Lou Berney

Check out the Jen's Jewels interview with Lou Berney, author of GUTSHOT STRAIGHT. Answer the question below and you could be one of FIVE winners to get a copy, courtesy of William Morrow.

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When Charles “Shake” Bouchon, professional wheel man, walks out of prison after a three-year stretch for grand theft auto, he’s only got two problems: he’s too nice a guy for the life he’s led, but not nice enough for any other.

So he says yes when he’s asked to run a simple errand for his former boss and lover, Alexandra Illandryan, the formidable pakhan of the Armenian mob in Los Angeles. All Shake has to do is deliver a package to Las Vegas and pick up a briefcase.

Only the package turns out to be a wholesome young housewife named Gina whose husband has run afoul of Dick Moby, aka “The Whale,” an unpleasant 400-pound Vegas strip club owner. Shake hates to think what’s going to happen to Gina when he delivers her to The Whale, so in a move that’s as noble as it is boneheaded, he decides to set her free.

Now Shake and Gina are on the run to Panama, hoping to unload the very valuable – and highly unusual – contents of Dick Moby’s briefcase. Shake could end up a rich man, but first he’ll have to out-maneuver two angry crime bosses, a murderous Armenian thug plagued by erectile super-function, a former pro football player who blames Shake for his romantic woes, and a billionaire swindler with a flair for the theatrical. Not to mention, and not least, Shake will need to survive his own heart, since he’s going to discover that wholesome housewife Gina is even more intriguing, and a lot more complicated, than he ever imagined.

Full of blind-side double-crosses and hard shots to the head, GUTSHOT STRAIGHT is a tale of love, luck, and larceny against the odds.

Contest ends: January 31, 2010