Jitter Joint: A Novel of Suspense - Hardcover

Swindle, Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312200668 ISBN 13: 9780312200664

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 1999

Synopsis

In Jitter Joint, award-winning journalist Howard Swindle delivers Jeb Quinlin, a Dallas homicide detective combating crime-and his own personal demons.

"The weak and pitiful shall perish..."

Jeb Quinlin has been issued an ultimatum by his boss and his wife: dry out or get out. So he hits his favorite bar for a last fifth of Wild Turkey and reluctantly enters detox. Once inside, Jeb is forced to confront his years of alcoholism with the help of Librium, hard-core therapy, and AA meetings. But someone is taking the words of the Big Book too far, as rehab patients begin to die mysteriously, each tagged with one of AA's Twelve Steps. Now Jeb is on a sobering hunt for the Twelve-Step killer, a twisted psychopath who's taking the battle with the bottle to horrifying new heights...

About this title

Review:

Award-winning journalist Howard Swindle is best known for his expeditions into the world of true crime. Trespasses: Portrait of a Serial Rapist and Deliberate Indifference are two gutsy and disturbing real-life thrillers that virtually sweat with emotion and drama.

Jitter Joint is Swindle's first stab at fiction--although in reality he hasn't left the real world too far behind. His central character, Jeb Quinlin, is an alcoholic--as Swindle was some years back. The struggle for sobriety and starting afresh, is a subject that Swindle knows only too well, and he therefore creates a remarkably convincing protagonist. Quinlin, a homicide detective for the Dallas P.D., is forced into a rehabilitation clinic by his boss and his wife. Losing his "estranged wife from the far side of hell" is not a major concern, but losing his beloved job would be agonizing. So Quinlin checks himself in, and prepares to dry out. Yet, before he can even say "Jack Daniels," a grisly murder occurs at the clinic, quickly followed by another. What makes these murders sinister is that the murderer leaves behind a card on each body--a card adorned with a step from AA's Twelve Step program. Quinlin's law-enforcement profession (and more pressure from his boss) make him the perfect person to solve these hideous crimes--despite his fragile state of mind. So begins a frantic battle against time, as Quinlin attempts to unveil the murderer, wrestle with the bottle, and struggle with a new romance. Jitter Joint is a highly addictive read that leaves us yearning for more from Howard Swindle. --Naomi Gesinger

From the Publisher:

"When a prize-winning crime reporter tries his hand at mystery writing, what do you get? In Howard Swindle's Jitter Joint you get a real winner. Don't miss it." --Tony Hillerman

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312200668
• ISBN 13: 9780312200664
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256