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Published Nov 2023
320 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
In this epic standalone from David Swinson "one of the best dialogue hounds in the business" (New York Times Book Review), Homicide Detective Alex Blum must answer a terrible question: 'how far would you go to love the wrong woman?'
In a red brick house on a tree-lined street, DC homicide detective Alex Blum stares at the bullet-pocked body of Chris Doyle. As he roots around for evidence, he finds an old polaroid: the decedent, arm in arm with Arthur Holland, Blum's informant from years ago when he worked at the Narcotics branch.
But Arthur has been missing for days. Blum's only source: Arthur's girl, Celeste—beautiful, seductive, and tragic—whom he can't get out of his head. Blum is drawn to her and feels compelled to save her from Arthur's underworld. As the investigation ticks on and dead bodies domino, Blum, unearths clues with damning implications for Celeste. Swallowed by desire, Blum's single misstep sends him tunnelling down a rabbit hole of transgression. He may soon find the only way out is down below.
Set in 1999, Swinson, a former DC cop, offers a look back at a rougher, grittier, bygone DC replete with seedy strip clubs, pagers beeping, and Y2K anxiety. It's here we're taken inside sting operations, fluorescent-tinged interrogation chambers, and rooms that have seen irreversible mistakes. At once authentic, gritty, tragic, and profound, Sweet Thing asks how far can you fall when the world teeters on the edge?
"Drawing on his experience as a D.C. cop and writing in clipped, terse prose, Swinson transforms the turn of the millennium into a distant noir-tinged era that feels both tougher and simpler than the present. This is sure to please fans of George Pelecanos and Richard Price." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Noir crime in the voice of a deeply flawed cop...Author Swinson is a retired D.C. detective and a talented writer who brings grit and realism to the story...This bleak, gripping novel is not for delicate sensibilities." ―Kirkus Reviews
"Brisk, punchy chapters, dead-on dialogue, and an insider knowledge of law enforcement elevate Sweet Thing into a higher realm of fiction, a space where genres blur and the line between good and evil spins like a siren in the night. Swinson is a modern master of lean, no-frills, throwback noir." ―Eli Cranor, Edgar Award-winning author of Don't Know Tough and Ozark Dogs
"They're going to have to find a new spot on the color wheel for Sweet Thing. Because there's dark, there's noir, and then there's David Swinson. His new book is the real deal: tough, terse, rocket-paced and authentic. If you're reader enough to handle the strong stuff off the top shelf, this is for you." ―Peter Blauner, Edgar-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Picture in the Sand
"Sweet Thing is a stunning, wonderful, eye-opening, exciting crime novel that lets author and ex-cop David Swinson carry readers into the realities of their own world where crime and justice swirl into hard realities in streets we all drive. Swinson's unique voice lets the readers find out truths beyond the plot of this fast-paced, ticking-clock noir crime story. Swinson is a treasure among crime writers who's been there, done that and shares it all with a cold eye and a hopeful heart. It's a novel to read, to share, to think about when you look in the mirror." ―James Grady, author of Six Days of the Condor and This Train
"Pages don't flip this fast without wind and Swinson has whirled a hurricane of a story. The dialogue is tight and true. Alex Blum is a character to love. Sweet Thing is a feat." ―David Joy, author of Those We Thought We Knew
This information about Sweet Thing was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
David Swinson is a retired police detective from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, having been assigned to Major Crimes. Swinson is the author of the critically acclaimed Frank Marr Trilogy - The Second Girl, Crime Song and Trigger, and the standalone City on the Edge. He lives in Northern Virginia.
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