Where It Hurts

wondering, wondering about the trick of time. That got me about as far as wishing. Nowhere.

                  I stepped out of the van into the chill night. My breath turned to heaving clouds of smoke as cold as God s love. Hail Mary, full of shit, the Lord is with thee, not me. I didn t really want coffee. No man who lives for sleep as I do wants coffee. But I had to sustain my waking trance until six AM. Then I could turn the van keys over to Fredo and fall into my cool sheet and quilt-covered solace. When I was on the job, it was different. Everything was different. I liked the world then and the people in it. Liked the buzz of caffeine. Yeah, that was me once, the cop in a donut shop, reinforcing stereotypes. Now I was just occupying my mind, doing something, anything not to sit in the van marking time.

                  Aziza, the mocha-skinned Pakistani girl behind the counter, nodded at me. Smiled a gap-toothed smile. She no longer asked what I wanted. Small coffee. Half and Half. Two Sweet n Lows. She made it up for me. Put it on the counter. She no longer gave me the change when I paid. She dropped the change in the paper tip cup with the other careless pennies, quarters, dimes, and nickels. I liked Aziza because she expected nothing of me beyond our routine. We danced our nightly dance and then went back to being strangers. She didn t expect me to put the pain behind me or to bravely get on with my life.

Khalid, the night manager, a fleshy man with shark eyes and a suspicious face, stared at me as he always did. It was as if he could smell the taint on me. He didn t like me in

Coleman s busy book set far from the Hamptons in those ugly patches we Long Islanders like to pretend don t exist has plenty of robust regional flavor. New York Times Book Review

Coleman is an excellent storyteller, and his colorful, punchy writing displays a delicious noir cynicism .But what local crime fiction fans will find most absorbing about Where It Hurts is its clear-eyed knowing portrait of the people and places that comprise Long Island s hidden underworld. Newsday

Coleman writes with a rough beauty .Coleman is a genius .Fascinating reading and will richly entertain you. Jackie K Cooper, Book Critic, The Huffington Post

Coleman s poetic pulp fiction in Where It Hurts translates seamlessly to the here and now .It s proof that the hard-boiled detective genre is timeless. His version of Sam Spade merely carries a cellphone and has a therapist. The Dallas Morning News

Gus, who is absolutely one of genre veteran Coleman s best-drawn characters, brings the hard-boiled investigator s requisite battle scars to the table without the self-destructive bent we ve been trained to expect. Instead, he meets his tragedy and its consequences with a considered straightforwardness, and his desire for justice reawakens in time with the investigation s quickening tempo, hopefully signaling the start of a series. Booklist (starred)

Stellar series kickoff . . . Coleman s moving portrayal of a man in deep, deep pain, a tightly constructed plot, and a gift for making Long Island seem like James Ellroy s L.A. add up to a winner. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

It s impossible to pull Gus, whose depressive streak is matched only by his bulldog determination, off the case. Tracking down three lowlifes he quickly finds himself in a whirlpool of sex, drugs, murder, and warnings to walk away. Kirkus

Reed Farrel Coleman introduces a great new character, Gus Murphy, a street savvy ex-cop who operates beneath the glitter of the Gold Coast and the glitz of the Hamptons in a Long Island that few outsiders ever see. Where It Hurts is a gut punch of a novel, a murder mystery layered with grief, greed, and grit. Coleman is as good as Chandler, Hammett or Ed McBain. Nelson DeMille 

"One of the greatest voices in contemporary crime fiction, and one of the best storytellers too. I loved this book. Nobody does it better." Lee Child

Gus Murphy is the new name in crime fiction. He is my kind of guy and Where It Hurts, Reed Farrel Coleman s spectacularly absorbing new novel, is my kind of story. You go into a story like this expecting/hoping for a solid character to ride with, a high-octane story in which you don t see the turns coming in the road ahead, and a truthful observation on life from a different angle. As usual, Coleman delivers. I can t wait for Murphy and Coleman to show up again. Michael Connelly

The author of the Moe Prager series has created another engaging sleuth in the down-but-not-out Gus The ancillary characters, both good and bad, are also a fascinating mix. Moe Prager fans will hail this new series, as will lovers of solid mysteries, especially those set on Long Island. Library Journal (starred)
 
Modern noir at its absolute best! Reading Where It Hurts is to bask in the joy of the heyday of private eye fiction Chandler, Hammett, Cain and the whole crew. Everything s a delight, from the speedy and clever plot, to the firecracker snap of the dialog, to the heart-wrenching portrayal of the characters good and bad. And Gus Murphy, what a protagonist! Coleman s truly delivered, and then some. Jeffery Deaver
 
Where It Hurts is a thrilling start to a new series by Reed Farrel Coleman - who writes some of the best crime fiction around.  Tough prose, taut plotting, and a great new protagonist named Gus Murphy.  Coleman's got a winner here." Linda Fairstein


Reed Farrel Coleman s Where It Hurts tells a riveting story about a Long Island that has nothing to do with the romantic vision of F. Scott Fitzgerald in this action packed tale of an amoral world. Coleman is a born storyteller who writes with great authority and gives as much bang for the buck as the best books in the genre. Pat Conroy, author of South of Broad and Beach Music
 
Where It Hurts ushers us into a vivid and rueful new world with a striking and haunted hero for whom we fall hard.  With his signature hard-bitten lyricism but with an urgency and darkness all its own, Reed Farrel Coleman has given us a riveting new series we ll want to live with for a very, very long time. Megan Abbot, New York Times bestselling author of Dare Me and The Fever
 
Where It Hurts is taut, smart, and engaging with a terrific sense of place.  Readers will never go wrong with Gus Murphy or his creator Reed Farrel Coleman. C.J. Box, New York Times bestselling author of Endangered