Jitter Joint: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

by Howard Swindle (Author) "He plunked two ice cubes into the glass and submerged them with Johnnie Walker Black..." (more)
Key Phrases: jitter joint, embalming table, embalming room, Cedar Ridge, Anne Marie, Howard Swindle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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 Publishers Weekly
Delirium tremens turns to trembling fear in this fast, tense fiction debut by Swindle, a three-time Pulitzer Prize- winner for newspaper editing. Under pressure from his boss, Captain Bill Barrick, and from his disaffected wife, hard-drinking homicide detective Jeb Quinlin finds himself off his Dallas beat and reluctantly drying out in a fancy AA clinic. Jeb's road to recovery is diverted, though, when the members of his therapy group (run by the loathsome Dr. Wellman Bergoff), one by one, turn up literally dead drunk. The AA slogans scrawled across the victims' corpses?"Our lives had become unmanageable" or "God grant me the serenity"?cause Jed to suspect an inside job. The violence escalates when Barrick puts him on the case, a move that threatens to push the detective off the wagon. Swindle (Trespasses: Portrait of a Serial Rapist) sweats his hero past multiple threats in a plot steeped in AA ambiance?perhaps too deeply for some readers' taste?without losing a suspenseful edge. Car chases and fight scenes are film-clip clear while goofy characters gel in a credible story with an ending that points, happily, to a possible series. Agent, Janet Wilkins Manus.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur; 1st edition (January 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312200668
• ISBN-13: 978-0312200664
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #966,361 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Winner, November 5, 2000

By	Roz Levine (Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Homicide detective, Jeb Quinlin, is an alcoholic who doesn't care about much, except the bottle and his job. So when his boss gives him the choice of detox or you're fired, he packs his bags and heads off to the Cedar Ridge Hospital because, after all, it's the job that counts. Once there, he barely has time to start the program before one of the patients in the Substance Abuse Unit is murdered. And when a second patient is murdered, soon after, Jeb's boss decides to put him on the case...he's already on the inside and in the perfect position to investigate. Howard Swindle has written a terrific first novel, that grabs you from the first page with fast paced scenes, interesting characters and enough twists and turns to keep you turning pages to the very end. His writing is smart and spare with down to earth, irreverent dialogue and the story itself is very compelling and full of suspense. A terrific debut novel with one of the best new characters to hit the mystery/detective scene. Let's hope Mr Swindle continues this series.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real good quick read, June 13, 2000

By	William H. Gallagher (Orange County NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Jitter Joint: Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture Starring Sylvester Stallone! (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

jitter joint is a decent thriller..i found it very Sandford like..it is a murder mystery with rehab and aa mixed in..Jeb seems to put everything in front of his sobriety and still come through..very well thought out by the author and i look forward to his next work

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a good book!, May 5, 1999

By A Customer

Wasn't sure at the beginning but all of a sudden I was hooked. I didn't even see it coming! It's just what you want to happen when reading a book. The characters are likable and the storyline interesting. The book is set in Dallas and Swindle's descriptions of the city make you feel like you are there. I would say all in all a good first outting for Swindle. I am already looking for the next. I hope he takes Jeb along on the next ride. I feel like I know him now. This will make a great beach book!!!!