Books by Duane Swierczynski

The Wheelman

by Duane Swierczynski

Meet Lennon, a mute Irish getaway driver who has fallen in with the wrong heist team on the wrong day at the wrong bank. Betrayed, his money stolen and his battered carcass left for dead, Lennon is on a one-way mission to find out who is responsible--and to get back his loot. But the robbery has sent a violent ripple effect through the streets of Philadelphia. And now a dirty cop, the Russian and Italian mobs, the mayor's hired gun, and a keyboard player in a college rock band maneuver for position as this adrenaline-fueled novel twists and turns its way toward its explosive conclusion.
One thing's for sure: This cast of characters wakes up in a much different world by novel's end--if they wake up at all.

Severance Package: A Novel

by Duane Swierczynski

Some days, you could just kill your boss. Guess what? The feeling is mutual in the next thriller by the acclaimed author of The Wheelman and The Blonde.

Jamie DeBroux's boss has called a special meeting for all "key personnel" at 9:00 a.m. on a hot Saturday in August.

When Jamie arrives, the conference room is stocked with cookies and champagne. His boss smiles and tells his employees, "We're a cover for a branch of the intelligence community. And we're being shut down." Jamie's boss then tells everyone to drink some champagne, and in a few seconds they'll fall asleep---for good. If they refuse, they'll be shot in the head.

Escape is not an option. Jamie's boss has shut down the elevators and rigged the fire towers with chemical bombs. Panic sets in, chaos erupts, and no one is sure whom to trust. Jamie quickly realizes that there's only one way he's ever going to see his family again: the hard way.

Severance Package shows author Duane Swierczynski at his thrilling best.

Expiration Date

by Duane Swierczynski

If you thought Duane Swierczynski's The Blonde and Severance Package were page turners, hold on to your seat. Expiration Date is a detective novel with a time-travel twist that will leave readers gasping.

In this neighborhood, make a wrong turn… and you're history.

Mickey Wade is a recently-unemployed journalist who lucked into a rent-free apartment―his sick grandfather's place. The only problem: it's in a lousy neighborhood―the one where Mickey grew up, in fact. The one he was so desperate to escape.

But now he's back. Dead broke. And just when he thinks he's reached rock bottom, Mickey wakes up in the past. Literally.

At first he thinks it's a dream. All of the stores he remembered from his childhood, the cars, the rumble of the elevated train. But as he digs deeper into the past, searching for answers about the grandfather he hardly knows, Mickey meets the twelve-year-old kid who lives in the apartment below.

The kid who will grow up to someday murder Mickey's father.

Point and Shoot (Charlie Hardie Trilogy)

by Duane Swierczynski

Fun & Games and Hell & Gone come full circle in the Hardie Series' astonishing conclusion.

Charlie Hardie finds himself in a steel box, tubes and wires attached to his body, trapped inside a satellite parked in orbit 500 miles above the Earth. He's got a year's supply of food, air, water, and no communication back to Earth, and must complete his 12 months' duty or his wife and son will have an "accident."

But when someone all-too-familiar docks on the satellite, informs Hardie he's sitting in a veritable zero-G vault containing the world's most dangerous secrets, and forces a crash-landing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hardie must decide whether he's come face-to-face with the partner he needs to save his family -- or with his nemesis. After years of exile, Hardie's arming up....and heading home.

Lion & Lamb: Two investigators. Two rivals. One hell of a crime.

by James Patterson, Duane Swierczynski

Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb are rival PIs in Philadelphia in this “fun ride…the romance between Cooper and Veena is artfully handled...endearing characters including Cooper’s two preternaturally clever kids and his Rhodesian ridgeback puppy.” –Publishers Weekly

“Great storytelling…a spectacular murder case.” –Kirkus, starred review
The city is in a state of shock over the fate of two hometown heroes: Eagles starting quarterback Archie Hughes, and his even more famous wife, Grammy-winning singer Francine Hughes. One spouse is murdered. The other is suspect #1.

Even before the case hits the courtroom, it’s the hottest ticket in town.

For the defense: Cooper Lamb, private investigator to the stars.

For the prosecution: Veena Lion, a sleuth so bright she’s got to wear shades.

Between them, they know every secret in Philadelphia. Together, they prove how two wrongs can make a right. They are Lion & Lamb.

California Bear: A Novel

by Duane Swierczynski

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

This "fresh, exciting, and brilliantly unpredictable" thriller (James Patterson) from a "great storyteller" (Michael Connelly) follows four unlikely vigilantes who pit themselves against the villain behind California’s coldest case when they decide to take justice into their own hands. NONE OF YOU ARE SAFE

“KILLER”: Jack Queen has been exonerated and freed from prison thanks to retired LAPD officer Cato Hightower. But when guilt gnaws at Jack, he admits: “I actually did it.” To which Hightower responds: “Yeah, no kidding.” You see, the ex-cop has a special job in mind for the ex-con…

THE GIRL DETECTIVE: Fifteen-year-old Matilda Finnerty has been handed a potential death sentence in the form of a leukemia diagnosis. But that’s not going to stop her from tackling the most important mystery of her life: Is her father guilty of murder?

GENE JEANIE: Jeanie Hightower mends family trees for a living, but the genealogist is unable to repair her own marriage. And her soon-to-be ex may have entangled her in a scheme that has drawn the bloody wrath of…

THE BEAR: A prolific serial killer who disappeared forty years ago, who is only now emerging from hibernation when the conditions are just right. And this time, the California Bear is not content to hunt in the shadows…

From two-time Edgar nominee Duane Swierczynski, California Bear is clever, moving, and surprising as it takes aim at the true crime industry, Hollywood, justice, and the killers inside us all.

