The Shotgun Rule

Piece of Shit Bike

It started with Andy s piece of shit bike.

What the fuck were you doing not locking it up?

I just went in for a second.

I just went in for a second. How long do you think it takes to steal a bike, dickweed?

It was right next to the window.

Yeah, that ll do it; no one ever steals shit that s next to a window. Numbnuts.

George is kneeling next to a bucket of water, submerging the half inflated innertube from his bike s front wheel. He looks once at Paul, then back in the bucket.

Don t be such a dick, man, he lost his bike.

Paul picks up a rock from the huge pile that occupies half the driveway. He shakes the rock around in his hand.

He didn t lose his bike.

He tosses the rock, bouncing it off Andy s back.

He let someone steal it.

Andy feels pressure behind his eyes and fights it. Already cried once coming out of the store and finding the bike gone. Can t cry again.

He picks up a rock of his own.

I didn t let anyone steal it.

He throws the rock at Paul.

It was stolen.

Paul stays right where he is, the rock skipping across the pavement and into the street without coming near him.

Yeah, big diff.

George is still shuffling the innertube between his hands, looking for the string of bubbles that will point to the slow leak that s been plaguing him for days.

Don t throw the fucking rocks around, dad ll have a fit.

Andy kicks at a couple rocks, nudging them back toward the pile. His and George s dad had them shovel the rocks from the back of his

4 ¥ 4 two weeks ago. This weekend he ll rent a rototiller and plow up the back lawn and they ll have to move the rocks a wheelbarrow load at a time to spread over the yard. It s gonna suck and he s not even going to pay them. He says they should be thanking him for plowing under the lawn that they hate mowing and weeding.

A line of bubbles shoots to the surface of the water. George covers their source with a fingertip and lifts the

Charlie Huston is the author of the Henry Thompson Trilogy: Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things (an Edgar Award-nominee), and A Dangerous Man, as well as the Joe Pitt novels: Already Dead and No Dominion. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the actress Virginia Louise Smith. Visit him at www.pulpnoir.com.

Anyone not acquainted with Charlie Huston s blistering, unputdownable novels will want to tie their sneakers nice and tight before starting The Shotgun Rule, or they are apt to be blasted clean out of them.
Stephen King

A dark but brilliant portrait of the way many teenage boys live in America . . . a coming-of-age novel, like Catcher in the Rye . . . [Charlie Huston is] one of the most original crime novelists at work today.
The Washington Post Book World

Equal parts Stephen King s Stand by Me and Irvine Welsh s Trainspotting, The Shotgun Rule is Huston in top form. . . . [An] unforgettable blend of humor and horrific violence.
Chicago Tribune

[A] compelling depiction of aimless teenage boys trying to rise to manhood. In Huston s hands, it s Greek tragedy on speed. . . . Huston s strengths are the brutal efficiency with which he sets a scene, and the breakneck pace he maintains throughout.
San Francisco Chronicle

Huston is a monstrously gifted purveyor of suspense. . . . This book raised blisters on my fingers and I still couldn t put it down.
Austin American-Statesman

One of the most memorable crime novels of this year.
Baltimore Sun