Overview
A sprawling, historical debut mystery from acclaimed non-fiction writer Gregory Gibson that will appeal to fans of classic noir. Angelo DiNoto is the most powerful crime lord in New Jersey, his empire bolstered by importing pure heroin courtesy of the poppies grown by an old Turkish farmer. Yet when a five million dollar shipment goes missing, DiNoto isn’t the only one willing to turn over every rock (and bust some heads, arms, legs, etc.) to locate it.Richard Mundi is a shady developer who sees the heroin as the key to replenishing his fading business with new capital. His daughter, Gloria, is literally in bed with a band of wannabe revolutionaries, and sees the heroin as her ticket out of her meek boyfriend’s arms and away from her father’s looming shadow. ‘Mailman’ is a longtime postal clerk who has seen it all—until throat cancer robs him of his voice and the will to live—and thinks finding the drugs is the perfect cap to a failed life. ‘Walkaway’ Kelly is a punch-drunk P.I. hired by Mundi to tail Gloria, but when he uncovers the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Mundi’s wife, he’ll do anything to uncover the truth.
Stir in Kelly’s young protégé, brothers who work as DiNoto’s ruthless enforcers, Mundi’s conflicted collections agent, and you have an Elmore Leonard-esque cast of characters running rampant in a twisting crime novel in which each disparate thread leads directly to an unforgettable showdown over the Old Turk’s Load.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
The 1967 Newark, N.J., riots form the backdrop for Gibson’s quirky, amusing first novel. Farmed on “a remote Anatolian plateau” by an old Turk, “ten plastic sacks of diacetyl morphine” arrive in New Jersey in the care of the notorious Street Brothers, who promptly lose the load during the chaos of the riots that summer. The mob wants it back, but the eccentric Mailman sees it as a shot at a better life. Meanwhile, a businessman hires Manhattan PI Walkaway Kelly to spy on his daughter, the heiress Gloria Mundi. Gloria is dabbling in subversion with “the well-known revolutionary” Kevin Gallagher, a mole for the feds. Kelly’s world-weary observations anchor the action: “If there was a genetic predisposition to the low life, this poor bastard had it.” This well-handled caper novel recalls the late great Donald Westlake. Readers will want to see more crime, and more comedy, from Gibson. Agent: Neeti Madan, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Apr.)From the Publisher
“The Old Turk's Load is a hoot, a neo-noir that just zips along."—Stewart O'Nan“This well-handled caper novel recalls the late great Donald Westlake.”
—Publishers Weekly
"The Old Turk's Load is a marvel of Chandleresque plotting, with a deeply felt and utterly real '60s setting and a heart as big as all outdoors."
—Luc Sante, author of Low Life and Kill All Your Darlings
"Gibson’s elliptical, ever-evolving plot seems a marriage of Raymond Chandler complexity and Donald E. Westlake comic haplessness, but he imbues his characters with a kind of desperate humanity that is brilliantly played out when Manhattan goes dark in the famous 1967 blackout. The sense of time and place is wonderfully evocative, and The Old Turk’s Load will be a signal pleasure for crime-fiction aficionados." — Thomas Gaughan, Booklist (starred review)
From The Critics
"Gibson’s elliptical, ever-evolving plot seems a marriage of Raymond Chandler complexity and Donald E. Westlake comic haplessness, but he imbues his characters with a kind of desperate humanity that is brilliantly played out when Manhattan goes dark in the famous 1967 blackout. The sense of time and place is wonderfully evocative, and The Old Turk’s Load will be a signal pleasure for crime-fiction aficionados." — Thomas Gaughan, Booklist (starred review)
Kirkus Reviews
Several pounds of uncut heroin, derailed from their intended recipient by the 1967 Newark riots, attract the lethal attentions of a motley crew in Gibson's debut thriller. Woody and Vince Street, partners but not brothers, unexpectedly lose control of the Porsche they're driving to a mob that has no idea what a fabulous cargo it contains. So, it's left to DiShaun Smoot to claim it for his boss, old-time enforcer Julius Roth, whose own boss, paper millionaire Richard Mundi, is running a development partnership that can really use a shot in the arm. But since Angelo DiNoto, Woody and Vince's employer, isn't about to take the loss of $250,000 to $5 million--after it's cut and distributed--lying down, he sends his own enforcers after Mundi. Mundi's daughter Gloria sees the H as fuel for the amateur terrorism of the self-styled revolutionaries she's been hanging around with. When Mundi hires private eye Walkaway Kelly to tail Gloria in order to separate her from Kevin Gallagher, the grandiose agitator she's been closest to, Kelly gets the zany idea that the key to the troubled relationship between father and daughter is the death seven years ago of Agnes Day Mundi, Gloria's actress mother. Nor are these the only wild cards in the deck. Harry Jarkey, the investigative journalist who doubles as an investigator for Kelly, soon develops his own interest. So does the Mailman, a messenger whose laryngeal cancer has left him talking through a blowhole in his neck. The Mailman doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but neither does the rest of this crowd. So it's anyone's guess who'll be the last man (or woman) standing. An overcaffeinated noir farce enlivened by many cartoon fatalities. Just the thing if you're really stoned and don't have to pass a quiz on the plot.Booklist
“Gibson’s elliptical, ever-evolving plot seems a marriage of Raymond Chandler complexity and Donald E. Westlake comic haplessness, but he imbues his characters with a kind of desperate humanity that is brilliantly played out when Manhattan goes dark in the famous 1967 blackout. The sense of time and place is wonderfully evocative, and The Old Turk’s Load will be a signal pleasure for crime-fiction aficionados.”
—Booklist [HC starred review]