Though the premise is anything but a comedic one, I still found myself laughing out loud a few times, just as a direct result of the bantering between the two female stars of the story. How could you not love a story told about two women undertakers? The plot kept me intrigued and the pace was sufficient to keep the midnight oils burning in my home. Definitely recommended.

** I thank the publisher and/or author for allowing me to read this novel as an ARC, without recompense, in exchange for my honest review. **

Frightful and intriguing concept but the editing left something to be desired. Pages and pages of useless monologue made me want to poke my eye out.

Andrew Post writes a good narrative and manages
to hook his readers in easily.
This is a tongue in cheek murder/gangster novel with plenty of blood and gore for those who enjoy it.
Jolene and Amber are owners of a funeral parlour but due to their partying lifestyle their business is floundering and debts are mounting up.
They get roped into black market dealing of human body parts, unfortunately the first delivery goes wrong and has an overwhelming effect on their lives. How far will they go to stay afloat and at what cost ?
Well worth a read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Flame tree press and Andrew Post for the chance to enjoy this novel in return for my unbiased review.

I did enjoy parts of this book, i thought so much more could have been made of the story but what we had was still good!

I honestly felt like i had fallen in to the sopranos everyone was out for something!

Some parts were violent and shocking but i did find myself even laughing at the dark parts!

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book it was a wild experience

Chop Shop by Andrew Post
Chop Shop
by Andrew Post
M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review Jan 23, 2019 · edit
it was amazing

Pulp fiction meets Sam Peckinpah .... 3 worlds collide into a giant fireball! Andrew Post crafts a tour de force of black humor .. laced with wonderful gratuitous violence and gore. The main protagonist is Frank Goode ... disgraced surgeon back from prison but yet continuing to ply his trade in his make-shift dining room operating room. After all he still follows the Hippocratic oath and wants to save and fix all comers. To satisfy the taxman he maintains a legitimate job at Jerry's Organic Grocery ... once he dons his apron he taxes his skill set by forming pyramids of pears, apples and oranges. Next up, is Simone Pescatelli, niece of a Mafia boss and is inconvenienced by her pregnancy. Simone wants Frank to terminate her pregnancy so she can fit into a dress to attend a wedding as the maid of honor. How ironic is that? After the dirty deed is done he allows her to rest a few hours before clearing out. Frank's phone vibrates on his way back home ... it's Bryce Petrosky, a previous bunkmate in the pen (and now part of the competing Russian Mafia) ... he wants to bring over his cousin, Vasily, whose been shot ... it's worth $10,000 for his troubles. Frank arrives home and finds Simone still there and insists she hide in his bedroom.
He spends the next 3 hours saving the life of Vasily. After Bryce leaves his house he goes up to check on Simone. Unfortunately while his back is turned she sneaks downstairs and puts a bullet in Vasily's brain. Which naturally sets into motion a series of serious convoluted problems ... getting rid of the body ... the Russian Mafia's displeasure next morning. Enter the third confounding element ... Amber Hawthorne and Joline Morris, co-owners of Hawthorne Funeral Home ... a decidingly failing business venture. To rescue their fortunes they decide to enter the black market business of selling body parts ... it seems like a natural progression of their business plan.
Post creates a masterpiece of violence and gore with an exceptionally adept cinematic narrative.
The denouement, when all three worlds collide is straight out of a Sam Pekinpah movie. Thanks to Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for this fun filled Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

This was a thrilling read from start to finish. You definitely won’t get bored with this one.

I feel like more could have been done with Amber and Jolene’s story but they were great nonetheless.

Frank really hit me in the feels a lot. He tried so hard to do the right thing.

Crime, murder, mayhem and necrophilia. This book has it all.

