Fifty Grand: A Novel of Suspense

Review ''He is a cross between Mickey Spillane and Damon Runyon -- the toughest, the best. Beware of McKinty.'' --Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes''[McKinty is] a master of modern noir, up there with Dennis Lehane and James Ellroy . . . Fifty Grand is a blast: a standalone effort which again showcases McKinty's brutal lyricism as well as his sensitivity to the indignities of the immigrant experience.'' --The Guardian (UK) ''An intelligent novel of suspense about cultural identity . . . In trademark fashion, McKinty winds up his provocative tale with a violent and memorable final act.'' --Publishers Weekly ''McKinty tightens the screws on his heroine effectively, forcing her into a classic noir conundrum from which there appears to be no escape. An impeccably constructed thriller supported by a cast of finely rounded, Elmore Leonard-like characters.'' --Booklist ''The talented McKinty (The Bloomsday Dead, etc.) does his usual first-rate job of making you like the characters he likes.'' --Kirkus Reviews ''An unusual and innovative new thriller . . . Fifty Grand crackles with tension, surprising the reader again and again until its riveting conclusion.'' --Bookpage ''Adrian McKinty has been blowing us out of the mystery water for quite some time now, but phew-oh, he has totally taken over the whole field with Fifty Grand. Think Don Winslow's masterly Power of the Dog combined with José Latour and the sheer narrative drive of Joe Lansdale and you'll have some idea of this amazing novel. It has riveting mystery, politics of just about every shade and thrills on almost every page. I've rarely read a novel that had it all -- human and drug trafficking, Hollywood excesses, ferocious vengeance -- but what I found most compulsive was the wondrous compassion of the book. It moved me in ways I never anticipated. This is going to be the BIG BOOK of 2009.'' --Ken Bruen, author of The Guards and Once Were Cops''Narrator Paula Christensen brings just enough of a Spanish accent to the feature role of Cuban police detective Mercado Suraz to be convincing without seeming overdone or forced. Christensen also masters the necessary variations in pace and intensity while navigating numerous flashbacks and scene changes . . . McKinty and Christensen offer the listener a story filled with strong characters, situations, and language. Fifty Grand is definitely worth the trip.'' --AudioFile Product Description [Read by Paula Christensen] An illegal immigrant is killed in a hit-and-run on a frozen mountain road in the rich Hollywood resort town of Fairview, Colorado. No one is prosecuted for his death, and his case is quietly forgotten. Six months later, posing as an illegal immigrant and working as a maid in Fairview, Havana police officer Detective Mercado begins to secretly investigate the shadowy collision that left her father dead. Who killed him? Was it one of the smooth-talking Hollywood types, or a minion of the terrifying county sheriff? And why was her father, a celebrated defector to the United States, hiding in Colorado as the town rat catcher? Adrian McKinty's live-wire prose crackles with intensity as we follow Mercado through the emotion and violence that lead to a final shocking confrontation. About the Author ADRIAN MCKINTY was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He studied politics and philosophy at Oxford University before moving to America in the early 1990s. Living first in Harlem, New York, he found employment as a construction worker, barman, and bookstore clerk. In 2000 he moved to Denver, Colorado, to become a high school English teacher and it was there that he began writing fiction. His first full-length novel, Dead I Well May Be, was shortlisted for the 2004 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and its sequel, The Dead Yard, was selected as one of the twelve best novels of the year by Publishers Weekly and won the 2007 Audie® Award for Best Thriller/Suspense. In 2008, his debut young adult novel