Pins Paperback – September 14, 2012

Eva "Birdie" Finch is a 21 year old slacker, wandering from job to job in her small town. Wanting to fund her expensive drug habit with the least amount of work necessary, she decides on a whim to audition to be a stripper at a gentleman's club/bowling alley combo named "PINS". During her tenure as an exotic dancer there are a couple murders that put a serious damper on the life of our devil-may-care heroine that forces her to do some serious soul-searching as she jumps from one boyfriend to a new love interest, and is forced to examine her possible bi-sexuality when she starts to fall for a fellow dancer named Honey.Written from the perspective of Birdie, the book gives us an interesting insight into the lives of strippers. While reading the book it hit me that this is the first book written by a woman that I've read in a long time. And this is not because I'm sexist -- it's just the way the cookie has crumbled. For the reason, the feminine narrative took me a bit to get used to, but once I got in the groove, I found myself enjoying it a lot. My experience in strip clubs is limited to three experiences -- two of them remembered in a drunken haze -- but the lives imagined by me of the various dancers seems to be mirrored by those imagined by Mrs. McHugh. At times it seemed like I was not reading a novel but a confessional, until it came back to the bloody elements, which reminded me of 80′s slashers like My Bloody Valentine, especially with the killers groan inducing Twitter posts. There are a few possible candidates of who the killer could be, and I thought I knew who it was, only to find myself surprised by the conclusion. The dialogue seemed a bit too snappy for it's own good at times, as well as melodramatic and over the top, but it also has it's side characters lampshade this by calling Birdie out on it. Plus, all these things are fitting for a book based in titty bar/bowling alley. The finale reminded me more than a bit of the works of Richard Laymon, which is a good and bad thing, but mostly lands on the side of good. It's over the top, but it works, and this is a pulp fiction novel, so I am willing to give it a pass.

Wowzers! Okay, so let's get a few things out of the way up front:1. I bought this book because it's about strippers. In a bowling alley/strip club. Awesome!2. I pretty much never read horror. Try to avoid it, in fact. So when the action started to turn gruesome, I wondered if I should put it down and pick something lighter, especially at bedtime. But I didn't (although I did skip it on certain nights, since I am a wuss), and I'm glad I stuck with it.3. This is my first book review of 2013, as I finished reading as the fireworks were popping. This is in no way relevant to my review, but I thought I would mention it anyway. Just because.I really enjoyed this book, despite it being a genre I don't typically read. I loved Birdie's character, her attitude, her transformation from "civilian" to stripper, and the way the book managed to both present stripping as something a normal person might do, for any number of reasons, as well as a rather dangerous and not altogether wholesome lifestyle choice. What I'm saying is: the book is set in a strip club, like it's any other setting, without the preaching that you'll get with many other "stripper stories." Because it's not just a stripper story, it's a damn good story. Yes, there is a stripper with a heart of gold here (spoiler?), and her name is Honey on top of it, but she's also a lot more than a bunch of clichés, and that's what originally got me interested in the book.I don't want to ruin the ending for you, but let's just say Holy F*** A Duck. Hopefully my first night of 2013 will not be fully of bloody nightmares. Thanks, McHugh, for planting those creepy images in my grey matter. Should've seen it coming, in some respects, but there were plenty of red herrings to throw me off course. Nicely, bloodily done.All in all, I'm glad I checked this book out, and I look forward to reading more of Jessica McHugh's work in the future!

I grabbed a sample of PINS several months ago and when I saw it was on sale for $0.99, I grabbed the novel. I started reading back at the beginning, and while I was intrigued by the characters and the strip club setting, I kept waiting for something to happen. And waiting. And waiting.Finally something does happen -- a stripper is murdered in a grotesque fashion, and then...more waiting. Descriptions of various strippers. Of customers. Of people from the main character's past.It's a good story, I thought, with a satisfying resolution. But it suffers from some pacing issues, in my opinion. It seems to me that it's a novella padded out to novel length with material that may or may not be germane to the story. There were times I thought I was just going to put it down and move onto something else, because it wasn't going anywhere, at least not at a speed that was working for me. I kept wondering, why is this or that subject being mentioned? Why is this character being brought in?Maybe 3 stars is a little low. 4 stars seems a bit high. I liked the characters, the story, and the setting. If not for the pacing this would be a 5-star read for me. I'd probably read a sequel just to find out more about the characters, but I'd probably do some skimming along the way if it was written like this one.

For the most part this book is a good read.It is raunchy,humorous and full of larger than life characters.Eva Finch discovers the reality of selling your body for money in a Strip Club and ultimatetly coming to terms with who she really is herself.Towards the end it turns into a low budget horror movie as the body count rises and a gore fest ensues.Sadly,the ending is cheesy and predictable.