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Shaun Nguyen is a Vietnamese war orphan who made it to America. But danger was never far behind – from the Chinatown gangs he ran with in New York, to his years in Iraq dodging bullets and defusing bombs. Nguyen learnt how to survive. By all means necessary.
Now he’s a high-end thief in Los Angeles. One of the best, but smart enough to know he’s living on borrowed time. Then a job goes sideways, leaving bodies on the Hollywood Freeway, stolen diamonds in his pocket, and a target on his back.
Which gets the attention of Thomas Monroe, an LAPD lieutenant who’s been hunting Nguyen for years. Captain Ahab with a gun and badge, plus his own dirty secrets closing in on him fast. The two of them are set on a collision course – a thief who won’t be caught and the cop who doesn’t miss.
Not exactly the quiet life Nguyen is after, especially now he’s met a mysterious woman who’s landed in town. They fall for each other hard. A gallerist living in France who used to be with the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Able to spot forgeries a mile off, but she hasn’t figured him out yet.
So once he wraps up this business with the diamonds, Nguyen is done with the game. The problem is she’s not quite done with the FBI.
Welcome to the City of Angels – where everyone has an angle.
“Michael Mann’s Heat meets Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves in this high octane crime novel.”
—Joel Nedecky, author of The Broken Detective
“Dark Neon & Dirt is a swift actioner painted expertly across LA’s gritty, urban canvas. A stellar crime debut with worldly ambitions…This heist novel does so much more than bargained for—it’ll steal your heart.”
—Matt Phillips, author of A Good Rush of Blood
“Thomas Trang has written a gritty, action-packed tale that will hook you right from the start. The writing is sharp as a broken bottle, and Trang’s characters shoot hardboiled dialogue until the chambers are dry. Dark Neon & Dirt is a visceral and unforgettable debut!”
—C.W. Blackwell, author of Hard Mountain Clay
“Fast and smooth as a greased .45 slug, Dark Neon & Dirt is an incredible heist novel that recalls the finest works of Don Winslow.”
—Nick Kolakowski, author of Where The Bones Lie
Thomas Trang is a French/Vietnamese writer currently living in the UK after stints in Australia, New York, and Singapore. His stories have previously appeared in FutureQuake, Full House Literary and the Revolutions 2 anthology. He is currently working on a SF trilogy which mixes cyberpunk with the gritty realpolitik of The Wire and Cold War spy fiction.
