Wild Thing

It's hard to find work as a doctor when using your real name will get you killed. So hard that when a reclusive billionaire offers Dr. Peter Brown, aka Pietro Brnwa, a job accompanying a sexy but self-destructive paleontologist on the world's worst field assignment, Brown has no real choice but to say yes. Even if it means that an army of murderers, mobsters, and international drug dealers — not to mention the occasional lake monster — are about to have a serious Pietro Brnwa problem.

Facing new and old monsters alike, Dr. Brnwa's story continues in this darkly funny and lightning-paced follow up to Josh Bazell's bestselling debut.

"Carl Hiaasen fans will relish Bazell's frenetic sequel to 2009's Beat the Reaper. Professor Marmoset, the guardian angel who got retired mob hit man Pietro Brnwa into the federal witness protection program, sends him to Portland, Ore., on a highly unusual mission. There a reclusive billionaire referred to only as 'Rec Bill' asks Brnwa to represent him on a monster hunt in White Lake, Minn., reputed to be home to a ferocious beast unknown to science. Acting as the referee to determine whether the White Lake monster really exists will be 'a very high ranking Member of the U.S. Federal Government.' Brnwa hopes to use the large fee he'll be paid as a substitute for Rec Bill to figure out a way to get permanently clear of his former cohorts in crime, who have him in their sights. Bazell expertly blends action, farce, and political satire, and his wide-ranging imagination bodes well for the future of the series. Agent: Markus Hoffman." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

"Is this novel better than Bazell's debut? It's as good as and more. In addition to the mayhem and madness of the original, there's an element of ecoconsciousness and political satire (the long-delayed appearance of the government official is worth the purchase price) that will leave readers wanting still more. Bazell makes being smart sexy and footnotes fun." Library Journal

"[Bazell's books] are hard-boiled thrillers, written in one of the most distinctively entertaining new fictional voices I've run across in years, in any genre. There is a massive density of information in [Wild Thing]...but Bazell wields it with wonderful lightness. Reading him is like being able to monopolize the attention of the most interesting person at a party....It's so rare that you see a really brilliant writer who is committed, 100%, in every sentence, to giving you a good time. Bazell is, and he does." Lev Grossman, Time

Josh Bazell is the author of the national bestseller Beat the Reaper and holds a BA in writing from Brown University and an MD from Columbia. He lives in New York.