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The Shotgun Rule: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
The first stand-alone thriller by critically acclaimed author Charlie Huston, The Shotgun Rule is a raw tale of four teenage friends who go looking for a little trouble—and find it.
Blood spilled on the asphalt of this town long years gone has left a stain, and it's spreading.
Not that a thing like that matters to teenagers like George, Hector, Paul, and Andy. It's summer 1983 in a northern California suburb, and these working-class kids have been killing time the usual way: ducking their parents, tinkering with their bikes, and racing around town getting high and boosting their neighbors' meds. Just another typical summer break in the burbs—until Andy's bike is stolen by the town's legendary petty hoods, the Arroyo brothers. When the boys break into the Arroyos' place in search of the bike, they stumble across the brothers' private industry: a crank lab. Being the kind of kids who rarely know better, they do what comes naturally: they take a stash of crank to sell for quick cash. But in doing so they unleash hidden rivalries and crimes, as well as the dark and secret past of their town and their families.
The spreading stain is drawing local drug lords, crooked cops, hard-riding bikers, and the brutal history of the boys' fathers in its wake.
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“Fast-unfolding plot…Huston demonstrates a great feel forcharacters on the cusp of maturity—which helps readers connect with their adolescentaches even when they’re being a pain. But just when it seems this might be amislabeled YA yarn, the book delivers a fully realized elder generation aswell. Huston also manages to minimize the racially charged aspects of the teenshowdown by making one member of the foursome a Latino punk rocker who stealsmore than his share of scenes.”
— Booklist
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“What a righteously nasty imagination Huston has. If you don’t know this perfervid writer of thrillers and comic books, this stand-alone novel is a great place to start…[With] an explosive ending…Huston terrifically re-creates the time period.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“Huston’s strengths are the brutal efficiency with which he sets a scene and the breakneck pace he maintains throughout…[A] compelling depiction of aimless teenage boys trying to rise to manhood. In Huston’s hands, it’s Greek tragedy on speed.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“One of the most memorable crime novels of this year.”
— Baltimore Sun -
“Moving like a fireball, this is an engrossing read that feels kind of like a shot of cheap tequila, in the fun way.”
— Crimespree magazine -
“Huston adds depth and pathos to already likable characters. As a result, the brutality and intensity of the remainder of the book hit hard. This is Huston’s first stand-alone…and it’s a winner.”
— Kansas City Star -
“Huston has developed a reputation for his own brand of noir fiction, by turns side-splittingly funny and gruesomely violent and repugnant. Any male over the age of twenty will recognize elements of adolescence they had unconsciously buried—and will cringe or howl at the accuracy of this rendering of his childhood.”
— Rocky Mountain News -
“Memorable characters, hard-edged dialogue, and graphic violence make this searing portrait of evil an exciting addiction to new crime fiction.”
— Tuscon Citizen -
“Huston is a monstrously gifted purveyor of suspense…This book raised blisters on my fingers—and I still couldn’t put it down.”
— Austin (TX) American-Statesman -
“One of the crime genre’s rising stars, Huston delivers a stunning, darkly comic coming-of-age novel…Huston’s natural gift for dialogue shines as he recreates the language of teenage males, in all its crude and often hilarious glory. Most importantly, Huston has the courage to both unsettle and entertain the reader, and his story resonates long after its disturbing final scenes.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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About Charlie Huston
Charlie Huston is the bestselling author of The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death; The Shotgun Rule; the Henry Thompson trilogy, which includes the Edgar Award–nominated Six Bad Things; and the Joe Pitt Casebooks. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the actress Virginia Louise Smith.
About Charlie Thurston
Charlie Thurston is an experienced audiobook narrator, actor, and playwright who has received numerous Earphones Awards for his work. He has appeared on Law and Order: SVU, and his voice can be heard in audiobooks such as The Oracle Year, Southernmost, The Terranauts, and The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone.