Reviewed by Alex Binkley
Ask Me about my Bombshells blends the basics of fireworks shows, drug dealing, police investigations, protesting for money and opposites attract romance into a fun read. Author Robert Barclay obviously like things that go boom in the night whether outdoors or in a shed.
The story really does explain much of what happens in a fireworks display and how it has transitioned from the hand lit displays of the past to the high-tech spectacles that we watch in wonder these days. It’s a lot of hard work and technical savvy.
Barclay weaves in a Romeo and Juliet like romance involving Julia and Rocco, the younger generation of families that are long standing rivals in the fireworks business, who make the sparks fly on their own all the while keeping their affair from their families. He also manages to make a lot of Columbian dope go up in smoke, much to the consternation of cops trying to shut down the drug-running biker gang. The gang receives its ultimate reward in an indoor fireworks performance. If you have ever tired of perpetual protestors, you will enjoy the author’s treatment of Sue and Terry, rabble for hire who having run out of other themes, are willing for a price to picket fireworks displays as a great threat to the environment.
In the end, it also works out for the star-crossed lovers, but only after a lot of family wrangling and drama.
Ask Me about my Bombshells is published by Loose Canon Press.