Half a million dollars in drug proceeds, guarded by three men with automatic weapons--for professional thief Crissa Stone and her team, stealing it was the easy part. But when the split goes awry in a blaze of gunfire, Crissa finds herself on the run with a duffel bag full of stolen cash, bound by a promise to deliver part of the take to the needy family of one of her slain partners.
In pursuit are the drug kingpin's lethal lieutenants and a former Detroit cop with his own deadly agenda. They think the money's there for the taking, for whoever finds her first. But Crissa doesn't plan to give it up without a fight, even as her mission of mercy puts her and a young child in mortal danger, with forces on both sides of the law closing in. After all, a debt is a debt--even if it has to be paid in blood.
With Shoot the Woman First, Wallace Stroby delivers another powerful, lyrical novel, his third featuring one of the most original female characters in hard-boiled fiction.
About the Author :
Wallace Stroby is an award-winning journalist and a former editor at the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey. His Crissa Stone novels have been optioned for development as a television series by Showtime. Stroby lives in New Jersey.
Coleen Marlo is an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator who has been nominated for an Audie Award twice, winning in 2011. She has been awarded three Listen-Up Awards from Publishers Weekly, an AudioFile Audiobook of the Year Award in 2011, and was named Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2010 by Publishers Weekly. She is a member of the prestigious Actors Studio and taught acting for ten years at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Marlo is a proud founding member of Deyan Institute of Voice Artistry and Technology.
Review :
"An easy score for professional thief Crissa Stone (Kings of Midnight, 2012, etc.) and her associates turns out to be anything but...Crissa's third is another superior thriller--fast, tough and nasty--without a single extra sentence."
-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "
"Professional thief and stone-cold killer Crissa Stone is back, lining up another caper in burned-out Detroit. Her long-buried conscience leads her further into danger and, perhaps, the end of it all."
-- "RT Book Reviews (41/2 stars)"
"Stroby transports readers through his spare, believable dialog--making the story race by like a runaway train...Crissa is compelling, not unlike a female Parker...Elmore Leonard would approve."
-- "Library Journal"
"Stroby's Crissa Stone is emerging as one of the more compelling female criminals in mystery fiction. In her third outing she once again displays bravery, cunning, loyalty, and a big heart matched by a willingness to embrace the violence her lifestyle necessitates...Stroby nails this taut, gripping contest between well-matched opponents."
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
"The shootouts have been staged in many a gangster--and western--tale. But when they're done as skillfully as this, who cares?"
-- "Booklist"
