Media Center: 'Ghostman' by Roger Hobbs

WHO: Roger Hobbs

WHAT: GHOSTMAN, a debut novel

WHEN: Published by Knopf February 23, 2013

WHERE: Set in Las Vegas.

WHY:
“A triumph on every level…a propulsive thriller that combines incredible details and nonstoppable narrative drive.
“A first novel comes along every few years that clearly separates itself from the field, like Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. This year’s Secretariat is going to be Ghostman…
“Jack White is the Ghostman, a pseudonymous loner living far off the grid who specializes in disappearing. After a high-level heist, he makes sure that all traces of the caper vanish. Only once, in Kuala Lumpur, did it all go bad. The organizer of that job, a master criminal named Marcus, blames Jack for the fiasco, so when Marcus penetrates Jack’s deep cover, it clearly means trouble. But Marcus doesn’t want to kill the Ghostman, at least not yet. What Marcus wants is for Jack to even the score by making a botched armored-car robbery in Atlantic City disappear—except, of course, for the take, which has itself disappeared but needs to be found. The clock is ticking because if the $1.2 million in freshly minted bills isn’t recovered quickly, it will explode.
“Naturally, there are multiple levels of double- and triple-crosses layered within the premise, and Hobbs tantalizingly reveals them—always keeping his hole cards thoroughly vested as he tracks Jack’s progress. The suspense builds inexorably, heightened rather than impeded by the supportive detail with which Hobbs undergirds the action (the backstory on those exploding bills, for example, will have readers wondering how a twentysomething author could possibly know what he knows).
“Comparisons to Lee Child are inevitable here, and surely Hobbs possesses a Child-like ability for first unleashing and then shrewdly directing a tornado of a plot, but he also evokes Elmore Leonard in the subtle interplay of his characters.” —Bill Ott, in a starred review for BOOKLIST

“Heart-stopping…a watertight thriller.
Straight out of the gate, Roger Hobbs has mastered the essentials of a contemporary thriller: a noirlike tone, no-nonsense prose and a hero with just enough personality to ensure he doesn’t come off as an amoral death machine…A smart entry into the modern thriller pantheon, at once slick and gritty.”
—KIRKUS, in a starred review

“Hobbs’s supremely confident storytelling should leave
readers eagerly anticipating his antihero’s future felonies.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, in a feature starred review

Foreign rights sold to 14 countries.
Film rights sold to Warner Bros

Media Resources:
About the book | Author bio | Read an excerpt | Download the jacket or the author photo| Listen to the RH Audiobook

Publicist for this title:
Gabrielle Brooks | 212-572-2152 | gbrooks@randomhouse.com