The Smack: Gritty and gripping LA noir - Softcover

Lange, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444790064 ISBN 13: 9781444790061

Publisher: Mulholland Books, 2018

Synopsis

'[A] riveting, violent caper' Wall Street Journal

Rowan Petty is a conman down on his luck. Tinafey is a hooker who's tired of the streets. Their paths cross one snowy night in Reno, and sparks fly.

When an old friend of Petty's shares a rumour about two million dollars stashed in an apartment in Los Angeles, it seems like a chance at the score of a lifetime.

Petty and Tinafey head south, and soon a wounded vet, a washed-up actor, and Petty's estranged daughter all get dragged into the dangerous game they find themselves playing. For the winner: a fortune. For the loser: a bullet in the head.

About this title

Review

Lange's stories are knockouts. Gritty, humane, and utterly urban. (Alice Sebold)

Lange is an expert writer, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled...Petty may be a world-weary 40-year-old con man, but his character brings a fresh point of view to the world of noir L.A. Whatever he's selling, it's worth buying. (LA Times)

Lange is a writer of clean and easy prose, and he's strong at structuring a narrative that builds toward an ever tightening climax. The Smack adds up to one of the nicer surprises of the season (Toronto Star)

Lange's morality tales are not that far removed from the classic stories of O. Henry and Guy de Maupassant. With a distinctive style, Lange makes his downbeat tales of the underclass quirkily entertaining. (Kirkus)

Richard Lange's stories are a revelation. He writes of the disaffections and bewilderments of ordinary lives with as keen an anger and searing lyricism as anybody out there today. He is Raymond Carver reborn in a hard cityscape. Read him and be amazed. (T.C. Boyle)

[A] riveting, violent caper (Wall Street Journal)

The kind of book you'll want to savour (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

With all the dexterity of Thomas Perry, Lange walks the thin line between caper novel and blood-splattered noir, leading up to a rip-roaring finale. This fine piece of tragicomic crime fiction sets up like a stand-alone, but we'd sure like to see more. (Booklist)

If Elmore Leonard and Dennis Cooper collaborated on a novel, they might produce something as exciting, harrowing and emotionally powerful as The Smack. Call it a literary thriller or call it thrilling literature - Richard Lange is emerging as the master of a new kind of novel: One that delivers breathless, gripping action while anchored in the authentic troubles of the real world. The Smack arrives like a genuine miracle - that rare thriller that will jack your pulse even as it breaks your heart. (Adam Sternbergh, author of Shovel Ready)

A natural-born storyteller (Ron Rash)

Book Description

A novel about family, adventure, and the art of the con from acclaimed crime writer Richard Lange.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mulholland Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1444790064
• ISBN 13: 9781444790061
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368