Season of Smoke

It looks like ex-con Jack Palace?s troubles will never end when he is pressured by the mob to kill one of his best friends.

Jack Palace is trying to go legit with his own security company ? but his old life keeps trying to pull him back in. A mobster named Sammy DiAngelo wants revenge for a killing that happened in Jack?s past. DiAngelo blames Jack?s friend Grover for the murder and gives Jack an ultimatum: kill Grover or be killed himself. Meanwhile, Grover has plans of his own. He wants to rip off the mob, and he needs Jack?s help to do it.

Jack is desperate to start a new life with Suzanne, a woman from his past ? but is he desperate enough to kill?

AUTHOR

A.G. Pasquella

A.G. Pasquella’s writing has appeared in various spots including McSweeney’s, Wholphin, The Believer, Black Book, Broken Pencil and Utne Reader. A.G.’s story “I Was a Teenage Minotaur,” originally published by Joyland, was included in Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. A.G. has published three novellas: Why Not a Spider Monkey Jesus? (which also appeared as a thirty-page excerpt in McSweeney’s #11), NewTown and The This & the That. He is the co-editor (along with Terri Favro) of PAC’N HEAT: A Noir Homage to Ms. Pac-Man. A.G.’s three crime novels in the Jack Palace series – Yard Dog, Carve the Heart and Season of Smoke – were published by Dundurn Press. When he’s not writing, A.G. makes music with the bands Miracle Beard and Lasergnu. A.G. was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and now lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Reviews

It?s hard to change. It?s even harder to leave your past behind. What gets you through? Street smarts. Friends. A powerful right hook. And love. In this story, quick and sharp as a knife, we?re plunged into a cutthroat world of betrayal, loyalty, addiction and hope. Jack Palace is tougher than us, has seen more nasty things?heck he?s caused them?but in the end he wants the same things we all want, a good life and a chance at happiness. And in this gripping story, he tries to get them while dodging those who really, really don?t want him to succeed. Season of Smoke is as compelling as a mobster and as good company as a best friend. With as many surprises as life itself, it?s a thriller with real heart.
– Gary Barwin, author of Yiddish for Pirates

Pasquella vividly captures the dog-eat-dog existence of the Toronto underworld.
– Publishers Weekly, for Carve the Heart

Getting impatient with hard-boiled conventions? Try this.
– Booklist, for Carve the Heart

Pure hard-boiled comfort food: dangerous characters and tight spots always putting the squeeze on a tough guy we can root for. Jack Palace is fun to spend time with ? especially if you like your fun a little bloody and bruised.
– Andrew Pyper, author of The Residence

Pasquella easily captures the seamy side of Toronto and gives readers an array of memorable bad guys. Devotees of gritty crime fiction will eagerly await Jack’s next outing.
– Publishers Weekly

Rich in atmosphere, with plausible characters … All in all, Season of Smoke is an entertaining read.
– Ottawa Review of Books

[Season of Smoke] has it all for thriller readers.
– Miramichi Reader