Book Summary and Reviews of Tear the City Down by Andre Hardy

Tear the City Down by Andre Hardy

Tear the City Down

by Andre Hardy

  • Publishes:
  • Sep 1, 2026, 432 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

This debut novel from a former NFL player is a hard-hitting, heart wrenching crime novel that brilliantly blends elements of jazz, football, and a gritty portrait of a city divided―perfect for fans of S.A. Cosby and Walter Mosley.

Coltrane Davis is at once a knight and a hustler. He has risen to wealth and success, graduating from San Diego's back alleys to the halls of power through his partnership with Saul Sollman, a crooked kingmaker among the city's elite. Running multimillion dollar scams with Saul, he has been Saul's fixer, but now he wants out of the hustle so that he can focus on his teenage daughter's burgeoning tennis career and finally be the dad he has always wanted to be.

But when the Los Angeles Chargers' star running back vanishes one evening before a big game, Coltrane is drawn into an investigation of what happened by Saul and his protégé, the player's agent; the stakes escalate with a gut-punch when the trail leads into San Diego's underworld of drugs and prostitution and reveals clues to the disappearance of his daughter's best friend, whose loss has haunted him.

Torn by the unreconcilable demands of the life he can't seem to quit and the fierce desire he has to protect his own, Coltrane brings himself and his loved ones to the brink of destruction in his quest to free himself once and for all of Saul's control―and focus on what really matters: family.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A fantastic journey through mean streets and shattered hearts. Full of vibrant prose and incredible characters. An unforgettable experience." ―S.A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author

"A distinctive new voice in American noir, Andre Hardy's Tear the City Down is violent, visceral, furiously fast-paced and surprisingly tender." ―Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author

This information about Tear the City Down 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.

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More Information

Andre Hardy has written across multiple genres, including creative nonfiction, essays and short stories, screenwriting, and long-form narrative. Andre's essays, interviews, and critical analysis have been published in L.A. Tribe Magazine, Lunch Ticket, Antioch University's cutting-edge literary and visual arts journal, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. His short story, "Negro in a Hot Tub," is featured in Made in L.A.: An Anthology of Stories Rooted in the City of Angels, written by Los Angeles-based writers. Andre was the fourth pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1984 National Football League draft. He is a member of the NFL Retired Players Association and the NFL Legends Community, and he earned his MFA through the NFL Players Trust tuition reimbursement program. Andre resides in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife, renowned Buddhist meditation teacher JoAnna Hardy.

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