Crush
Authors: Phoef Sutton
ADVANCE PRAISE
“As slick as a switchblade with a pearl handle.”
â
Lee Child,
the
New York Times
âbestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels
“This brief novel crackles with sharp dialogueâ” if you can't lie to your wife, who can you lie to?”âand a witty narrative voice that puts the reader in mind of Elmore Leonard....This one could make it to the big screen, but don't wait for the movie. Buy the book. It may be the first of a long series.”
â
Kirkus Reviews
STARRED REVIEW
“I loved this book, with its myriad twists and turns. It has the pace of an action movie and the humor we've come to expect from Phoef Sutton.”
â
Bob Newhart,
actor and author of
I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This
“
Crush
reads like Elmore Leonard on crack...a nonstop thrill ride of a crime novel that's packed with action, smart-ass dialogue, colorful characters, and one harrowing plot twist after another. This novel will leave you breathless...and aching for the sequel.”
â
Lee Goldberg,
author of
The Heist
and
The Job
(with Janet Evanovich),
The Walk
, and many other thrillers
“Filled with snappy dialogue and sarcasm, but also mixed with a genuinely intriguing storyline.”
â
Over My Dead Body
“Sutton is the rare storyteller who writes with amped speed, laugh-out-loud humor, and utter suspense.
Crush
deserves to be a smash.”
âBruce Feiler,
New York Times
âbestselling author
“In Caleb Rush, Sutton has created an iconic L.A. characterâfunny, violent, smart, broke, surrounded by lowlifes and minor celebritiesâand zapped new life into a classic genre. How many Crush novels do I want to read? As many as Sutton writes.”
â
Rob Long,
host of NPR's Martini Shot and award-winning television writer
“A fast-paced, hard-hitting novel layered with mystery, muscle, and heart.”
â
Reed Farrel Coleman,
New York Times
âbestselling author of
Robert B. Parker's Blind Spot
“This book never pauses, never quits, and its hero slows down only long enough to reload. Reading it is like holding a burning firecracker in your hand. Much safer to toss it away, but where's the fun in that?”
â
Nick Griffin,
screenwriter of
Matchstick Man
and
Terriers
“As necks snap, lies fester, and mercies scoff, the un-caged beasts in Sutton's wildly sly debut novel
Crush
leave L.A. a time-shared Hades. Fluent in the wicked lowdown, the novel's dizzying poisons mount, its characters a deadly, deranged splendor. The violence is cinematic, and Sutton's infrared wit kills.”
â
Richard Christian Matheson,
bestselling author of
Dystopia
and screenwriter of many horror films and television shows
“Phoef Sutton has created a character who's impossible not to fall in love with, in a story that moves like a bullet train through the mean streets of L.A. If you're anything like me, you'll be begging for a sequel the moment you turn the last page.”
â
Robert Gregory Browne,
bestselling author of the Trial Junkies series
“A witty, irreverent, and sexy thrill ride through the famous guts of Los Angeles. Sutton writes his characters in great splashes of color, stirs them into a whirlwind, and releases them into his world with glorious results.”
â
Richard Ellis Preston, Jr.,
author of
The Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zeppelin
series
“Sutton crushes it in
Crush
, a nonstop action thriller. If you like Jack Reacher, you'll love
Crush
.”
â
Joel Goldman,
author of
Stone Cold
and
Chasing the Dead
“
Crush
hits you with all the power and speed of a maniac wielding a baseball bat. If you ever need anyone to take out Jack Reacher, Caleb âCrush' Rush is your guy. An action-filled, finger-snapping romp.”
â
Paul Bishop,
LAPD detective and author of
Lie Catchers
“Sutton's
Crush
is what would happen if
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
went out for a night of drinking and fighting. Snappy dialogue, sharp writing, and righteous violence.”
â
Jay Stringer,
author of the Eoin Miller trilogy
“
Crush
takes the reader on a dizzying carnival ride through the mean streets of L.A. Rush is an ass-kicker from the Patrick Swayze
Roadhouse
school of self defense.”
â
W.L. Ripley,
author of the Cole Springer and Wyatt Storme mysteries
“Like a gunshot,
Crush
starts with a bang, whizzes by at a breakneck pace, and hits its mark with precision. The setting feels like the real underbelly of L.A., and Sutton's humorous touches crackle with energy. It reads like you're watching a modern film noir. It's a cliche to say that I couldn't put it down, but that's what happened. I was riveted from start to finish.”
â
Bill D'Elia,
director of
Boston Legal
and
How to Get Away With Murder
“If you enjoy reading novels peopled by soulful characters forever taking their own psychic pulses, then
Crush
is not for you. If, on the other hand, you like hard-boiled crime fiction with a narrative line propelled by startling twists and turns and relentless action, then you won't want to miss this book. That action in
Crush
literally defines ânonstop,' and the eponymous protagonist does the same thing for the term âheroic.' I couldn't put it down till I arrived at the tangled, violent conclusion. Phoef Sutton has a winner.”
â
Tom Kakonis,
author of
Treasure Coast
and
Double Down
“Check out
Crush
, a hilarious novel by Phoef Sutton. A cross between Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake, Sutton is a real find. Prepare to laugh away the night.”
â
Robert Ward,
author of
Red Baker
and
Four Kinds of Rain
ALSO BY PHOEF SUTTON
Wicked Charms
(with Janet Evanovich)
15 Minutes to Live
Reborn: A Dead Man Adventure
(with Kate Danley and Lisa Klink)
The Dead Man: Midnight Special
Copyright ©2015 by Phoef Sutton
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Prospect Park Books
2359 Lincoln Avenue
Altadena, California 91001
Distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution
www.cbsd.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sutton, Phoef.
Crush / Phoef Sutton. -- First edition.
pages ; cm
ISBN 978-1-938849-37-4
I. Title.
PS3569.U896C78 2015
813'.54--dc23
     Â
2014041275
Cover design by Howard Grossman
Book layout and design by Amy Inouye
To Lee Goldberg; he knows why
CONTENTS
T
he first time Amelia saw him, she didn't think of him as a person so much as an obstacle. Cold eyes and muscles, he was standing in a corner of the club, like a piece of the furniture. Only larger.
The bouncer. The immovable object. No need to wonder why they called him Crushâhis hands looked like they could squeeze the air out of her windpipe in a second.