Multi-award winning and USA Today bestselling crime writer Lou Berney returns to his critically acclaimed thriller series starring former mob wheelman Shake Bouchon, who finds himself dragged into a high-stakes hostage rescue, among the mighty temples and shadowy underground of Cambodia.
During his years as a wheelman for the Armenian mob in Los Angeles, Shake Bouchon didn’t think of himself as the settling-down type. But now he’s happily married to Gina, the love of his life—and former adversary—in Indiana, of all places.
The great thing about Bloomington, for two people with checkered pasts, is that everyone is nice and no one knows them. Until the day a brutal Armenian thug who has always hated Shake shows up in his backyard. He demands that Shake help him find his missing mob boss, the pakhan—the dangerous and beautiful Alexandra “Lexy” Ilandryan, who also happens to be Shake’s ex-girlfriend.
Shake’s got a lot of history with Lexy, so he reluctantly agrees to travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where she was last seen. Once there, he finds himself tangled in an underworld of Cambodian gangsters, mob politics, and opportunistic expats, where the stakes aren’t clear and everyone is looking to score. With only the help of a clairvoyant hippie and the Armenian thug, Shake becomes involved in a high-stakes negotiation for Lexy that might cost him his own life.
But perhaps most threatening of all is Gina’s wrath when she arrives in Cambodia intent on saving Shake from himself—and from all the people trying to kill him.
With Lou Berney’s trademark wit, flawless plotting, vibrant locale, and memorable characters, Double Barrel Bluff is another unputdownable, globe-trotting adventure.
Author Info
Lou Berney is the multiple award-winning author of Dark Ride,November Road, and The Long and Faraway Gone, as well as Gutshot Straight and Whiplash River. His short fiction has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. He lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and teaches in the MFA program at Oklahoma City University.
Reviews
“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
