Stray Dogs - Hardcover

Ridley, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345413458 ISBN 13: 9780345413451

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1997

Synopsis

"It's the heat that makes you crazy. I don't know what it is, but it works that way for man and animal alike. I've seen some peculiar things on a hot day too. I've seen a scorpion sting itself to death. It just keeps drivin' its tail into its body again and again. A little killer killing itself. And what a man'll do on a hot day. A man could get his self killed just for rubbing shoulders with another. . . ."

A loner, a drifter, a gambler--John Stewart asks little of life. But when his '64 Mustang busts a radiator hose in the middle of the empty Nevada desert, he prays to God, Buddha, L. Ron. And rolls into the tiny town of Sierra. Where he finds . . . nothing. A gas station whose former owner is lying low in the cemetery. A strip of barren, dust-blown store fronts. A truck stop cafe with more flies than customers.

Stewart wants out. Sucker-punched in a rigged poker game, he's got to get to Vegas to settle a debt. Or else.

Then in walks Grace, a seductive knockout who can read fortunes in faces. In the next twenty-four hours, Stewart becomes ensnared in a web of dirty double-crosses, cold propositions, and desperate souls--deadly ground where murder is just one gasp away.

A stunning, fast-paced novel, Stray Dogs unfolds with unrelenting tension, memorable characters, and shocking twists of plot. John Ridley has created a hypnotic story that is pure noir, from its first page until its shattering climax.

About this title

From the Publisher:

This is a first novel that knocked me out of my seat. From its first word to its last haunting image, "Stray Dogs" is soaked with gritty "noir". The slick, sexy relationship between John, the protagonist on the run, and Grace, the beautiful, dangerous woman he meets, creates a nuclear center for the taut, riveting events of a single hot day. This is certainly worth a read.

About the Author:

John Ridley wrote and directed the feature film, Cold Around the Heart. He lives in Los Angeles where he is currently working on his next novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0345413458
• ISBN 13: 9780345413451
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 168