If feel like the ending was a notch rushed but overall it was a decent read.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for my honest opinion.
This was truly a bizarre story. Yet it makes you wonder if it doesn't truly occur out there in a manner of expression. Everyone is trying to make a buck but at what cost?
What would you do if you were in dire straights and really needed the money? At what cost would you go to get the money? There is a black market out there that does exist, that involves the selling of human internal organs. People will pay good money for a heart or lung because they are in dire need of one and do not want to wait the time to be on the wait list.
This book takes things a little further. If you want to read about a true blood bath, this is for you. However, it goes a little too far for belief. People do get what is coming to them.

*My review will be posted on my blog 2 weeks before release*

'Chop Shop 'is a thriller written by Andrew Post and follows two main story lines that then converge as we work our way through the book. Our first main character is Frank Goode, an ex-prisoner and ex-doctor who runs a back-alley (or more like living room) practice, often whoever walks through his front door When one of his patients shoots and kills another in his OR and starts a major war between two huge crime families, he is thrown right into the middle of this feud putting his life at risk. The other main story is that of Amber and Jolene, two college friends who run a funeral home that is currently plagued with debt. Amber, spurred on by an opportunity given to her by her dealer, convinces Jolene to get involved in selling black market body parts. When Frank seeks their services, and provides them with the 'supplies' to fulfil their first job, things do not go to plan as their paths cross with the very same individuals that are seeking vengeance as part of the blood war.

While there were many parts of this book I didn't like, that contributed to my 3 star rating, there were some parts I did like. The main part of 'Chop Shop' that I did appreciated was how we saw players introduced in either Franks or Amber/Jolene's story line coming together by the end of the book to build a complex spiderweb of a criminal syndicate that spread across the two characters circle of influence. I also thought the action scenes were relatively well written (one scene in particular made me wince as it was intense and very gruesome) and it did have a clear plot from start to finish with most plot points somewhat resolved. There was enough within the book to keep me reading from beginning to end and I found it a enjoyable read.

What I didn't like was the light character development, underdeveloped 'revelation/twist' at the end and there were sometimes where the phrasing and writing was off (it is an ARC, so I will give this a pass and put it down to missing it in editing).

Firstly while I did enjoy Frank as a character (I felt he had some dimension and a backstory that was fleshed out) he dissolved very quickly from a Doctor whose main aim is to save people (as guided by the Hippocratic Oath) and who showed extreme shock at seeing someone shot in front of him, to <strong>(spoiler)</strong> someone who ended up killing many people and in the end, without hesitation. His character did a complete 180 in such a short timeframe and it would have felt more believable if the story was over a longer time period. In regards to Amber and Jolene, they didn't get enough depth and I felt their relationship needed way more development, especially when there is a such a power imbalance in their friendship. Jolene takes such an extreme measure to save her friends life, with a huge personal cost, when their partnership came across as fragile.

Plot wise, I was a bit sceptical that they could take and transplant organs from bodies that were up to 3 days deceased. Corneas and certain tissues I could believe but not hearts and other critical organs. I did google this (which will now be in my search history) and found that they generally need to be collected quickly after death, so this made one of the main plot points in this book quite unrealistic. When it came to the reveal of how the organ black market worked and the masterminds behind it, the 'revelation' felt rushed and was confusing. If there was some more setup throughout the book, the laying of subtle clues that then come together to make the reveal stronger, it would have way more of an impact. The blurb also puts a lot of emphasis on the 'selling of body parts on the black market'  and that the girls had been doing it for a long time. While it was part of the book it was not as extensive as the description suggests and Frank is a huge part of the story with the organ market an additional plot point.

Overall it was an interesting read and did have some exciting scenes, but was let down by a need for more character development and a more detailed and complex plot line.

Quentin Tarantino meets the Sopranos. Post creates a page turner here involving a disgraced doctor fixing up gangsters and two women who run a failing funeral home who get into black market body part dealing. Throw in dueling monsters in the mix.  It sounds like there's a lot going on, and there is, but Post manages the chaos brilliantly.

While not for the faint of heart, there is gore aplenty, if the plot sounds interesting to you, you'll get everything you hoped for and more.
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I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.