Born in 1969, Victor Gischler is an American author of crime fiction. Victor Gischler is a Ph.D. graduate in English from Southern Mississippi University, and most of his fiction work is translated into Japanese, Italian, French, and Spanish languages. Gischler has written several books, including Shotgun Opera (2006), Suicide Squeeze (2001), Go-Go Girls (2008), and Apocalypse, among others. However, Gischler’s debut novel is Gun Monkeys (2003), which made him famous in literature.
Gun Monkeys is about crime, and it follows Charlie Swift, a reformed drug dealer now working as a private investigator. One of Charlie's most dangerous investigative tasks is when he decides to uncover the killers of his close friend, Lane. While investigating the murder of Lane, Charlie encounters dangerous gangsters working closely with corrupt police officers to conceal a scandal involving the theft of guns. As the plot opens, Charlie learns that the person who murdered Lane is an influential police superior in New York City named Desantos.
Despite Charlie discovering that he is dealing with dangerous criminals, he is determined to avenge the death of his friend Lane. Charlie closely works with his team to confront Desantos' criminal gang in a deadly shootout. After the bloody confrontation, Charlie and his team recover the stolen guns. The next assignment for Charlie is to deal with the mastermind of Lane's murder, Desantos. The altercation leads to another bloody shootout in which Charlie successfully kills Desantos. Charlie is happy after killing Desantos because he believes it gives Lane justice.
After the release of Gun Monkeys by Victor Gischler, the novel was well-received in the market and received several positive reviews. Immediately after its publication, Gun Monkeys was ranked top 100 in the bestselling books category. In 2005, Gun Monkeys was shortlisted for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Similarly, the Open Library ranked Gun Monkeys as the best college novel of the year in the subsequent year after its publication.
