Bøker av Rob Pierce

It's been three years since Sherilee Malcolm was acquitted of the murder of her former mentor and lover, Otto Workman. A popular writer, Sherilee goes underground and creates a fictional character for herself, living a life of illusion. And then, one day, it cracks.Washington "Wash" Shank, a detective hired by Sherilee's lawyers to prove her innocent, is under siege from the firm where he works. His job was to ruin the confidence of the lead witness against Sherilee. Now that man, Simon Parker, claims he has seen a second murder, and believes it was committed by someone who's a dead ringer for Sherilee.A sculptor and multimedia artist, Parker has a show scheduled that will reveal his vision of the murder and Sherilee's guilt. Parker's desire to reveal a truth he does not know, but is convinced he does, becomes a point that Shank wants to thwart, and Sherilee wants to disprove. Now, all of their reputations are at stake. But are their lives as well?

Two women and a child are murdered. Dust, who unknowingly set them up, returns to Berkeley to find the killer. With his old buddy Karma in tow, Dust discovers that one of the culprits was Vollmer, a ruthless hired gun working for Dust''s former boss, Rico. When Vollmer finds out Dust is in town the hunt becomes mutual. <br><br>In this, the third book of the Uncle Dust series, old debts are paid and new ones incurred. Brutish, dangerous men lurk in every corner and slaughter runs rampant. <br><br>Abductions and Confrontations. <br>Blood. <br>By. <br>Choice. <br><br>Praise for BLOOD BY CHOICE: <br><br>"There are writers who take the language of the gutter and elevate it to a tarnished gospel. Rob Pierce is one of those rare authors who does that effortlessly." -S.A. Cosby, author of <i>Blacktop Wasteland</i> <br><br>"Rob Pierce is not afraid to write noir. His dialogue crackles and hooks you, while never veering into clichés, and his characters, the bad ones and the badder ones, all are imbued with a level of humanity which pulls you into <i>Blood By Choice</i> from the opening character. You might not fully like Dust, but I guarantee you''ll follow him as he cuts a path of vengeance through the Oakland landscape." -Hector Acosta, author of <i>Hardway</i> and Edgar nominee <br><br>"Rob Pierce gets the world I see; it''s a world that owes you nothing and gives you even less. For all the losers, troublemakers, and assholes who will never fit in, thank God (or the other guy) for Rob Pierce." -Joe Clifford, author of <i>The Lakehouse</i> <br><br>"Rob Pierce gives you no time to get reacquainted with Uncle Dust with his latest, <i>Blood By Choice</i>, because he lights the fuse right away. The result is the beat-down, junked-up, sideways shit-uation you''ve come to expect from the master of hardboiled, low-life noir author of <i>Uncle Dust</i>, <i>Tommy Shakes</i>, and <i>With the Right Enemies</i>. Go ahead and re-shelve your Parker novels in the kiddie lit section; it''s time to make room for Dust." -Eryk Pruitt, author of <i>Dirtbags</i> and <i>What We Reckon</i> <br><br>"Anyone who believes revenge is a dish best served cold has never read Rob Pierce. He serves it up hot. And nasty. It''s also said a man heading off on a journey of vengeance should begin by digging two graves. Having just finished <i>Blood by Choice</i>, I''d call that number a bit low." -David Corbett, award-winning author of <i>The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday</i> <br><br>"With <i>Blood By Choice</i> Rob Pierce reasserts himself as one of Noir''s underground heroes. Tough, taut, and will get your attention like brass knuckles to the face. Good thing we''re all used to washing our hands a lot, because you''ll need to after this gritty dive into a world of dirty dealings and vicious revenge." -Eric Beetner, author of <i>All The Way Down</i> <br><br>"Pierce returns with his favorite felon, Uncle Dust and builds the East Bay body count one terrible twist at a time." -Tom Pitts, author of <i>Coldwater</i> <br><br>"Rob Pierce-The Grand Poobah of Nasty Noir-closes out his Dust To Dust Trilogy (or whatever the $@&% he''s calling it) with <i>Blood By Choice</i>-an absolute shotgun blast to the gut of a crime novel." -Todd Robinson, author of <i>Rough Trade</i>

