A series of poor life choices and their violent consequences have crushed Dominick Prince’s spirit. Desperate to outrun his burgeoning rage before it fully consumes him, Dominick accepts an offer from Dutchy Kent, an old high school classmate who says he wants to make one last-ditch effort to prove his acting chops by mounting the New York City debut of a play based on one of Dominick’s stories, but the true story involves the real estate empire of a notorious Queens drug dealer and $1.2 million in cash. Dutchy would love to find that cash, but he needs someone else to do the dirty work, someone who attracts trouble and is easily manipulated.
Unfortunately for Dutchy, the Dominick he knew in school is gone. The Dominick who shows up at his office is bitter, twitchy, and repulsed by the trash heaps and junk yards of Long Island City that don’t fit into his vision of a New York debut. None of that matters to Dutchy though who continues with his scheme, unaware that every insult, every passive aggressive comment, and every physical intimidation pushes Dominick one step further toward his rapidly approaching breaking point.
Praise for Bryon Quertermous
“I found MURDER BOY disturbing in a good way, the best possible way. It’s hilarious, yet incredibly aware of its own twisted reality. Personally, I don’t know of another book like it. Saying something is such-and-such “with heart” is a big meta-joke, but I thought MURDER BOY truly was a black comedy with heart.”
–Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of Hush Hush
“Bryon Quertermous has the thing that every writer strives for and many never find: a truly unique voice. His writing is crisp and clean, his storytelling sense is honed, but it’s the voice that holds the magic. The balance of the comedic and the dramatic in his work is a rare treat, reading like a deliciously blood-soaked crime novel rewritten by Christopher Moore. Try the first sentence of MURDER BOY, and then tell me if I’m wrong.”
–Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Wish Me Dead
“Bryon Quertermous’s MURDER BOY is chock-full of crackling dialogue, whirlwind pacing and the most sociopaths per capita of any book I’ve read in a long time. (I mean that in a good way.) It’s dark, brutal, and irresistible.”
– Kelly Braffet, author of Save Yourself
“Forget the debate over MFA vs. NYC raging in bookish circles right now. Bryon Quertermous fires a shotgun blast through that false dichotomy with his crackling debut novel MURDER BOY, as much a violent romp and action-packed tale as it is a sobering look at thwarted literary dreams, the corrosive results of envy and jealousy, and finding courage and mettle close to home and heart.”
– Sarah Weinman, editor of Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives
“Bryon Quertermous has created a witty, gritty thriller. Equal parts Elmore Leonard and WONDER BOYS, this book is a winner. With a voice that carries you and a pace that pushes you, this is a book you can’t miss.”
–Dave White, Shamus Award-nominated author of the Jackson Donne series
“Rough and raw and fast and furious and genuinely funny, with a dizzying array of villains and a hefty dose of madcap adventure, Bryon Quertermous’s love letter to the crime fiction genre, MURDER BOY, is an awesome debut from a talented, assured voice. MURDER BOY is a winner.”
– J.T. Ellison, New York Times bestselling author of When Shadows Fall
“MURDER BOY is at once dark, irreverent, and laugh-out-loud funny — a breakneck tale that manages to both send up and pay homage to the tropes of the crime genre. I’d expect nothing less from the twisted mind of Bryon Quertermous.”
–Chris F. Holm, Anthony-nominated author of The Big Reap