Can stone cold thrillers be heartwarming? Lou Berney did it again!

“The stoner thriller canon has a new candidate: Lou Berney’s Dark Ride…The author has a gift for creating characters and stories that infuse even the most sordid corner of humanity with unforced gentleness…This is the story of one man’s transformation from apathetic stoner to avenging angel…it also keeps the pages turning at a rapid clip. Berney’s thrillers have more weight than most, and more soul, and Dark Ride lives up to his established standards.”  — Los Angeles Times

“Stellar… a friend of Marihuana and pure escapism with self-esteem laid low, Hardly is a memorable figure covering the ground between anti-hero and kind-of-hero with a deeply life-affirming message in face of the most digusting evil. This book, though being, on the surface, an adrenaline-fuelled, and, well, dark ride, even manages to contain a subtle sense of humour in our stoner’s survival package. Let‘s call it a hard-boiled „Entwicklungsroman“.“ – M. E., Flowworker

„Dark Ride is Lou Berney at his best. This story of a disaffected scare actor at a theme park who finds his purpose in the defense of two abused children is both thrilling and heartbreaking but ultimately life affirming. The story of a man who finally stands for something after a lifetime of falling for anything will haunt you.“ — S.A. Cosby, author of brilliant crime novels Der letzte Wolf and Blacktop Wasteland

P.S. At one point in the new novel, Mr. Reetze, there’s a track playing in Elenor’s car that seems to be a Kraftwerk track, possibly from „Autobahn“. I once asked Lou Berney about the music in my beloved „The Long And Faraway Gone“, and that the way he „soundtracks“ it never seems contrived.  Here his answer that will make Lajla smile:

„Thanks for that! Much appreciated. I don’t have any rules except that — the music has to be an organic part of the story or the character, and not something I’m imposing. Sometimes I’m really influenced by what I’m listening to as I write. While I was writing The Long and Faraway Gone, I listened to a lot of Lindi Ortega, a fantastic roots-country singer-songwriter whose music really helped me get in the mindset of my characters. So I put her in the novel. She’s the singer in the red cowboy boots, at the Land Run, in the background of a conversation between Wyatt and Candace.“