Synopses & Reviews
At a dive bar in San Franciscos edgy Tenderloin district, drug-hustling Emily Rosario is drinking whiskey and looking for an escape from her desperate lifestyle. When she is approached by a Russian businessman, she thinks she might have found her exit. A week laterdrugged, disoriented and wanted for robberyEmily finds herself on the run for her life.
When cop Leo Eliasbroke, alcoholic and desperatehears about an unsolved bank robbery, the stolen money proves too strong a temptation. Elias takes the case into his own hands, hoping to find Emily and the money before anyone else does.
A sharply drawn cast of charactersdirty cops, Russian drug dealers, Chinese black-market traders, street smart Cambodians, and shady entrepreneursall take part in this unflinching tour through San Franciscos underbelly. Hoffman writes with unstoppable momentum and produces twists that will surprise until the end.
Review
Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger AwardA Wall Street Journal best book of the year
"Exhilarating crime debut...Hoffman gives his story a stunner of a twist, where roles are reversed, lies become truths, and it all gives way to the most perfect hustle of all...Hoffman's crime plot doesn't just thicken, it boils with surprise after surprise and suspense as tight as a noose...He cinematically captures a seamy San Francisco...the hard-boiled prose glints like a broken mirror...wildly satisfying."San Francisco Chronicle
"Gritty, exhilarating... The White Van, with its quick and scary turns, provides a hell of a ride; the action never stopseven after the final page."Wall Street Journal
Edgy and suspenseful . . . the reader finds a grimy, morally convoluted, and thrilling look at [the] underbelly of the city.”Buzzfeed, The 22 Most Exciting Literary Debuts of 2014”
"A seedy bar, a woman on the prowl, a man in a suit. The opening scene of Patrick Hoffmans superb first novel, The White Van could be an Edward Hopper painting, all shadow and stillness . . . the unadorned elegance and irresistible vitality of Hoffmans writing freshen even this familiar chase. As the action quickens, the story divides, like a block of granite expertly struck, into perfect slivers that reveal each character in artful relief
Accelerating to a just-right conclusion, The White Van vibrates with cop and street dialogue reminiscent of Elmore Leonard in his prime."Barnes and Noble review
My favourite debut of 2015 so far is Patrick Hoffman's The White Van . . . Almost perfect in the way it oscillates between black comedy and high suspense. The White Van is a caperish delight, channelling Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake to exhilarating and unexpected effect.”Guardian (UK)
"Outstanding . . . Hoffman writes with great authority"Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Hoffman transforms San Francisco into a noir playground for all sorts of shady charactersthe kind that can only come from the mind of a writer who really gets people, their secrets and the lengths to which they'll go when they have no good choices."BookPage
"A crackling thriller. Starts with an offbeat bank job and burns through the pages to a slam-bang finish. Keep your eye on Patrick Hoffmanhe's got the right stuff."James Carlos Blake, author of In The Rogue Blood and The House of Wolfe
"If you intend to read The White Van, I hope youve cancelled any other plans for the next day or two, since you wont be moving from your couch. In this rocket-paced San Francisco thriller, the cops are as desperate as the criminals, and the criminals as sympathetic as the cops. Patrick Hoffman has written an absolutely spellbinding novel."Michael Kardos, author of Before He Finds Her
"The White Van will grip you from the first page and leave you looking over your shoulder for weeks. Patrick Hoffman is nothing less than an emerging master of the crime genre. Whatever he writes, Ill read."Jordan Bass, executive editor, McSweeneys
"A wild ride into the black heart of classic noir that unfolds in a pulsating series of betrayals, black mail, bad decisions, and worse luck; this is the stuff of Dashiell Hammett's best nightmares."Mark Haskell Smith, author of RAW: A Love Story
Filled with epic twists and savage turns, the pace is relentless, and Hoffmans drive sets fire to the pages as he crawls across the sinister black underbelly of the Californian dream. Hoffman unflinchingly looks into the heart of the sleaziest inhabitants of the underworld, yet manages to bring each of them alive in distinctive, almost hypnotic, detail . . . Exhilarating and powerful.”Daily Mail (UK)
About the Author
Patrick Hoffman is a writer and private investigator based in Brooklyn, New York. He recently moved to New York from San Francisco, where he worked as an investigator for the past nine years, with the last five spent at the San Francisco Public Defenders Office.
The White Van is his first novel.