Beat the Devils
Josh Weiss
(Author)
Description
USA, 1958. President Joseph McCarthy sits in the White House, elected on a wave of populist xenophobia and barely-concealed anti-Semitism. The country is in the firm grip of McCarthy's Hueys, a secret police force evolved from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Hollywood's sparkling vision of the American dream has been suppressed; its remaining talents forced to turn out endless anti-communist propaganda.
LAPD detective Morris Baker--a Holocaust survivor who drowns his fractured memories of the unspeakable in schnapps and work--is called to the scene of a horrific double-homicide. The victims are John Huston, a once-promising but now forgotten film director, and an up-and-coming young journalist named Walter Cronkite. Clutched in the hand of one of the dead men is a cryptic note containing the phrase "beat the devils" followed by a single name: Baker. Did the two men die in an attack fueled by better-dead-than-red sentiment, as the Hueys are quick to conclude, or were they murdered in a cover-up designed to protect--or even set in motion--a secret plot connected to Baker's past?
In a country where terror grows stronger by the day, and paranoia rises unchecked, Baker is determined to find justice for two men who raised their voices in a time when free speech comes at the ultimate cost. In the course of his investigation, Baker stumbles into a conspiracy that reaches deep into the halls of power and uncovers a secret that could destroy the City of Angels--and the American ideal itself.
Product Details
| Publisher | Grand Central Publishing |
| Publish Date | March 21, 2023 |
| Pages | 384 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9781538719459 |
| Dimensions | 8.3 X 5.6 X 1.1 inches | 0.7 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"A debut novel from Josh Weiss, Beat the Devils delights in detective story tropes...The saloon shoot-outs, cryptic radio messages, grungy sunrises and ravishingly beautiful secret agents create a noir atmosphere redolent of Dashiell Hammett."--The Forward
"A must-read for fans of alternate-history fiction."--Booklist
"A thought-provoking dive into an alternative USA even weirder and wilder than our own. Weiss and his world-weary protagonist LAPD detective Morris Baker put the reader eerily at home in a twisted world of prejudice, privilege and murder, but amid the dark deeds there's hope and humour and heart. A fun, intelligent and satisfying read."--Ian R MacLeod, author of Wake Up and Dream
"Alternate histories are difficult to craft, but the world of Beat the Devils is built with hair-raising perfection. Weiss holds a warped mirror to the American Dream -- revealing dark undercurrents thread through with troubling, yet true, history. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!"--Ryan Graudin, award-winning author of Wolf by Wolf
"America's close call with the political paranoia of McCarthyism makes for one whopper of an alt-history backdrop for Beat the Devils... the novel is a tasty slice of noir fiction."--SyFy Wire
"Clever and innovative: a page-turner."--Mystery Tribune
"Josh Weiss has announced himself as a bold new voice in the world of pulp noir fiction. One part Raymond Chandler, one part Philip Roth, a dash of Ben Hecht -- and you're about halfway there."--J.D. Lifshitz, co-founder of BoulderLight Pictures and producer of The Vigil
"Much more than a thriller... Riveting -- and scary."--AudioFile
"Reading Josh Weiss's debut novel feels like riding shotgun with a friend who's driving expertly through a winter storm... Weiss creates palpable emotional depth, particularly for Baker, whose yearslong tactic of burying trauma has stopped working."--The New York Times
"Tight, well-paced, inventive, and inspirational, Weiss' splendid debut is classic noir tinged with the slightest pinch of science fiction; readers can thrill to the bits of dissonant history they recognize, even as they revel in the mayhem and suspense that permeate the text."--Mystery Scene Magazine
Earn by promoting books
