'Fresh from five years in prison for a pot bust in California, Dick Miller tries to go straight in his hometown of New York City in Quinlan's fine second thriller (after 2006's Smoked). Miller wants to parlay the skills he used in prison--typing--into a job, but instead gets roped into shady work by an old high school buddy who runs a lucrative chop shop. After having a few too many drinks one night, Miller discovers the dead body of his girlfriend, Dot Racine, in the trunk of his car. Miller has no idea who killed her; for all he knows, he may have done it and was too drunk to remember. It's not for a couple of days--! with Dot still in the trunk--that Miller finds out she had been stealing gobs of money from her employer and that lots of Publishers Weekly 'Dismembered bodies and other nasty greetings begin to fall out of Quinlan's unhurried prose' Financial Times 'An artfully plotted yarn... Quinlan has something of [Elmore] Leonard's gift for making his amoral cast sympathetic, even lovable, though the real baddie... is memorably nasty' Telegraph 'Quinlan is a confident storyteller who revels in twists and turns' Metro 'This is the stuff - violent, pacy, stylish and funny' Mirror 'The plot hurtles along like an express train to its smashing climax' Publishers Weekly 'I love this author... SMOKED was a gem and this follows the same line portraying the underbelly of criminal life... in another well-plotted, violent caper' Sarah Broadhurst, Bookseller 'A superb debut. A great crime novel. Brilliant is the word' Independent on Sunday '[A] well-plotted New York thriller... Quinlan delights in wrong-footing the reader' Observer '[F]ast-moving fun, with real bite...Quinlan brings us great, smart, hardcore stuff from the land of the free and the home of the crazy brave!' Hobart Mercury, Australia 'Quinlan creates memorable characters and off-the-wall plots' Mail on Sunday
