The Sopranos meets Six Feet Under in this thrilling debut crime novel about the killing of a hitman-for-hire, his daughter who wants revenge, and a priest who accidentally witnessed everything
Gerry Sass is not who he appears to be. On the surface, he is the proud owner of a local country music station outside of Mystic, Iowa. Beneath it, he’s a mob-connected hitman-for-hire who launders money through the station WIOA.
One morning in 1986, his life of crime catches up to him when two men march him out into the woods and shoot him in the back of the head. Plunged into purgatory, he’s doomed to a painful examination of his life. Unbeknownst to the assassins, Gerry’s closest friend, a Catholic priest named Father Dan, witnesses his execution yet does nothing to stop it.
Meanwhile, Gerry’s daughter, Early, jumps into his prized Mustang with a thirst for revenge. On her adrenaline-fueled hunt, she comes to realize that she’s more like Gerry than she ever chose to admit.
Alternating between the voices of a grieving and adrenaline-fueled daughter, a guilt-ridden priest with no one he can trust, and the voice of a dead killer not quite yet gone, My Name Was Gerry Sass exposes the complicated natures of family, grief, and God in this propulsive and darkly funny novel.
Genre: Mystery
Gerry Sass is not who he appears to be. On the surface, he is the proud owner of a local country music station outside of Mystic, Iowa. Beneath it, he’s a mob-connected hitman-for-hire who launders money through the station WIOA.
One morning in 1986, his life of crime catches up to him when two men march him out into the woods and shoot him in the back of the head. Plunged into purgatory, he’s doomed to a painful examination of his life. Unbeknownst to the assassins, Gerry’s closest friend, a Catholic priest named Father Dan, witnesses his execution yet does nothing to stop it.
Meanwhile, Gerry’s daughter, Early, jumps into his prized Mustang with a thirst for revenge. On her adrenaline-fueled hunt, she comes to realize that she’s more like Gerry than she ever chose to admit.
Alternating between the voices of a grieving and adrenaline-fueled daughter, a guilt-ridden priest with no one he can trust, and the voice of a dead killer not quite yet gone, My Name Was Gerry Sass exposes the complicated natures of family, grief, and God in this propulsive and darkly funny novel.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"My Name Was Gerry Sass is a gripping midwestern noir in the tradition of Fargo and A Simple Plan - fast, blisteringly funny, and surprisingly heartfelt. Highly recommended!" - Dan Chaon
"The aftermath of a mob hit evolves into a meditation on life and death in Hanssen's incredible debut. I was fascinated by this interpretation of purgatory that collapses time into a construct and leaves only the connections we forge and the choices that either save or doom us. Hypnotic, gritty, and unflinching, Gerry Sass will stay with you long after he's buried." - Mindy Mejia
"Tiffany Hanssen's debut novel, My Name was Gerry Sass, packs a wallop and pulls no punches. We have a faithless priest, a determined daughter, and a protagonist who is haunted - but not all that bothered - by the decisions he has made in his life. My Name was Gerry Sass is fueled by a rare mixture of momentum, wit, and depth, and charges like a Mustang." - Henry Wise
"The aftermath of a mob hit evolves into a meditation on life and death in Hanssen's incredible debut. I was fascinated by this interpretation of purgatory that collapses time into a construct and leaves only the connections we forge and the choices that either save or doom us. Hypnotic, gritty, and unflinching, Gerry Sass will stay with you long after he's buried." - Mindy Mejia
"Tiffany Hanssen's debut novel, My Name was Gerry Sass, packs a wallop and pulls no punches. We have a faithless priest, a determined daughter, and a protagonist who is haunted - but not all that bothered - by the decisions he has made in his life. My Name was Gerry Sass is fueled by a rare mixture of momentum, wit, and depth, and charges like a Mustang." - Henry Wise
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