Black Coffee Press, 260 pages, trade paperback, $14.95

Unnecessarily convoluted story lines and gimmicky writing are just two of the plagues currently afflicting the literary landscape. Given that sad state of affairs, finding great, straightforward storytelling that pulls no punches is reason for celebration. Mark SaFranko’s No Strings made my week precisely because it goes against the grain and brings readers a clear-cut, no-nonsense, brutal narrative about sex, lies, murder, and lost love.

In No Strings, Richard Marzten is a married man with no financial woes and a loving wife who’s a few years older than him. Since he has nothing to worry about, Marzten becomes a victim of boredom. He decides to get a little action on the side, so he makes sure his wife, Monica, trusts him blindly before actually getting a lover. When the plan finally comes to fruition, Marzten achieves what he always wanted: a sexy, wild affair with a woman who’s looking for exactly the same thing and with minimal risk of losing his wife, daughter, and cozy lifestyle. The lady who makes his dreams comes true, Gretchen Trecker, is the wife of a very wealthy and much older Long Island attorney.

For a while, they escape from the crippling monotony of home in each others’ arms as they visit many hotel beds together — but unfortunately, their bliss is short-lived. Soon after ratcheting up the pressure on Marzten to see her more often, Gretchen disappears. Then comes a phone call from a private detective demanding a meeting with him. His secret was not so secret after all, and Marzten suddenly finds himself on the edge of losing everything he holds dear in life. That’s when death shows up, and it won’t be the last time.

SaFranko’s clean, brutally honest, precise prose carries the narrative very well. By having a first-person narrator, the author is able to build incredible tensions even when most of what worries the character are things that haven’t happened yet. That palpable anxiety works two ways: it entertains and shocks readers while simultaneously making them sympathize with a character with no redeeming qualities.

While many crime/noir authors try to fill their stories with grime, junkie prostitutes, and dilapidated buildings in order to create a sense of dirty realness, SaFranko achieves that same aura of sleaziness in a world of golf, nice cars, expensive restaurants, and bloated bank accounts. Richard Marzten is a lucky man, but he’s also a horny, dishonest man whose actions send him on a chaotic downward spiral of frustration, anger and, ultimately, dehumanizing ennui. On top of being a truly entertaining, fast-paced tale, No Strings also offers an unflinchingly look at how quickly things can go horribly wrong when we decide to obey our greedy instincts.

This was my first SaFranko novel, but it surely won’t be the last. While there are echoes of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain in his prose, he has his own voice and frantic pacing. No Strings is bleak, but only because it accurately portrays how some humans react when they know their decisions can have horrible consequences. Definitely worth a read.