Dark Ride is a remarkable book written by Lou Berney, a storyteller I admire as a writer and cherish as a reader. Dark Ride effortlessly grabs you and does not let you go until the final page. I didn’t want this book to end and it stayed with me long after I finished reading it. Lou Berney is a magnificent writer with talent to burn.” — Don Winslow
“When people say they want to read a really good novel, the kind you just can’t put down, this is the kind of book they mean. Exceptional.” — Stephen King
“From its first frenetic pages to its wrenching final ones, Lou Berney takes us on the ride of a lifetime as two people collide, dangerously, with history in 1963 America. It’s a crime story, a love story, a deeply American story. With November Road, Berney proves beyond doubt that he’s one of the most talented crime novelists working today.” — Megan Abbott
“Berney’s emotional, empathic writing keeps the dynamic between these two lost souls intriguing, and it resonates on a larger scale, placed as it is against such a vivid backdrop. In the tradition of great historical fiction, Berney finds within an exhaustively covered setting his own nooks and crannies. Do we need a conspiracy plot to keep this very human story humming? Probably not. But Berney’s a skilled dramatist too, and there’s no complaint from this reader on his keeping the pages turning.” — Entertainment Weekly, “Required Reading,” on November Road
“Virtually every character is memorable, and the chemistry between Shake and Gina is brilliant. The plot turns are constant, and the dialogue is sharp. The bad guys are wonderfully scary, and the locales are vividly drawn. Elmore Leonard might be very pleased to call Gutshot Straight his own.” — Booklist (starred review)
"Remarkable and unforgettable...Berney’s artistry as a writer hits you in the heart and tugs hard at your soul. This tense and riveting thriller unfolds in the shadow of the assassination of JFK and is a deeply moving love story about people caught in moral dilemmas for which there are no easy answers and who together find hope against all odds. It will stay with you long after you read the final page. You will recommend it to friends. You will read it again. Berney is a writer to be read and admired...A staggeringly brilliant book and a flat-out terrific read.” — Don Winslow
“A great book, full of nifty characters, with a story that builds the suspense until we’re unable to stop reading.” — Booklist
“Shake remains a lovable, wise-cracking hero, and Berney does him justice with a cast of memorable supporting characters and a gorgeously rendered Southeast Asian locale. This sterling neo-noir series continues to deliver.” — Publisher's Weekly (starred)
"Berney’s third Shake Bouchon novel (after Whiplash River) is as much fun as the others. Enthusiastically recommended for all crime fiction fans." — Library Journal
"There is no shortage of action, clever jibes, rough-and-tumble fights, casual murders, or double-crosses in the novel; it moves smoothly and quickly, with Shake as the thoughtful, sympathetic, knowledgeable linchpin who keeps everything grounded just enough in logic and reality." — Kirkus
"...[a] rip-roaring page-turner...Lou Berney continues to produce outstanding books that are funny, intelligent and entertaining." — Bookreporter.com
"Berney is a descendant of Elmore Leonard, but his sensibility and deadpan style are all his own." — Air Mail
09/13/2024
American lowlifes kidnap Lexy Ilandrian, head of the Los Angeles Armenian gang, while she's vacationing anonymously in Cambodia. They don't know who she is, they just want a ransom. But the Armenian gangsters are so frightening that even the LA cartels steer clear of them. Shake Bouchon once was wheelman for the Armenians (and Lexy's lover), but now he's gone straight. This doesn't matter when Shake's past catches up with him: Dikran, Lexy's hulking bodyguard, shows up and threatens to kill Shake—painfully—unless he helps him find her. Shake's wife sees Dikran holding Shake and shoots him in the head with a nail gun, but he's so thickheaded it barely fazes him. So, Shake and Dikran fly to Cambodia in unhappy alliance to find the kidnappers. By then, the bad guys know their mistake: should they kill Lexy now or go ahead with their plans? Babikian, Lexy's number two, is there too—but to rescue Lexy, or eliminate her? Everything comes up roses in the end, but not without a fair amount of hugger-muggery and violence. VERDICT Berney's third Shake Bouchon novel (after Whiplash River) is as much fun as the others. Enthusiastically recommended for all crime fiction fans.—David Keymer
2024-09-14
An erstwhile accomplice of the Armenian mob gets drawn into a kidnapping plot in Cambodia. Hijinks and double-crosses ensue.
From a distance, Charles Samuel “Shake” Bouchon seems to live a pretty boring life in Bloomington, Indiana. He’s a driving instructor, mostly for older international students, and he’s settled into domestic bliss in a quiet, dog friendly neighborhood. He’s lived this “legitimate” life for a little over a year, but he’s determined to keep it up, until circumstances beyond his control—most directly represented by a huge, purple-track-suit-wearing, skull-tattoo-sporting Armenian—pull him back into the criminal underworld. Dikran Ghazarian wants Shake to help him find his pakhan, Lexy Ilandryan, the L.A. boss of the Armenian mob. She seems to have disappeared while on vacation in Cambodia, so, soon, the mismatched Dikran and Shake trek halfway across the globe, where they discover that Lexy has been kidnapped by a pair of criminals-for-hire who have no idea who she is. With the help of a Cambodian hippie who reads auras and may experience prophetic dreams; a local honcho—and onetime CIA contact—named Ouch; and, eventually, Shake’s wife, Gina, also reformed from the wrong side of the law, Dikran and Shake go head-to-head with a fashionista kingpin named Bjorn and then Lexy’s second-in-command, who has “more teeth than seemed possible for a single human mouth” and may or may not be on their side. There is no shortage of action, clever jibes, rough-and-tumble fights, casual murders, or double-crosses in the novel; it moves smoothly and quickly, with Shake as the thoughtful, sympathetic, knowledgeable linchpin who keeps everything grounded just enough in logic and reality. The prose lacks some of Berney’s usual flair, but his characters, always on the edges of polite society, continue to plumb its gray areas and find the compromises with which they can—and sometimes must—live.
Deft, well-crafted fun: irreverent, darkly humorous, and multilayered.
