“Bad Boy Boogie is a punch to the heart. Picture James Lee Burke slammed into old-school Dennis Lehane and filtered through Bruce Springsteen, yet having a voice all its own. Now we wait to see what Thomas Pluck does next.” –Scott Montgomery, MysteryPeople

“Reacher fans can find plenty to root for in this brawler with a strong sense of justice.” –Criminal Element

Nominated for a 2018 Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original

When Jay Desmarteaux steps out of from prison after serving twenty-five years for murdering a vicious school bully, he tries to follow his convict mentor’s advice: the best revenge is living well. But questions gnaw at his gut: Where have his folks disappeared to? Why do old friends want him gone? And who wants him dead?

Teaming with his high school sweetheart turned legal Valkyrie, a hulking body shop bodybuilder, and a razor-wielding gentleman’s club house mother, Jay will unravel a tangle of deception all the way back to the bayous where he was born. With an iron-fisted police chief on his tail and a ruthless mob captain at his throat, he’ll need his wits, his fists, and his father’s trusty Vietnam war hatchet to hack his way through a toxic jungle of New Jersey corruption that makes the gator-filled swamps of home feel like the shallow end of the kiddie pool. Signed copies available at The Mysterious Bookshop and Watchung Booksellers, in-store and online.

Get it direct from the publisher, Down & Out Books
IndieBound via your local bookstore
Paperback on Amazon and for Amazon Kindle
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Praise for Bad Boy Boogie:

“Thomas Pluck has with this novel launched himself into the rare category of … must-read novels … must re-read … must tell all and sundry about. It is that fine, that compelling. Made me relive all that a wonder novel yields. Just tremendous.”
— Ken Bruen, author of the Shamus and Macavity Award-winning Jack Taylor mysteries

“Thomas Pluck is a crime writer to watch. Steeped in the genre’s grand tradition but with heart and bravado all his own, his writing is lean, smart and irresistibly compelling.”
–Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me and Queenpin

“Thomas Pluck’s BAD BOY BOOGIE is a vivid dose of New Jersey noir with heart, soul and muscle.“ – Wallace Stroby, author of the Crissa Stone series

“Tough, tight, and taut, BAD BOY BOOGIE is a standout. Thomas Pluck is a writer who knows his dark territory inside and out. A damn fine read from start to finish.” –Hilary Davidson, author of Blood Always Tells

“My first Thomas Pluck novel won’t be my last. Bad Boy Boogie is a superb, taut, little thriller that hits all the right notes and sustains its central conceits to the very last page.”
– Adrian McKinty, author of the Sean Duffy crime novels

“Jay Desmarteaux is a worthy addition to the list of crime fiction protagonists.  He’s Louisiana heart mixed with pure New Jersey grit.  Thomas Pluck’s prose is taut, muscular, and pulls the reader through the book’s violent bursts at a light speed clip.  Look out for this one.”
– Dave White, Shamus Award Nominated writer of the Jackson Donne series

“Beautiful Bad-assery. Full of lyrical longing for a youth unfulfilled and the brutal truth of an adulthood gone dangerously wrong. Brilliant. Thomas Pluck may well be the bastard love child of James Lee Burke and Richard Stark.”
– Josh Stallings, author of Anthony and Lefty Award nominated Young Americans, and the Mo McGuire series

“Thomas Pluck’s writing is high performance. He doesn’t waste a sentence, a word, or an idea propelling his story forward in a way that drives like he’s behind the wheel of a precision car built by Eddie Bunker and tricked out by Andrew Vachss. Pluck juxtaposes Jay Desmarteaux’s past and present in a way that gives this tough guy protagonist the kind of real flesh and bone—and most of all heart and intention—that other writers can only aspire to. I’ve been a fan of his writing for a long time, but BAD BOY BOOGIE is the kind of explosive book that makes life long fans. I guarantee I won’t ever miss a thing Thomas Pluck puts out, and neither should you!” – Bracken MacLeod, author of Stranded and Mountain Home