should be illegal. LOWDOWN ROAD also holds its own when it comes to social awareness around themes of racial and lgbtq equality. A throughly enjoyable read. Highly recommend.
That one line encapsulates the time period, tone, nostalgia, and greatness that is LOWDOWN ROAD. I had already been laughing and enjoying the cousins' antics before reading this line, but as soon as I read it, I knew I was all in on this book. What a hell of a ride. Having this much fun reading should be illegal. LOWDOWN ROAD also holds its own when it comes to social awareness around themes of racial and lgbtq equality. A throughly enjoyable read. Highly recommend.
May 4, 2023
Let's get this clear from the get-go, this book isn't for everyone. Imagine if The Dukes of Hazzard was an X-rated grindhouse feature and you'll be in the right ballpark. It's the story of two cousins on the run from a homicidal sheriff, an erudite drug dealer, a biker gang, who all converge at the Snake River Canyon days before Evil Knievel's historic non-event.
Along the way, everyone has a series of misadventures, most of them violent or substance-fueled. All their stories climax in bedlam.
If you're up for the ride, you'll probably have a good time. No judgement if this is a hard pass.
(Thanks to the author for sending me an ARC)
Along the way, everyone has a series of misadventures, most of them violent or substance-fueled. All their stories climax in bedlam.
If you're up for the ride, you'll probably have a good time. No judgement if this is a hard pass.
(Thanks to the author for sending me an ARC)
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