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Authors: Duane Swierczynski

BOOK: The Wheelman
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Cement foundation
poured for New Jersey’s
children’s museum
 
After countless political delays and bitter turf squabbles, the new Children’s Discovery Museum in Camden, NJ, took one step closer to reality as workers laid the museum’s thick concrete foundation. “The first kids will be running through the front doors in about seven months,” promised wunderkind developer Jeffrey Greenblatt. “This will breathe new life into the dead urban center that is Camden.”
 
13
th
dead Perelli
associate … linked
to mystery slayer?
 
The mob wars in Philadelphia continue to heat up this summer, even though members from both the Perelli and Barone families deny they’re feuding. The latest victim: 45-year-old Manny Namako, a suspected arsonist and bookmaker, found dead in the bathroom of his South Philly row home. “The police need to investigate this for what it is: a madman with a rifle preying on innocent businessmen,” mob lawyer Dan Behuniak told reporters yesterday.
 
Officially, police refuse to acknowledge the rumors that a vigilante dubbed “Mr. K” has been systematically erasing alleged wise guys for the past nine weeks.
 
But one law-enforcement insider confirms: “Yeah, there’s somebody out there. He’s pissed. And he’s a good shot, too.”
 
Strange odor disturbs
summer visitors to NJ
kids’ museum
 
“Like old fish and cheese … ick!” says Alison Eaton, 10, of her July visit to the Children’s Discovery Museum.
 
Kids are discovering things, all right. They’re discovering how adept their noses are at detecting foul odors.
 
For some unexplained reason, the brand-new museum is inundated with an odor that one security guard—a Vietnam War veteran—could only compare it to “the stench of bloated bodies floating along the Mekong Delta.”
 
“We have the best environmental forensic analysts in the country working on it,” responds Jeffrey Greenblatt, the young, troubled developer who has watched multiple projects fizzle at the last moment. This, however, could spell the breaking point for Greenblatt, real-estate analysts say, as well as the end of new development in Philadelphia or Camden for years to come.
 
$100 from Wachovia
heist recovered
 
LAS VEGAS, NV.—Police made an arrest today in the months-old Wachovia bank heist after a Philly resident used a hundred dollar bill to pay for beer and pornography magazines in a convenience store.
 
Dylan McManus, 20, aroused the suspicions of the clerk when he insisted he was a “high roller from Philadelphia” and didn’t need to be carrying I.D. for beer. The clerk took the bill, then called the FBI, who traced McManus to a motel in Laughlin.
 
Previously, McManus had been employed as a security guard at Park-o-Matic, a park-it-yourself lot based in downtown Philadelphia.
 
“A bittersweet slice of noir … . Swierczynski’s novel, like those of [Elmore] Leonard, offers an undertow of humor beneath the churning sea of man’s inhumanity. His knowledge of both the City of Brotherly Love and the mind-set of bank robbers helps make
The Wheelman
the delight it is.”
—Patrick Anderson,
The Washington Post
 
“Adrenaline-charged … fast-moving and funny,
The Wheelman
is Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in an R-rated amusement park.”
—
Booklist
 
“
The Wheelman
is as lean and intrepid as its title character, an assured and accomplished novel with a devilish sense of humor. In this, just his second novel, Duane Swierczynski puts the rest of the crime-writing world on notice. So learn to spell the last name. He’s going to be around for a while.”
—Laura Lippman, Edgar Award–winning author of
Every Secret Thing
 
“A great heist story in the rich tradition of Richard Stark’s Parker novels and Stanley Kubrick’s
The Killing
… keeps readers holding their breath to see what’s going to happen next. It is clearly the work of a maturing writer who is possessed of a keen style and abundant talent.”
—
The Philadelphia Inquirer
 
“[A] promising debut … the gripping tale of a heist gone wrong.”
—Robert Wade,
The San Diego Union-Tribune
 
“Dark stuff … hilariously funny at the same time. Swierczynski has come up with his own twisted and thoroughly enjoyable genre. Bring on some more, sir.”
—
Rocky Mountain News
 
“Swierczynski has an uncommon gift for the banal lunacy of criminal dialogue, a delightfully devious eye for character, and a surprisingly well-developed narrative engine for a beginner.”
—Dick Adler,
Chicago Tribune
 
“I cancelled a night out and stayed up all night reading. That’s how much I loved this book … at every turn, I was blindsided. Hilarious and bloody violent.”
—Ken Bruen, author of the Shamus Award–winning
The Guards
 
