Thursday, January 31, 2008

"Hit and Run" by Glenville Lovell

From: Hard Boiled Brooklyn ed. Reed Farrel Coleman. Bleak House Books, 2006.

Carla's cousin Martha recommends her when a man with a Caribbean accent offers $15,000 to anyone who will marry him so he can get his green card. At first, Carla isn't interested at all, but Martha and her own money problems convince her. Meeting the man, Carla talks him up to $100,000. As they go through the motions of marriage and commitment, Carla finds herself willing to kill her new husband to collect on a $1,000,000 life insurance policy. In making her plans, Carla learns the man is not who he seems.

A fast-moving story with nuanced dialogue and selfish characters. The ending comes out of nowhere, just like a hit-and-run.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of my favorites!Great short story.