Heavy Sugar

Hey Hollywood, scoop this one up now! The book takes place over one day, the day before Thanksgiving 1991. We meet Georgie Quinlan and his cousin Scags, one short of Three Stooges, about to up their petty-criminal game. The plan is to break into Maggie’s Turnstile, a bar where they are both regulars, find the hidden stash of cash, and get out. Things don’t go as planned, but Georgie manages to snag the dying owner’s prized baseball signed by Joe DiMaggio. Boyle takes readers on a wild ride from the Bronx to Gravesend, with Georgie trying to evade the owner’s avengers. Fast on Georgie’s tail is Roz, his very estranged teenaged daughter, who has an unusual interest in gangsters and a bit of a newfound crush on her fast-talking dad, lending a bit of a Paper Moon vibe. Humor, mob action, betrayal, guns, and family secrets, and wait! a little bit of magical realism too—are all part of this hard driving contemporary noir that is impossible to put down.—Dodie Ownes