“A double-joined plot that twists and turns so furiously he could take the gold if contortionists competed in the Olympics … .
The Wheelman
is twisted, funny, violent—and a blast.”
—
Mystery Scene
 
“Astonishing! Duane Swierczynski has written one of the great all-time heist novels and this guy’s just getting started.”
—Jason Starr, Barry Award–winning author of
Twisted City
 
“I loved it. Can’t wait for the next one.”
—Robert Ferrigno, author of
Prayers for the Assassin
 
“An exciting, gritty, adrenaline-charged tale … . Swierczynski is definitely a rising star in contemporary American crime fiction; his oddball cast of characters is reminiscent of the Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder Gang—on steroids!”
—
Lansing State Journal
 
“A blistering, edge-of-your-seat tale from a major new talent. This book was an absolute joy to read.”
—Richard Aleas, Edgar-nominated author of
Little Girl Lost
 
“Heist novels don’t get any better than this.
The Wheelman
grabs hold of you and refuses to let go.”
—Allan Guthrie, Edgar-nominated author of
Kiss Her Goodbye
 
“If Donald Westlake were on speed and in a nasty mood, the result might be a lot like
The Wheelman
… . A welcome throwback to a genre that was once prominent in American crime fiction.”
—
The Flint Journal
“[A] fast-paced, violent yet funny book. Swierczynski may well be the future of crime fiction writing.”
 
“
The Wheelman
mixes the darkness, grit, and ultra-violence of Ken Bruen’s Irish noir with the bad-ass cool of Richard Stark’s Parker books … [it’s] a noir cocktail that’ll knock you on your butt and keep you up all night at the same time. This book rocks.”
—
Mystery Ink
 
“
The Wheelman
is way more
Pulp Fiction
than “pulp fiction.” It’s brief and nearly absurd in its violence—Peckinpah animated by Warner Brothers.”
 
“Swierczynski seems to get such a kick out of writing about eccentric crooks, it’s almost criminal.”
—J. Kingston Pierce,
January Magazine
 
“I may have to go take back yet another online article, the one for Salon about how crime novels were bad. I give [Swierczynski] high props for avoiding the sentimental hero stuff that bugs me in so many books. The writing and the dialogue were great, the Philly details and bank-robber lore tasty.”
—Ben Yagoda,
author of
The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing
 
“If you like the distracted, short scenes of Ken Bruen, the bizarre characters of Elmore Leonard, and can tolerate the body count of Lee Child, you’ll devour Duane Swierczynski’s book in an instant … . It’s super-duper fast noir pulp.”
 
“Oh, what style!”
—
Kirkus Reviews
 
“Duane Swierczynski is one of the best new things to happen to crime fiction in a long time. A kick-ass writer with wicked cool skills and the instincts of a seasoned veteran. Keep your eyes on him. He’s going places.”
—Victor Gischler, Edgar-nominated author of
Suicide Squeeze
 
“Fast-paced.”
—
Publishers Weekly
 
“
The Wheelman
is a white-knuckle thrill ride that grabs you by the throat. Unable to put down from the opening sentence to the end.” —Brian Keene, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of
Terminal
and
City of the Dead
 
“I just plowed through
The Wheelman
like a senior citizen crashing through a farmer’s market. I loved it. Swierczynski’s sensibility’s so black, you’d need an ultraviolet light to see it. Lennon makes Westlake’s Parker look as soft as an Easter Peep.”
—Charles Pappas, author of
It’s A Bitter Little World:
The Smartest Toughest Nastiest Quotes from Film Noir
 
Sunshine,
for debuting it.
The Pope,
for inspiring it.
Tenacious DHS,
for pimping it.
Marc,
for buying it, editing it, vastly improving it.
Marsha,
for believing in it.
Father Luke,
for blessing it.
Meredith, Parker,
and
Sarah,
without whom there would be no “it.”
 
And to My Heist Crew:
Robert Berkel, John Cunningham, Becki Heller, Jessie Hutcheson, and the rest of Team Minotaur. J.T., K-Buster, Kafka, and the PointBlankers. Mark “the Man” Stanton. Simon Hynd and Micky MacPherson. Gary the Hat. Loren Feldman. Jason Schwartz. Rich Rys. Paul, Hickey, B.H., Lori and my co-workers at the
CP.
Mike “Rego” Regan. Tony Fiorentino. Deacon Clark. Mr. Aleas. Mr. Keene. Mr. Starr. The Other Mr. Smith (Anthony Neil). The Gischler. La Salle University. Wachovia Bank. And to all of my friends and family.

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