One good man, one very bad night
Dr. James Chenda, a middle-aged (and perhaps middling) academic, had always played it safe. He has a house in the suburbs, a few papers that he’s trying to publish, and though his prospects at receiving tenure are 50/50, he’s trying at least.
And that was his life, until—
Until one night he goes to a party alone, and on the drive home he sees two girls in another car flirting with him—
One moment can change everything
One moment, one decision, one flick of the wheel, and everything starts to unravel.
James will find himself enmeshed in forces beyond his comprehension, coming from every angle possible.
And he can’t just go to the police with this, because he has his child to look after.
He’ll have to go deeper to get himself out, to deal with the underworld directly and outwit those who play by different rules, or perhaps no rules at all.
A note from the editor: When Jonathan Maas submitted Swerve to me, I was surprised. His oeuvre so far has been SciFi and Fantasy, and every tale has had some aspect of either. But this is a Domestic Thriller—no time travel, no references to cosmic powers, and the only ghosts are the metaphorical kind. In true Jonathan Maas style, this tale does have elements of Philosophy and Literary Fiction. But it’s a page turner all right, a Domestic Thriller Crime Noir showing a normal man who finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, and then must pull himself out of an underworld that wants to grab hold of him at every opportunity, bring him down and keep him there.
- J. Shaw, Cynical Optimist Press
For fans of: Chester Himes, A Rage in Harlem, Jordan Harper, She Rides Shotgun, the movie Shot Caller, Noir fiction.
Genres: Crime, Crime Noir, Domestic Thrillers, Page-turners, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Philosophy
Edition 1.1 - Resolved some small formatting issues for Kindle.
Genre: Mystery
Dr. James Chenda, a middle-aged (and perhaps middling) academic, had always played it safe. He has a house in the suburbs, a few papers that he’s trying to publish, and though his prospects at receiving tenure are 50/50, he’s trying at least.
And that was his life, until—
Until one night he goes to a party alone, and on the drive home he sees two girls in another car flirting with him—
One moment can change everything
One moment, one decision, one flick of the wheel, and everything starts to unravel.
James will find himself enmeshed in forces beyond his comprehension, coming from every angle possible.
And he can’t just go to the police with this, because he has his child to look after.
He’ll have to go deeper to get himself out, to deal with the underworld directly and outwit those who play by different rules, or perhaps no rules at all.
A note from the editor: When Jonathan Maas submitted Swerve to me, I was surprised. His oeuvre so far has been SciFi and Fantasy, and every tale has had some aspect of either. But this is a Domestic Thriller—no time travel, no references to cosmic powers, and the only ghosts are the metaphorical kind. In true Jonathan Maas style, this tale does have elements of Philosophy and Literary Fiction. But it’s a page turner all right, a Domestic Thriller Crime Noir showing a normal man who finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, and then must pull himself out of an underworld that wants to grab hold of him at every opportunity, bring him down and keep him there.
- J. Shaw, Cynical Optimist Press
For fans of: Chester Himes, A Rage in Harlem, Jordan Harper, She Rides Shotgun, the movie Shot Caller, Noir fiction.
Genres: Crime, Crime Noir, Domestic Thrillers, Page-turners, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Philosophy
Edition 1.1 - Resolved some small formatting issues for Kindle.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Jonathan Maas's Swerve