Publisher Description
In this twisty crime novel, a hotel hook up gone wrong finds a single mother suspected of murder
Git O’Rourke is from the wrong side of the tracks—even if, in the depressed Rust Belt town of Baxter, it’s not always clear where that designation begins. A single mother, she works hard to support her daughter Charlie, but still finds time to cut loose every once in a while, to go to a local bar, drink martinis and find a companion for the night. Which is exactly how she ends up in a hotel room with a strange man passed out on heroin, and how she comes to possess the bag of money and guns that he left open as he got his fix.
When the dead body is discovered at the Skyview Motor Court, a bullet through its forehead, officer Delia Mariola is one of the first on the scene. She recognizes the victim as the perpetrator in an earlier crime—a domestic violence call—but that does little to explain how he ended up in the situation in which they find him. She knows he’s connected to the local mob, but the crime scene doesn’t exactly resemble their typical hit. Instead, all signs point to a pick-up gone wrong. Which means that all signs point to Git.
A twisted tale set in a tough town, The Yards is a multiple-voiced mystery with two unforgettable women at its core; its suspenseful, thrilling, and unpredictable plot will keep the reader guessing until the very last page.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Overworked single-mother Bridget "Git" O'Rourke, one of the narrators of this well-paced crime novel from the pseudonymous Carter (All of Us), dreams of leaving the "trashy side of the tracks" of the generic Rust Belt town where she grew up. Her efforts landing a better-paying nursing job out of town and giving her eight-year-old daughter a better life have proven out of reach. On a rare night to herself, Git heads to a bar, where she leaves with a stranger, Bradley Grieg, who unbeknownst to her has a heroin habit and organized crime connections. For Grieg, their brief tryst at the motel where he's booked a room is a distraction until morning when he plans on handing over $18,000 to the underboss of a drug and money lending racket. When Grieg is later found shot dead at the motel, police lieutenant Delia Mariola, the book's other distinctive female character, recognizes him and suspects he may have been the victim of a pickup gone wrong. The suspense builds as the trail points in Git's direction and the plot takes some unexpected turns. This is another impressive effort from Carter.
