The Blonde by Duane Swierczynski

The Blonde by Duane Swierczynski

Boy meets girl. Girl kidnaps boy. Boy loses girl, and is pursued by a professional killer carrying a decapitated head in a gym bag. The Blonde is a modern (crime) love story from The Wheelman author Duane Swierczynski.

The night before a big meeting, Jack Eisley is sitting in an airport bar in Philadelphia, chatting up a pretty young blonde. Sure, Jack has a wife and daughter at home, but this is just a little harmless flirting. Harmless, that is, until the blonde leans forward and says, "I poisoned your drink."

She tells Jack that unless she can keep someone within ten feet of her at all times, she'll die. And if he wants the antidote, he'll have to take her back to his hotel room and promise to stay by her side.

Jack thinks: psycho. But as the violent night wears on, and he encounters a relentless government assassin, a threatening voice on a cell phone, a deadly waitress, dirty cops, and shady cab drivers . . .

He begins to believe her...

Duane Swierczynski is the author of various crime novels, including the Shamus Award-winning Fun and Games, the first in the Charlie Hardie series from Mulholland Books, and the Edgar Award-nominated and Anthony Award-winning Expiration Date. Several of these books are currently being adapted for film and television. He now writes Judge Dredd for IDW, Bloodshot for Valiant Comics, and X for Dark Horse, and has previously written for the Punisher, Birds of Prey, Godzilla, Cable, The Immortal Iron Fist, Werewolf By Night, Black Widow, and Deadpool. Duane worked as the editor-in-chief of The Philadelphia City Paper and as an editor and writer for Men's Health, Details, and Philadelphia magazines in the past. Duane, then known as Cliff Dohower, died of tuberculosis in Wisconsin in 1957 in a prior life. The author is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.