Tommy Shakes is a career criminal, and not a very good one. He earned his name as a heroin addict. Now he's just a drunk, drinking so much that he spends much of his time in bathrooms, exploding from one end or the other.He's in a marriage he wants to salvage. He convinces himself that his wife will stay with him if he can bring home enough money. She tells him that won't do it, but Tommy gets a crack at a big heist and decides to pull the job.The job is ripping off a popular restaurant that runs an illegal sports book in back. When it turns out that one of the security guys works for a local gangster, Joey Lee, Tommy figures there's enough money that it's worth the risk.They pull the robbery but one member of Tommy's crew gets gun happy and it turns into a bloodbath, which includes killing Lee's man. Now they're wanted for murder, and the law is the least of their problems.Praise for TOMMY SHAKES:"With his pitch-perfect ear for dialogue, his knack for crisp pacing, and his unerring eye for what might be called the milieu of functional dissolution, Rob Pierce has revealed himself in story after story as a poet of the luckless, the bard of the misbegotten. In the hero of his latest and best, Tommy Shakes, he has found his Frankie Machine." -David Corbett, award-winning author of The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday"Tight as a drum, vicious as a pitbull. I don't remember the last time I read something that scratched the scuzzy itch of noir as well as Tommy Shakes. Just, maybe don't read it with a full stomach." -Rob Hart, author of the Ash McKenna series"When you pick up Tommy Shakes, make sure you have nothing to do, because you're not going to want to put this one down. Rob Pierce at the tip-top of his game. Watch out, y'all." -Eryk Pruitt, author of What We Reckon"When I was in rehab, a psyche ward in Boston, I read the book Crime Novels: American Noir of the '50s. Willeford, Goodis, Thompson, Highsmith, and Himes. Had it all. Wretchedness, duplicity, alcoholism, and hopelessness. Tommy Shakes by Rob Pierce would've slotted in there perfectly. Nobody does grim and grave better." -Joe Clifford, author of Junkie Love and the Jay Porter Thriller Series"Rob Pierce writes the downtrodden like Rodin casts bronze, and Tommy Shakes is his masterpiece." -Benjamin Whitmer, author of Cry Father and Pike"If you like the kind of noir that makes you want to break out the hand sanitizer, Rob Pierce is the King-and the King does not disappoint with Tommy Shakes. Hard and mean and in your face like noir ought to be." -Todd Robinson, author of The Hard Bounce and Rough Trade"Pure noir prose. Dark, disturbing, devastating. A journey through Pierce's Oakland is a hellish thrill-ride. Or thrilling hell-ride." -Tom Pitts, author of 101 and American Static"Tommy can't get a break, but it's not like he's out to give himself one. This book is as relentless as it is bleak, yet oddly inspiring. You won't just root for an underdog, you'll root for collapse!" -Nick Mamatas, author of I Am Sabbath and Providence

Vern is a dangerous man-he makes illegal exchanges safe. Until someone tries to rip off a drug deal he's working and he gets blamed. Now both gangs involved are after him, including the one he works for. And he's going to clear his name, no matter who he has to kill in the process. Praise for VERN IN THE HEAT: "Rob Pierce is one of the more imaginative literary voices in our new emerging era of noir." -James Grady, author of Six Days of the Condor "Rob Pierce is urban noir's high priest from the mean streets." -Joe Clifford, author of Lamentation and December Boys "Rob Pierce is a new talent that cuts deep into the underbelly of society and rips the guts and heart out of his protagonist." -Lou Boxer, Noircon

Dustin loves to rob banks. Dustin loves to drink. Dustin loves his women. Dustin loves loyalty. He might even love his adopted nephew Jeremy. And, he sometimes gets a little too enthusiastic in his job doing collections for local bookies-so, sometimes, he loves to hurt people. Told in the first person, Uncle Dust is a fascinating noir look inside the mind of a hard, yet very complicated criminal. Rob Pierce has been nominated for a Derringer Award for short crime fiction, and has had his stories published in Flash Fiction Offensive, Pulp Modern, Plots With Guns, Revolt Daily, Near to the Knuckle, and Shotgun Honey. The editor of Swill Magazine, he lives in Oakland, California, with his wife and two children. He is equally comfortable taking romantic walks on the beach or dumping the body elsewhere. Praise for UNCLE DUST: "The story and dialogue in Uncle Dust capture much of the circumstance of prison life in all its squalid glory. Made me wish I'd done time with tough guy Dustin. I thoroughly enjoyed our criminal hero's mind as he observed the world, and himself, through a cynical thief's lens. And I think you will too." -Joe Loya, author of The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber

Escape. Lust. Revenge. Rob Pierce writes with an understanding of the darkness in the hearts of people who've been struck and need to strike back. From gun dealers to murders to the simply self-destructive, The Things I Love Will Kill Me Yet is filled with stories of men and women whose dreams can never take them out of their realities. Praise for THE THINGS I LOVE WILL KILL ME YET: "Pierce's style is spare and hard-hitting, and The Things I Love Will Kill Me Yet delivers a knockout." -Sam Wiebe, author of Last of the Independents "Rob Pierce's stories are like love letters to the damned." -Mike Miner, author of Prodigal Sons and Hurt Hawks "Noir at its best! Like a violent biker gang, a herd of wild horned animals, or maybe a box of spiders, there's a stockpile of thrilling peril inside these Rob Pierce short stories." -Jack Getze, author of the Austin Carr mysteries