The King of Swords
Author(s): Nick Stone
“A big crime novel. . . . Stone has a grand story to tell, and he does it with panache. It’s the story of a city and an era (the Reagan reference isn’t gratuitous), at once hilarious and tragic. It’s a story filled with characters that range from honorable to morally ambiguous to frighteningly evil. It’s filled with voodoo rituals, crooked cops, street life, and wrenching descriptions. . . . Brilliant.” — Booklist (starred review)
Nick Stone’s first novel, Mr. Clarinet, took the crime fiction world by storm—winning enthusiastic raves (“Exquisite” —South Florida Sun-Sentinel; “A spellbinding thriller of the highest order” —Chicago Tribune) as well as a Macavity and a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. In The King of Swords, Stone brings back Detective Max Mingus in a chilling and mesmerizing “prequel” that combines murder, police corruption, and voodoo black magic. The King of Swords blazes with Miami heat—and it earns Nick Stone a permanent spot in the winner’s circle alongside the masters James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, Walter Mosley, and Stephen King.
Review(s):
“Nick Stone captures the real 1980s Miami with his gritty, brutal, and expertly plotted The King of Swords...an authentic vision of South Florida along with plenty of hard-boiled action.”
“The Miami setting and Haitian voodoo backdrop give Stone’s interesting noir thriller added weight. . . . Mingus . . . [is] an endearing character. This series entry builds on Stone’s award-winning debut, with Mingus more complex this time and resulting in an even better read.”
“[A] chilling second thriller. . . . The violence is every bit as gruesome as in Clarinet, but Stone expertly harnesses it to propel his multilayered saga of good, evil, and everything in between.”
“A thrilling, chilling novel. . . . This spine-tingling story will keep you up all night.”
ISBN: 9780060897321