Schon zwölf Jahre hat Jimmy Veeder keinen Fuß mehr ins südkalifornische Imperial Valley gesetzt. Aber sein Vater Jack hat Krebs und nicht mehr lange zu leben. Deshalb kehrt Jimmy in seine alte Heimat zurück. Eigentlich will er mit Jack in der verbleibenden Zeit Spaß haben und in Erinnerungen schwelgen, aber der alte Mann hat andere Pläne. Jimmy soll über die Grenze nach Mexiko fahren und dort eine Prostituierte namens Yolanda aufspüren. Er kann seinem Vater diesen ungewöhnlichen letzten Wunsch einfach nicht abschlagen. Deshalb macht er sich mit seinem alten Freund Bobby Maves auf, um in schäbigen Bars und Slums jenseits der Grenze nach Yolanda zu suchen. Die Suche führt sie zu dem aufstrebenden Gangster Tomás Morales. Tomás ist ein gefährlicher Mann, aber da Jimmy und ihn eine Jugendfreundschaft verbindet, zeigt er sich loyal und hilfsbereit. Als Jimmy seine Aufgabe schon für erledigt hält, wird er plötzlich durch einen Mord immer tiefer in die brutale Unterwelt der Grenzstadt Mexicali gezogen. Bei seinem Kampf ums Überleben und der Suche nach der Wahrheit macht er eine Entdeckung, die alles, was er über seinen Vater zu wissen glaubte, in Frage stellt – und ihn selbst auf eine harte Probe stellt.
Johnny Shaw Bücher
Johnny Shaw schafft Erzählungen, die tief in der lebendigen und oft rauen Atmosphäre der Grenze zwischen Calexico und Mexicali verwurzelt sind, einem Schauplatz, der sein Geschichtenerzählen maßgeblich prägt. Sein Schreiben taucht tief in die Komplexität des Lebens an dieser Grenze ein und erforscht Themen wie Identität, Überleben und die verschwimmenden Grenzen zwischen richtig und falsch mit einer unverwechselbaren, schonungslosen Stimme. Shaw's Fiktion zeichnet sich durch rohe Energie und eine kraftvolle Mischung aus literarischer Tiefe und pulpiger Spannung aus. Sein Hintergrund im Drehbuchschreiben beeinflusst zudem seine Fähigkeit, straffe, fesselnde Handlungsstränge und denkwürdige Charaktere zu konstruieren, die bei den Lesern Anklang finden.






"THE SOUTHLAND tells the story of three unauthorized Mexican immigrants living in Los Angeles: Luz works multiple jobs to provide for herself and her teenage son Eliseo. Nadia, a former journalist with PTSD, fled Mexico and tries to stay hidden from the dangerous men that she exposed in Sinaloa. Ostelinda works as a laborer in a garment factory, having been deceived by coyotes and imprisoned in the same building since her arrival. Their lives intersect through terrifying circumstance that clarify and contrast the horrors of existence"-- Amazon.com
The Nature Photographer´s
Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques
From one of America's most gifted photographers comes this field-tested handbook. Stunning color photographs and a well-written text cover everything photographers need to know.
Starting out: the Queen's Gambit
- 144 Seiten
- 6 Lesestunden
In this easy-to-read guide, the author goes back to the basics of the Queen's Gambit Declined, studying the key principles of its many variations. This book is part of the Starting Out series, which also includes: The Sicilian, The Nimzo Indian, The French, The King's Indian, and The Caro-Kann.
Plaster City
- 337 Seiten
- 12 Lesestunden
"Jimmy Veeder and Bobby Maves are back at it, two years after the events of Dove Season--they're not exactly the luckiest guys in the Imperial Valley, but, hey, they win more fights than they lose. Settled on his own farmland and living like a true family man after years of irresponsible fun, Jimmy's got a straight life cut out for him. But he's knocking years off that life thanks to fun-yet-dangerous Bobby's booze-addled antics--especially now that Bobby is single, volatile, profane as ever, and bored as hell. When Bobby's teenage daughter goes missing, he and Jimmy take off on a misadventure that starts out as merely unfortunate and escalates to downright calamitous. Bobby won't hesitate to kick a hornets' nest to get the girl to safety, but when the rescue mission goes riotously sideways, the duo's grit--and loyalty to each other--is put to the test"--Publisher's website.
