Friends Helping Friends

A CRIME READS BEST BOOK OF 2025

A young man must infiltrate his own family’s white nationalist group, or go to prison himself— written with critically acclaimed author Patrick Hoffman’s “crisp pace and superb timing” (Wall Street Journal)

Bunny Simpson grew up poor in Grand Junction, Colorado. Now in his twenties, working in Denver, he has simple dreams: He wants to help his uncle pay rent, save a little money, maybe start a business one day. His best friend Jerry LeClair fantasizes about moving to California. The problem is, they don’t have any prospects. Enter: Helen McCalla, an attorney with an ax to grind against her ex-husband, who happens to be a judge in the local court. She offers the boys a deal: scare the man, rough him up a little, and she’ll give them a few thousand dollars. It’s simple—just friends helping friends, right?

Part crime novel, part portrait of friendship, extremism, and inherited trauma, celebrated novelist Patrick Hoffman is at his brilliant best in these pages. Bunny never wanted any trouble. So how the hell did he end up at a white supremacist compound in rural Colorado? Fast-paced, suspenseful, and by turns funny and terrifying, Friends Helping Friends is an electrifying thriller that moves at a breakneck pace, examining the vulnerability of our destinies—and how friendship can survive it all.