"A Visit to the One-Eyed Man" by Bill Crider

From NoirCon and Out of the Gutter Present Noir Riot, Volume 1 (September 2014)

Fellow NBS reviewer Bill Crider and I have work published in the inaugural issue of Noir Riot, the print journal of Philadelphia's biennial noir convention, NoirCon.

Bill's story opens with the narrator surprised by his homicidal brother, Don, at a cafe. Don and two thugs force him out of the cafe into a car for the proverbial drive into the country where they plan to kill him. Don explains that the narrator has been seen in the company of a crime boss's wife, and said boss, The One-Eyed Man, can't abide that.

Bill peppers the drive with bits of the brothers' history. For instance, this isn't the first attempt Don has made on the narrator's life. That was a a car accident that resulted in the insertion of a metal plate in the narrator's skull and talk of brain damage that the narrator dismisses, but that led me to be careful believing his side of the story.

Buckle up for a twisty ride.