Big Maria
- 319 Seiten
- 12 Lesestunden
There’s gold in them thar hills—or more precisely, in Arizona’s Chocolate Mountains, where one hundred years ago a miner stashed a king’s ransom of the stuff. But times have changed. The world has changed. And now the Chocolate Mountains are the home of the largest military artillery range in the world. Harry’s living on disability and getting liquored up and beaten down. Frank’s a feisty old-timer battling cancer and a domineering daughter. And Ricky’s a good kid in a bad spot, doing everything for family. Together they’re staking what little they have left on a dangerous quest to the Big Maria Mine—and the gold that can offer them a new beginning. Unfortunately a meth-dealing biker wants a piece, a trigger-happy AWOL soldier wants to play chicken in a live minefield, two stubborn burros want to go home, a starving mountain lion wants his dinner, and the US Army wants to rain on our heroes’ parade with real bombs. When you’re all out of crazy ideas, you’ve got to try the stupid ones.
The Upper Hand
- 302 Seiten
- 11 Lesestunden
From Johnny Shaw, the Anthony Award-winning author of Big Maria, comes a wild tale about the wonderful things that bring a family together--larceny, deception, and revenge. Fifteen years ago, Axel, Gretchen, and Kurt Ucker lost their father. At the same time, they learned that he had secretly been a thief their whole lives--and left a fortune unaccounted for. Since then, the Uckers have lived a precarious existence. Their small town shunned and shamed them. Their mother, Bertha, retreated into her religion and her favorite televangelist, Brother Tobin Floom. Axel got a dead-end job. Gretchen turned to petty crime. And Kurt stayed with his mom and his garage band. When Bertha dies, she leaves everything she has to Floom and his gold-plated revival. The Uckers are at a loss for words. And an inheritance, a house, and a future. Until their long-lost aunt shows up with a secret: Floom is their grandfather; some new relatives: a family of liars, cheats, and thieves; and best of all, a plan: infiltrate Floom's multimillion-dollar ministry and pull off the grandest heist in Ucker family history. When you've got nothing left to lose, you might as well risk it all.
Andy Destra is a mostly honest cop in the most notoriously corrupt and crime-ridden city in America: Auction City. After discovering explosive information that reveals corruption within the highest levels of the police department, Andy is kicked off the force, framed, and disgraced, left to wage a lonely one-man crusade against conspiracies he can't prove. Andy's investigation plunges him into a blackly comic maelstrom of one-armed gang members, slick pickpockets, criminal syndicates, hired mercenaries, escaped convicts, sewer dwellers, and one sinister ice cream truck. At the same time, he must contend with a mystery closer to home: the true identity of his parents, his most unshakeable obsession. Understanding their past may be the key to Auction City's future as it teeters on the brink of chaos. If Andy can't solve this case, the Floodgate will fail...and his city will burn.
When I decided to make a chess puzzle book I had many ideas in mind: The puzzles should be challenging but not so difficult that a chessboard is needed they can be solved on the train, plane or wherever you happen to be when you have a few minutes to spare. The positions should be educational with some instructive point to the solution. I have generally stuck to that, but I also selected many puzzles just because they were fun. The positions are all from fairly recent games, so that the reader will not have seen them before in older puzzle books. John Shaw is a chess grandmaster who has been Scottish Chess Champion three times.
A monumental new history reveals how the transition of power from Eisenhower to Kennedy marked more than a succession of presidents—it was the culmination of a generational shift in American politics, policy and culture. After winning the presidency by a razor-thin victory on November 8, 1960 over Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s former vice president, John F. Kennedy became the thirty-fifth president of the United States. But beneath the stately veneers of both Ike and JFK, there was a complex and consequential rivalry. In Rising Star, Setting Sun, John T. Shaw focuses on the intense ten-week transition between JFK’s electoral victory and his inauguration on January 20, 1961. In just over two months, America would transition into a new age, and nowhere was it more marked that in the generational and personal difference between these two men and their dueling visions for the country they led. The former general espoused frugality, prudence, and stewardship. The young political wünderkid embodied dramatic themes and sweeping social change. Extensively researched and eloquently written, Shaw paints a vivid picture of what Time called a “turning point in the twentieth century” as Americans today find themselves poised on the cusp of another watershed moment in our nation’s history.