The Hard Stuff

The hotly anticipated sequel to David Gordon's The Bouncer. For readers who like high-calibre humour mixed with their hard crime, here's a brilliant, pyrotechnic thriller from a fresh virtuoso of the crime caper genre. Ex-black-ops-specialist-turned-strip-club-bouncer Joe Brody has a new qualification to add to his resume: he's the 'sheriff' for an alliance of New York City's mob bosses. In the straight world, you call the cops – in the underworld, you call Joe. He's detoxing – too much of the hard stuff – at the clinic of a Chinese herbalist when the call comes in: the bosses need Joe to help them with – ironically – a high-end heroin problem. A new drug dealer is in town and the bosses think they might be an Al Quaeda splinter group, trading dope for diamonds to fund a major-league terrorist atrocity. And that would just be bad for business. Joe has a plan. He's a man who knows how to take down a terrorist cell. But first he needs a hit of the hard stuff – diamonds, this time – and lots of them... Praise for The Bouncer: 'Clever plotting and a light-hearted tone add charm to this lively caper despite its multiple violent deaths... Lots of fun' SUNDAY TIMES 'The Bouncer will toss you over his shoulder like King Kong and carry you away' MAX ALLAN COLLINS 'David Gordon brings an outstanding new voice to the contemporary crime novel' ROBERT CRAIS