Lowdown Road

by Scott Von Doviak

Overview

One of “The Most Wanted Crime Novels of 2023” — Crimefictionlover.com

Join a heart-racing road trip across 1970s America as two cousins make the heist of their lives and must avoid the cops and criminals hot on their tails.

It’s the summer of ’74…Richard Nixon has resigned from office, CB radios are the hot new thing, and in the great state of Texas two cousins hatch a plan to drive $1 million worth of stolen weed to Idaho, where some lunatic is gearing up to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. But with a vengeful sheriff on their tail and the revered and feared marijuana kingpin of Central Texas out to get his stash back, Chuck and Dean are in for the ride of their lives – if they can make it out alive…

Scott Von Doviak, longtime pop-culture journalist for The A.V. Club, Film Threat, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, made a splash with his debut novel, CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL, which Stephen King called “terrific” and “a fun machine…the white-knuckle kind.” With LOWDOWN ROAD, he cements his reputation for pedal-to-the-metal storytelling that also makes you think about just who we are and where our darker roads might lead us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781803364124
Publisher:	Titan
Publication date:	07/11/2023
Series:	Hard Case Crime
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	364,514
File size:	876 KB

About the Author

Scott Von Doviak is the author of Charlesgate Confidential and three books on film and pop culture, including the acclaimed Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema. He covers television for The Onion’s AV Club and is a former film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Editorial Reviews

05/01/2023

It’s the summer of 1974, and Chuck Melville has just been released from state prison for aggravated assault in this all-action outing from Von Doviak (Charlesgate Confidential). Rough and reckless, Chuck immediately winds up in the middle of a double murder, and while he’s on the run from the law, his lothario cousin Dean convinces him to help steal 250 pounds of marijuana from Dean’s boss, big-time dope peddler Antoine Lynch. Intending to sell the weed to a swarm of biker groupies gathered for an Evel Knievel stunt show at Idaho’s Snake, the duo embarks on a wild cross-country drive from Texas, attracting lusty women and ruthless psychopaths at almost every stop along the way; with a vengeful sheriff and pissed-off Antoine in hot pursuit, the cousins barrel, grinning, toward a grim finale. Though the story occasionally gets sidelined in favor of ever-escalating grindhouse madness, Von Doviak never drops the ball. Razor-sharp dialogue and high-octane action keep this entertaining pulp novel afloat. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Nominated for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Paperback Original 2024


"This book is a blast." – Stephen King


One of “The Most Wanted Crime Novels of 2023” — Crimefictionlover.com


"Scott von Doviak has done the unthinkable... which makes it even more fun to read" – New York Times


"A wild ride" – Kirkus Reviews


“Razor-sharp dialogue and high-octane action…ever-escalating grindhouse madness.” – Publishers Weekly


"This book moves from zero to a hundred in three pages and keeps the pedal to the metal in a way that would make make Burt Reynolds hold onto his cowboy hat." The Hard Word


“Low Down Road takes us back to good ole boys, fast cars, super fly drug dealers, and lots of action and laughs.”
– The Hard Word blog


"Von Doviak holds readers spellbound, expertly evoking the era, milking each scene for every last ounce of humor, action, adventure, and suspense… Rating: A"
– Deadly Pleasures


‘Packs a punch.’
– Over40AndMumToOne blog


“Lowdown Road is an awesome throwback to the type of narrative we don’t see much of anymore.”
– MichaelPatrickHicks.substack.com


‘An absolutely rollicking, roaring journey across 1970s America… This is noir that manages to be both gritty and light on its feet. You’d be hard pressed to find a more fun road trip story.’ 
– CrimeReads


‘One of the year’s wildest books.’
– San Antonio Current


'This book promised a fun time and man did it deliver.'
– Do Some Damage blog




PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR 


“Charlesgate Confidential is terrific.”—Stephen King


“Charlesgate Confidential is a riveting tale, a hard-boiled art heist worthy of Dashiell Hammett in his prime.”—Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One


“Charlesgate Confidential is the sort of canny, witty crime novel that doesn’t come along often enough. Scott Von Doviak is terrific at Boston voices and a fearless plotter. The crew at Hard Case Crime has found another gem! May they never reform.”—Owen King, author of Double Feature and co-author of Sleeping Beauties


“Scott Von Doviak’s Charlesgate Confidential is a corker! With its intriguing plot that spreads across three distinct time periods, quirky characters quick with the witty repartee, and an amazing sense of place and time, it had me reading way past my designated bedtime. Boston, and its love for the home team—GO RED SOX—really comes alive in the various years depicted. Couldn’t imagine Charlesgate Confidential not making many Crime/Mystery Best Of Lists next year.”—Thomas E. Sniegoski, New York Times bestselling author

From the Publisher

2023-04-12
In 1974, a pair of Texas cousins embark on a felonious road trip guaranteed to force them into contact with endless lowlifes even more unscrupulous than them.

Six months out of prison, Chuck Melville steals his cousin Dean’s Dodge Challenger, comes on to bad girl Gwen Harlan at a local bar, and suddenly finds himself fleeing a murder charge. Naturally, he stops long enough to pick up Dean, whose best chance of paying salvage yard owner Antoine Lynch the money he owes him vanished along with his car. But there’s another possibility, though it’s something of a long shot: The two can heist some hefty bricks of marijuana Antoine’s planning to sell, drive them to Snake River Canyon, Idaho, where daredevil biker Evel Knievel has announced his latest stunt, and arrange through Chuck’s prison buddy Double H (now Triple H) Hendricks, to retail them through Bob Dillon, Knievel’s events manager, to the crowds assembled at this “redneck Woodstock.” The cousins are soon pursued by Antoine, Ivor County Sheriff Bud Giddings, and Uptown Mike, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Chuck polished off a 72-ounce steak. As the feckless crooks and the nemeses on their tails make their way through New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, Von Doviak keeps things equally shaggy and pulpy by constantly bringing Chuck and Dean up against new waves of largely unconnected miscreants determined to force them into further criminal enterprises, fleece them, kill them, or sometimes all three.

A wild ride that can’t end well for anyone but readers whose nostalgia includes a hearty appetite for violence.

Kirkus Reviews