{"product_id":"the-smack-9781444790061","title":"The Smack","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA novel about family, adventure, and the art of the con from acclaimed crime writer Richard Lange.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLange's stories are knockouts. Gritty, humane, and utterly urban. -- Alice Sebold\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLange is an expert writer\u003c\/b\u003e, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled...Petty may be a world-weary 40-year-old con man, but his character brings a\u003cb\u003e fresh point of view to the world of noir L.A\u003c\/b\u003e. Whatever he's selling, it's worth buying. * LA Times *\u003cbr\u003eLange is a writer of \u003cb\u003eclean and easy prose\u003c\/b\u003e, and he's strong at structuring a narrative that builds toward \u003cb\u003ean ever tightening climax\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003ci\u003eThe Smack\u003c\/i\u003e adds up to one of the nicer surprises of the season * Toronto Star *\u003cbr\u003eLange'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 *\u003cbr\u003eRichard 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\u003cbr\u003e[A] \u003cb\u003eriveting\u003c\/b\u003e, violent caper * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003eThe kind of book you'll want to savour * Pittsburgh Post Gazette *\u003cbr\u003eWith all the \u003cb\u003edexterity of Thomas Perry\u003c\/b\u003e, Lange walks the thin line between caper novel and blood-splattered noir, leading up to \u003cb\u003ea rip-roaring finale\u003c\/b\u003e. This fine piece of tragicomic crime fiction sets up like a stand-alone, but \u003cb\u003ewe'd sure like to see more.\u003c\/b\u003e * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIf Elmore Leonard and Dennis Cooper collaborated\u003c\/b\u003e on a novel, they might produce something as\u003cb\u003e exciting\u003c\/b\u003e, harrowing and emotionally powerful as \u003ci\u003eThe Smack.\u003c\/i\u003e Call it a \u003cb\u003eliterary thriller\u003c\/b\u003e or call it thrilling literature - Richard \u003cb\u003eLange is emerging as the master of a new kind of novel\u003c\/b\u003e: One that delivers \u003cb\u003ebreathless, gripping action\u003c\/b\u003e while anchored in the authentic troubles of the real world.\u003ci\u003e The Smack\u003c\/i\u003e arrives like a genuine miracle - that rare thriller that \u003cb\u003ewill jack your pulse even as it breaks your heart\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Adam Sternbergh, author of \u003ci\u003eShovel Ready\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA natural-born storyteller -- Ron Rash\u003cbr\u003eWhat makes this collection a wonderful read is it's only marginally akin to anything else. Swift, gut wrenching, and sometimes cleverly disarming fiction by a master -- Joe R. Lansdale\u003cbr\u003eIn this \u003cb\u003ebreezy page-turner\u003c\/b\u003e, Lange shows off his \u003cb\u003euncommon ability\u003c\/b\u003e to combine toughness and tenderness. * Kirkus *\u003cbr\u003eLike his protagonist, Dashiell Hammett Award winner \u003cb\u003eLange knows how to reel in his audience with a seductive story and plenty of misdirection\u003c\/b\u003e. There's nothing criminal, however, about this \u003cb\u003erollicking, diamond-cut thriller\u003c\/b\u003e shot through with elegance and heart. * Library Journal, starred review *\u003cbr\u003eThe man just keeps getting better. The stories in \u003ci\u003eSweet Nothing \u003c\/i\u003etraffic in the vagaries of the human heart, those wants and needs that push us down dark paths. His vision is steely-eyed, yet you sense that Lange loves his characters - even the worst of them - and that compassion sharpens your own emotional investment. -- Craig Davidson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLange is a master\u003c\/b\u003e at writing about characters on the margins of society and humanizing outcasts and misfits, and he manages to capture the surreal culture of Los Angeles in all its contradictory glory. * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Smack\u003c\/i\u003e just \u003cb\u003emight be Mr. Lange's best yet\u003c\/b\u003e, and that's saying something. His Los Angeles tableau of concrete and graffiti and neon is as sharp as razor wire. The \u003cb\u003echaracters are authentic down to the bone\u003c\/b\u003e, the \u003cb\u003edialogue pitch-perfect\u003c\/b\u003e believable, the desperation palpable, the situation urgent, \u003cb\u003ethe story riveting\u003c\/b\u003e. Simply put, \u003ci\u003eThe Smack \u003c\/i\u003ewallops you upside the head with its bad-ass-ness. -- Tom Cooper, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Marauders\u003cbr\u003eIt's hard to imagine Richard Lange wasn't, in some previous life, a hustler from Reno with a girlfriend named Tinafey he met on a professional date who goes to LA to steal a fortune from a one-legged soldier home from Afghanistan and a host of other terrifying individuals.  \u003cb\u003eThe characters are real and satisfying\u003c\/b\u003e, the relationships will warm your heart and break it at the same time. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Smack\u003c\/i\u003e is convincing, hectic and terrific fun.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Joe Ide, author of \u003ci\u003eIQ\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Smack\u003c\/i\u003e is much more than a crime novel\u003c\/b\u003e. It is a novel about life itself. The secret to\u003cb\u003e great writing\u003c\/b\u003e isn't just to observe. It's to create a world that readers understand at least as well as they do their own. Richard Lange has accomplished this, and more. \u003cb\u003eHis sensitivity and pacing are reminiscent of Raymond Carver, Charles Willeford, and Jim Thompson\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Gerald Petievich, author of \u003ci\u003eTo Live and Die in L.A. and \u003ci\u003eThe Sentinel\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Smack\u003c\/i\u003e is an exercise in \u003cb\u003efinely pitched writing\u003c\/b\u003e, and the kind of noirish tale you relish even as you dread turning the page to get closer to its conclusion. * Crimetime *\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408403276119,"sku":"9781444790061","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-smack-9781444790061","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}