A gritty, fast-paced noir full of raw emotion, sharp humor, and Detroit soul.
Gruen’s latest is a taut, streetwise plunge into Detroit’s underbelly, where loyalty cracks under pressure and survival demands improvisation. In the frozen streets of Detroit, Billy Pearl just wants to survive. A small-time hustler with big regrets, he’s clinging to his busted-up GTO and a promise to take his comedian girlfriend to L.A. Then he discovers the junker’s worth a fortune—if he can restore it. But word travels fast in Billy’s world, and suddenly everyone wants a piece of his ticket out. When the threats turn personal, Billy learns it’s never about the car—it’s about staying alive.
Gruen writes with lean, darkly funny precision; his dialogue crackles with authenticity, infused with the rough cadence of Jewish Detroit and the weary poetry of a city that’s been through it all. Beneath the grit and the gallows humor runs a story of broken dreams, fragile loyalties, and the reckless hope that one last score can make things right. Part noir, part tragicomedy, the novel captures the pulse of a city and the soul of a man on the edge. Gruen is an author to watch.
Pub date September 22, 2025
Writers Bureau
ISBN 979-8218799717
Price $19.99 (USD) Hardcover, $15.99 Paperback, $3.99 Kindle edition
