SHINING CITY
NAMED A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
When middle-class family man Marcus Ripps takes over his black sheep brother’s lucrative dry cleaning business, he has no idea what he’s in for. Before long, he's running one of the most popular escort services in West Hollywood. As the money starts pouring in, he revitalizes his marriage, buys a new Mercedes, and throws an elaborate bar mitzvah for his son. Then his conscience and the law start to catch up with him and Marcus must decide if his sudden financial windfall is worth the risk.
A timely satire about how contemporary American culture defines right and wrong from the acclaimed author of I Regret Everything, The Angry Buddhist, and The Bones.
“Shining City is simply pedal-to-the-metal fun – sassy and knowing and irreverent. It’s too much of all those things to be pigeonholed as ‘summer reading,’ but if you have room for only one entertainment this summer, let Shining City be it.”
“This one pretty much hits the zeitgeist G-spot.”
“Rarely do novels that are so ruthlessly satiric have such a warm heart. Greenland achieves a deft balance between the preposterous and the plausible.”
“Uproarious… Greenland’s novel is entertaining and intelligent, and packed with enough hooks (and hookers) to keep readers sucked in to the last page.”
“A wry satire. Greenland keeps the plot racing along, busy juggling his characters and their snappy dialogue. He’s got a clean and often funny style.”
“Greenland effectively maps out a bumpin’ joyride of sex, prostitutes, murder, betrayal, revenge and extravagant bar mitzvahs.”
“He’s a satirist who takes glee in the disconnect between our familiar, sunny city and the desperate times in which we live. His tone is infectious. What else can we do but laugh.”
