Murder Boy

by Bryon Quertermous

Overview

Dominick Prince is out of options. He’s lived in Detroit long enough to use his experiences of crime and poverty to fuel his writing, but he’s ready to move on to bigger and better things. Dominick’s thesis advisor, the elitist Parker Farmington, refuses to let Dominick pass his class, thinking the genre of potboilers beneath him. Which means rather than becoming the next literary sensation, Dominick will spend his life asking customers if they’d like fries with that. And if that’s the only plan, kidnapping doesn’t seem like such a bad plan B.

So if Farmington won’t pass him willfully, Dominick will make him do it forcefully. And once he has Farmington’s signature, fame and fortune are within Dominick’s grasp. But while Dominick may have a devious and brilliant mind on the page, in reality he’s more Betty White than Walter White. And before he can write ’the plot thickens,’ Dominick’s plan begins to go horribly wrong. Teaming with Farmington’s jilted mistress and her loose-cannon bounty hunter brother, Dominick finds that if even the best laid plans go awry, then his doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. And being a great writer won't matter much if he's six feet under.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781940610467
Publisher:	Polis Books
Publication date:	03/31/2015
Series:	Dominick Prince , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Bryon Quertermous was born and raised in Michigan. His short stories have appeared in Plots With Guns, Thuglit, and Crime Factory among others, and in the anthologies Hardcore Hardboiled, The Year's Finest Crime, Mystery Stories, and Uncage Me. He was shortlisted for the Debut Dagger Award from the U.K. Crime Writers' Association. He currently lives outside of Detroit with his wife and three children. Visit him at bryonquertermous.com and follow him on Twitter at @BryonQ.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for MURDER BOY:

"I found MURDER BOY disturbing in a GOOD way, the best possible way. It's hilarious, yet incredibly aware of its own twisted reality. Personally, I don't know of another book like it. Saying something is such-and-such "with heart" is a big meta-joke, but I thought MURDER BOY truly was a black comedy with heart."
—Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of HUSH HUSH and WHAT THE DEAD KNOW

“Bryon Quertermous has the thing that every writer strives for and many never find: a truly unique voice. His writing is crisp and clean, his storytelling sense is honed, but it’s the voice that holds the magic. The balance of the comedic and the dramatic in his work is a rare treat, reading like a deliciously blood-soaked crime novel rewritten by Christopher Moore. Try the first sentence of MURDER BOY, and then tell me if I’m wrong.”
—Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Wish Me Dead

"Quertermous gives Dominick an almost continual output of insightful, and often times laugh out loud funny, narration that stands apart from the pack. Clearly influenced by Duane Swierczynski and Victor Gischler, Bryon Quertermous makes his debut novel MURDER BOY stand apart and on its own."
—CrimeSpree Magazine

“Bryon Quertermous’s MURDER BOY is chock-full of crackling dialogue, whirlwind pacing and the most sociopaths per capita of any book I’ve read in a long time. (I mean that in a good way.) It’s dark, brutal, and irresistible.”
—Kelly Braffet, author of Save Yourself

“Forget the debate over MFA vs. NYC raging in bookish circles right now. Bryon Quertermous fires a shotgun blast through that false dichotomy with his crackling debut novel MURDER BOY, as much a violent romp and action-packed tale as it is a sobering look at thwarted literary dreams, the corrosive results of envy and jealousy, and finding courage and mettle close to home and heart.”
—Sarah Weinman, editor of Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives

“Bryon Quertermous has created a witty, gritty thriller. Equal parts Elmore Leonard and WONDER BOYS, this book is a winner. With a voice that carries you and a pace that pushes you, this is a book you can’t miss.”
—Dave White, Shamus Award nominated author of the Jackson Donne series

“Rough and raw and fast and furious and genuinely funny, with a dizzying array of villains and a hefty dose of madcap adventure, Bryon Quertermous’s love letter to the crime fiction genre, MURDER BOY, is an awesome debut from a talented, assured voice. MURDER BOY is a winner.”
—J.T. Ellison, New York Times-bestselling author of When Shadows Fall

“MURDER BOY is at once dark, irreverent, and laugh-out-loud funny — a breakneck tale that manages to both send up and pay homage to the tropes of the crime genre. I’d expect nothing less from the twisted mind of Bryon Quertermous.”
—Chris F. Holm, Anthony nominated author of The Big Reap

“Within a few chapters of MURDER BOY, I started hearing Goodis in the background, but with a postmodern wink and nudge. Quertermous has something to tell us, and I’m damn sure going to listen. Keep an eye out. This guy’s got the voice.”
—Anthony Neil Smith, heart attack-surviving author of the Billy Lafitte series and founder of Plots with Guns

One part manic and one part meta, MURDER BOY is as much a meditation on love, loss, dashed hopes and second chances as it is a crime-filled, gonzo-pulp fever dream fueled by booze and bodily fluids.
—The Maine Suspect

"Quertermous has created a work which exists simultaneously as both a classic example of the noir thriller and as a unique dark comedic attack against the hypocrisy of academia."
—BOLO Books

From the Publisher