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The Crime Writer
- Author
- Gregg Hurwitz
- Narrator
- Scott Brick
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 1 July 2007
- Run Time
- 10 hours 54 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Twenty years after its original publication, an anniversary edition of this electrifying contemporary LA noir by a master of the psychological thriller
Drew Danner, a crime novelist with a house off LA’s storied Mulholland Drive, awakens in a hospital bed with a scar on his head and no memory of being found convulsing over his ex-fiancée’s body the previous night. He was discovered holding a knife, her blood beneath him. He himself doesn’t know whether he’s guilty or innocent. To reconstruct the story, the writer must now become the protagonist, searching the corridors of his life and the city he loves.
Drew finds himself at the center of an ongoing murder investigation and the target of a series of increasingly bizarre psychological assaults that seem the result of his own dark imagination. As he closes in on clues he might or might not have left, another young woman is similarly murdered, and he has to ask difficult questions not only of others but of himself.
Beautifully crafted and heartbreakingly told, The Crime Writer confronts our inherent fear of what we might truly be capable of—good or evil. At once a noir nail-biter, a contemporary morality tale, and a vivid dissection of the crime novel itself.
Critics Review
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“Outstanding in every way. Hurwitz’s previous books—great as they were—look like practice swings before this titanic blast.”
Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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“It’d be so simple to say that The Crime Writer toys and pokes and jabs with the genre. And of course it does. But by merging author and hero, Hurwitz sharpens a brand-new edge in his voice. An elegant, engaging, and wonderfully human book.”
Brad Meltzer, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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“The Crime Writer is the must-read crime novel of the year. Brilliantly rendered with hip intelligence and fierce originality, this book is a stunner. Gregg Hurwitz may well have created a brand name franchise and deservedly so.”
Robert Crais, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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“With The Crime Writer, Gregg Hurwitz has taken a quantum leap forward in the realm of American suspense literature. A thrilling, mind-bending journey, it is also deeply humane and beautifully written. You’ll turn the final page with profound regret.”
Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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“An intimate, tension-filled story that starts strong and grows to a smashing finish.”
Newsday
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“Hurwitz’s intelligent, skillfully plotted thriller, with its clever mystery and undercurrent of menace, is a gripping read.”
Telegraph (London)
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“Hurwitz’s intelligent, skillfully plotted thriller, with its clever mystery and undercurrent of menace, is a gripping read.”
Daily Telegraph (London)
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“The Crime Writer unfolds like a modern film noir…Hurwitz is a tight and quick-moving writer. He is at his best while describing Drew’s Los Angeles, with all its gaudiness and hype.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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“[An] intimate, tension-filled story that starts strong and grows to a smashing finish…A hero truly worth rooting for.”
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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“Hurwitz’s carefully interwoven plotlines and taut writing—as well as his pulsing descriptions of Los Angeles—make for a deeply satisfying read, and the ending, revealed with masterful simplicity, shows the complex desires that make each of us capable of murder. A performance worthy of applause.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“An exhilarating tale…the first part of this exciting thriller may be the best opening ploy in the mystery genre this year.”
Midwest Book Review
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“Gregg Hurwitz has written seven previous novels and has consistently produced work of exceptional quality, The Crime Writer perhaps being the pinnacle of that output thus far…One of my favorite reads of the year.”
JanuaryMagazine.com
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“Hurwitz’s LA thriller has noir pulp chutzpah in spades…The fast pace and ingenious setup provide considerable tension.”
Publishers Weekly
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“Danner’s anguish is compellingly described, and the plot has more twists and turns than Mulholland Drive. At least half a dozen characters are vividly drawn, and nearly all are like Danner—struggling to recover from some tragic and life-altering event. Hurwitz’s insights about L.A. life sound knowing and are often ruefully funny, e.g., ‘L.A., where a porn star runs for governor and an action figure wins.’ Crime fans looking for something different will love this one.”
Booklist
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“An exhilarating tale…the first part of this exciting thriller may be the best opening ploy in the mystery genre this year.”
Midwest Book Review
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Gregg Hurwitz
- Narrator
- Scott Brick
- Duration
- 10 hours 54 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 July 2007
- ISBN
- 9781602830530
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Crime and mystery fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction, Fiction: general and literary, Narrative theme: Interior life, Crime and mystery fiction
Synopsis
Twenty years after its original publication, an anniversary edition of this electrifying contemporary LA noir by a master of the psychological thrillerDrew Danner, a crime novelist with a house off LA’s storied Mulholland Drive, awakens in a hospital bed with a scar on his head and no memory of being found convulsing over his ex-fiancée’s body the previous night. He was discovered holding a knife, her blood beneath him. He himself doesn’t know whether he’s guilty or innocent. To reconstruct the story, the writer must now become the protagonist, searching the corridors of his life and the city he loves.Drew finds himself at the center of an ongoing murder investigation and the target of a series of increasingly bizarre psychological assaults that seem the result of his own dark imagination. As he closes in on clues he might or might not have left, another young woman is similarly murdered, and he has to ask difficult questions not only of others but of himself.Beautifully crafted and heartbreakingly told, The Crime Writer confronts our inherent fear of what we might truly be capable of—good or evil. At once a noir nail-biter, a contemporary morality tale, and a vivid dissection of the crime novel itself.
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