Shake Bouchon

"Lou Berney's novel is so energetic, so droll, and so wheezingly funny that it accomplished what no book ever has before: it made me forget to eat lunch." -Stephen Harrigan, New York Times bestselling author of Challenger Park A fast and funny caper in the tradition of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, and the Coen Brothers, Gutshot Straight brings a fresh new talent into the crime fiction fold: Louis Berney. He's already won raves for his short fiction collection The Road to Bobby Joe and Other Stories ("Rivals the work of contemporary hotshots T.C. Boyle and Ralph Lombreglia" -Chicago Tribune). With Gutshot Straight, Berney is "all in"-sure to win a fervent following with the story of "Shake" Bouchon, fresh out of prison and on the straight and narrow path…after maybe just one last job.

"Like Carl Hiaasen, Berney delights in the cartoonish. Like Elmore Leonard, he can drive a plot. What sets him apart is how well he evokes love, making the romance…as compelling as the mystery." -Boston Globe Lou Berney immediately earned a seat of honor at the mystery masters' table with his crackling caper novel, Gutshot Straight-a lightning-fast, fiendishly clever suspenser that screamed for a sequel. And here it is. Former professional wheel man Charles "Shake" Bouchon is back, living in the Caribbean paradise of Belize with his lawless past far behind him-until a gunshot tears through his beachside restaurant and he's on the run again. A twisting tale filled with lawmen, con men, and hit men; a beautiful but deadly FBI agent; and a murderous thug named Baby Jesus, Whiplash River recalls the best of the off-the-wall crime fiction impresarios-Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, James W. Hall, Robert Ferrigno, Tim Dorsey-while establishing its own unique orbit in the noir universe.

USA Today-bestselling crime writer Lou Berney returns to his critically acclaimed thriller series starring former mob wheelman Shake Bouchon, who finds himself reluctantly involved in 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 Las Vegas, 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 exceptionally 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 the 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 in a predatory underworld of Cambodian gangsters, mob politics, and opportunistic expats, where the stakes aren't clear and everyone is looking to gain. 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, globetrotting adventure.