Joe Hustle
A Novel
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
From an award-winning author, a “lean and gritty, thoughtful and nuanced” neo-noir. Joe Hustle has never had much luck—but things start looking up when he meets an intriguing new woman and scores a rare windfall. Can he outrun disaster long enough to turn things around? (Michael Koryta, author of An Honest Man)
Joe Hustle is a survivor. An Iraq War vet and ex-con always one stumble away from catastrophe, he manages to scrape together enough money from various jobs to eke out a precarious existence on the darker fringes of Los Angeles. When he meets Emily, the black-sheep daughter of a wealthy family, the two spark an instant connection—she seems like the best thing to happen to him in a while.
But their whirlwind romance is put to the test when what starts out as a simple favor for a friend leaves Joe homeless, unemployed, and on the wrong side of a vengeful drug dealer. An impulsive offer to go on a road trip with Emily promises to take them out of harm’s way—but may only lead to more chaos.
Part hard-boiled love story, part thriller, part portrait of a tormented yet resilient soul, Joe Hustle ratchets up the tension as it rockets from the after-hours clubs and dive bars of the mean streets of L.A. to the mansions of the Hollywood Hills and, finally, to the desolate highways of the Southwest. What emerges is a gritty portrait of a man who may be down but can never be counted out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lange's excellent latest (after Rovers) revolves around 40-year-old Joe "Hustle" Howard, an ex-Marine and ex-con wrestling with past traumas as he bounces between jobs and temporary living situations in L.A. While painting a house one afternoon, Joe meets Emily, a charming woman exiled from her wealthy family and fighting for custody of her daughter. Their whirlwind romance gives him hope for a more stable future, but then one of his friends asks Joe to safeguard his truck and the heroin and gun inside it. Joe reluctantly agrees, which quickly puts him at odds with a violent drug dealer, and ultimately causes him to lose both his job and his home. With his life once again in shambles, Joe and Emily leave L.A. and head to Texas on a road trip to see Emily's daughter. But what first looks like a clean getaway might only cause Joe more trouble in the long run. It may be the best novel yet from the always reliable Lange: a harrowing and occasionally hilarious character study in resilience. This is a home run.