Get SCREWED This Week! Eoin Colfer's New Crime Thriller on Sale May 2

Eoin Colfer, the internationally renown author of the Artemis Fowl series, is back in the land of CRIME with a follow-up to his acclaimed debut, Plugged. 
 

On May 2, Overlook will publish Screwed, continuing the exploits of Daniel McEvoy, the hero of Plugged. In this uproarious follow-up, Colfer adds an entirely new chapter to the life and troubled times of Dan, the Irish expat owner of Slotz, a low-rent casino in Cloisters, New Jersey.. Still struggling with the memories of his stint as a U.N. peacekeeper in Lebanon, Dan finds himself indebted to the local gang lord, Irish Mike Madden, who decides to call in the favor.

As the action moves from Cloisters to Manhattan, Dan is caught up in swirling circle of violent thugs, crooked cops, and ruthless relations. Back on the scene are some familiar faces from Plugged:  Irish Mike, Dr. Zeb Kronski, the plastic surgeon friend, Sofia Delano, a bipolar angel in the apartment upstairs, and Ronnie Deacon, the overzealous cop who has a funny way of showing up at the right place at the right time.  As Dan finds himself in deep water (including a short detour into the Hudson River), his past rises up to meet him in the form of his alcoholic aunt Evelyn and Edit Costello, the widow of his billionaire Irish grandfather Paddy Costello.

Full of head-spinning plot twists, crackling banter, razor-sharp dialogue, and a zany cast of characters that could only come from the imaginative mind of Eoin Colfer, Screwed is a screwball mystery that brings both laughs and thrills.

 

                                        Early Reviews for Eoin Colfer's Screwed:

 

"This comic thriller sends a hard-luck New Jersey club owner tumbling through a mad, mad world of assorted nuts. When Dan McEvoy, who debuted in Colfer’s Plugged (2011), awakens at the start of this second, often wacky installment, he’s cozied up to Sofia Delano, who’s on the lamb from her abusive husband, Carmine. Bipolar, schizophrenic and heavily medicated, Sofia sometimes thinks Dan is Carmine. But she’s beautiful and they’ve swooned over Amelie, so Dan stays by her side. He leaves her momentarily, though, when he’s called to task by Mike Madden, the Irish boss of Cloisters, the New Jersey village where McEvoy runs a dumpy club called Slotz. Madden had assigned Dan and a friend to guard his mother, so when the mother dies after lightning strikes her ski pole on the slopes, they’re in big trouble. But Madden says McEvoy can absolve himself by delivering a package of bearer bonds to a guy named Shea in SoHo. En route to Manhattan, McEvoy is detained by two cops, who cuff and then taser him. A resourceful McEvoy shakes them by deftly wielding a large dildo (don’t ask). Gathering his wits over French toast at Norma’s in Manhattan, McEvoy encounters his grandfather’s fourth wife, Edit Vikander Costello, who brings the alarming news that Evelyn Costello, his mother’s baby sister, is missing. McEvoy heads to Shea’s SoHo lair, convinced he’s stepping into a setup. A tricky chase ensues with McEvoy rivaling Bob Hope’s speed at rapid-fire wisecracks. McEvoy, however, is not entirely flippant. Among his frequent digressions are biting, unsettling memories of home life, including one trenchant passage in which he is handed a copy of The Fountainhead. At McEvoy’s core is a melancholy soul who believes “[t]he Universe cannot suffer happiness for long….”Colfer’s work is entertaining and expertly judged. His terse, muscular prose makes even a car chase seem like a new idea, and his McEvoy is a durable raconteur." - Kirkus Reviews

 "Dan McEvoy, the bouncer hero of Plugged (2011), finally has a shot at ending his simmering feud with local gangster Mike Madden when he’a asked at (at gunpoint) to deliver a mysterious package on Madden’s new boss. McEvoy, a street-savvy Irish expat, knows there is a catch, so he’s not at all surprised to find that Madden has offered his head to the rival crew, hedging his bets that McEvoy will be killed or will find a way to off Madden’s enemy. Slippery as ever, McEvoy wriggles out of that trap but is quickly wrapped up in complications, with two crooked cops hunting him to obtain a mysterious “package” and with the need to rescue his tragically alcohol-addled aunt. McEvoy’s nicely evoked mix of Irish fatalism, resigned violence, and hilarity would make any story a winner; the cast of witty, quirky supporting characters and the pleasingly twisted story line are a bonus. Recommended for readers who enjoy the gritty crime and humor of Elmore Leonard and Michael Van Rooy." -Booklist