Synopses & Reviews
"Lange's prose is masterful, his sense of pacing unfaltering, and he writes about characters on the cutting edge of life." --William Boyle, Los Angeles Review of Books (on Angel Baby)
Rowan Petty is a conman down on his luck. Tinafey is a hooker who's tired of the streets. Their paths cross one snowy night in Reno, and they hit it off.
An old friend of Petty's turns up with a rumor about a crew of American soldiers who smuggled two million dollars out of Afghanistan and have stashed the money in an apartment in Los Angeles. He thinks Petty's just the guy to steal the cash. "You wouldn't even have to grab all of it for it to be a great score," the friend says. "Getting your hands on just some would make you a happy man."
Petty decides to drive down to L.A. to investigate. Tinafey decides to go with him. Bad move, Petty. Bad move, Tinafey.
Review
“Even inanimate objects come to life in Lange’s world. . . . The book is most fun, though, when it focuses on Petty’s clever ruses to separate the rubes from their life’s savings.” New York Times Book Review
Review
“The Smack is refreshingly realistic L.A. noir. . . . Lange is an expert writer, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled.” Los Angeles Times
Review
"Career con artist Rowan Petty has run out of luck in this gritty, poignant crime novel from Hammett Prize–winner Lange (Angel Baby). Living out of a hotel in Reno, Nev., Petty is down to his last five grand and trying to stay afloat working various phone scams for chump change. When an older criminal colleague approaches Petty with a story he heard in prison about 2 million in stolen army money smuggled out of Afghanistan into L.A., Petty is just desperate enough to take the bait. Accompanied by a down on her luck prostitute who calls herself Tinafey, Petty heads to California. Things get complicated and violent quickly as Petty discovers that he isn’t the only one looking for the stolen cash. Meanwhile he makes contact with his estranged daughter whose life has taken a difficult turn. Lange is a master at writing about characters on the margins of society and humanizing outcasts and misfits, and he manages to capture the surreal culture of Los Angeles in all its contradictory glory. Agent: Henry Dunow Dunow Carlson amp; Lerner Literary Agency. (July) " Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Richard Lange is the author of the story collections Dead Boys and Sweet Nothing and the novels This Wicked World and Angel Baby. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the International Association of Crime Writers' Hammett Prize, and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Los Angeles.