The Billion-Dollar Ransom: The Action Just. Keeps. Accelerating.

by James Patterson, Duane Swierczynski

It would take a perfect plan to collect a billion-dollar ransom.
So here’s the plan.
Five innocent people. In different locations. All kidnapped at the same moment in time.
Two children taken from a private school bus.
A film producer and a movie star grabbed at a hideaway resort.
A beautiful wife whisked off the streets of Beverly Hills.
A billionaire wants his family back.
The cash, gold, jewels, crypto is all ready.
There’s only one problem: a brilliant, very stubborn FBI agent.
Special Agent Nicky Gordon doesn’t want to pay the kidnappers.
Not a dime.

Level 26: Dark Origins

by Duane Swierczynski, Anthony E. Zuiker

Law enforcement personnel categorize murderers on a scale of twenty-five levels of evil-from the naïve opportunists starting out at Level 1 to the organized, premeditated torture murderers who inhabit Level 25. But to an elite unnamed investigations group assigned to hunt down the world's most dangerous killers, headed by Steve Dark, a new category of killer is being defined....

Level 26: Dark Origins

by Duane Swierczynski, Anthony E. Zuiker

Heading a sophisticated black ops branch, Steve Dark applies methods that require the suppression of his own personality and off-the-record statuses in order to bring justice to a horrific serial murderer who has tortured dozens of victims throughout the world. By the creator of CSI.

Dark Prophecy: A Level 26 Thriller Featuring Steve Dark

by Duane Swierczynski, Anthony E. Zuiker

The second book in the groundbreaking bestselling trilogy, from the creator of the CSI franchise.

Steve Dark was once a lost soul, torn between his family and his one-of-a-kind talent for hunting and catching serial killers-especially those so-called "level 26" killers whose depravity exceeds law enforcement's official scale of evil. In his reluctant pursuit of justice Dark once crossed the ultimate line, a line that might cause a lesser man to lose himself completely.

Not Dark. When the world took everything from him, when it destroyed the very thing Dark once lived for, it brought a moment of clarity that few before him have witnessed, and sparked a transformation that, several years later, is only just complete.

Dark is now a man on a mission. A mission that no longer requires law enforcement support. A mission unbound by authorities, moral or otherwise, and supported by a mysterious benefactor with unknown goals of her own. A mission that, at long last, allows him to embrace his destiny. Dark is finally ready- ready to take justice to the next level.

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Cable Vol. 4: Homecoming

by Duane Swierczynski

From the moment Cable jumped into the time stream with the infant "mutant messiah," he's had only one goal: keep Hope alive until she can choose her own destiny. But now, stranded on a planet in its death throes, eating fried rat on a stick for the millionth time, Hope turns to Cable and tells him she's ready to go home. Thus begins "Homecoming," the penultimate chapter in the X-Men saga that began with "Messiah CompleX." It's not only zero hour for Cable and Hope, but also for the mutant hunting them, Lucas Bishop, who is rapidly running out of chances to save mutantkind and the world. Because if Hope does make it back to the present, everything changes for the X-Men. Collects Cable #21-25.

Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir

by Laura Lippman, Mark Billingham, Ken Bruen, Duane Swierczynski, Victor Gischler, Reed Farrel Coleman, Colin Cotterill, Jason Starr, Jeff Abbott, Steve Brewer

“Some [of the stories] are hilarious; many are sad; all are the kind of stuff that makes Miss Marple look like a Girl Scout.”—Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune
An original anthology.
A collection of twenty-seven original “geezer noir” stories by some of today’s top crime writers, including John Harvey, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Colin Cotterill, and more.
Bill Crider’s “Cranked” was nominated for the Edgar and Anthony awards and won the Derringer Award. Megan Abbott’s “Policy” was nominated for the Anthony Award and became the basis for her novel Queenpin, which won the 2008 Edgar Award.

Hell and Gone (Charlie Hardie, 2)

by Duane Swierczynski

The second of three high-energy thrillers arriving back-to-back from cult crime fiction sensation Duane Swierczynski.

Left for dead after an epic shootout that blew the lid off a billion-dollar conspiracy, ex-cop Charlie Hardie quickly realizes that when you're dealing with The Accident People, things can get worse. Drugged, bound and transported by strange operatives of unknown origin, Hardie awakens to find himself captive in a secret prison that houses the most dangerous criminals on earth.

And then things get really bad. Because this isn't just any prison. It's a Kafkaesque nightmare that comes springloaded with a brutal catch-22: Hardie's the warden. And any attempt to escape triggers a "death mechanism" that will kill everyone down here -- including a group of innocent guards. Faced with an unworkable paradox, and knowing that his wife and son could be next on the Accident People's hit list, Hardie has only one choice: fight his way to the heart of this hell hole and make a deal with the Devil himself.

Revolver

by Duane Swierczynski

Three generations torn apart -- by bullets fired fifty years ago.

Philadelphia, 1965: Two street cops -- one black, one white -- are gunned down in a corner bar. One of the fallen officers, Stan Walczak, leaves behind a 12-year-old boy, Jimmy.

Philadelphia, 1995: Homicide detective Jim Walczak learns that his father's alleged killer, Terrill Lee Stanton, has been sprung from prison. Jim stalks the ex-con, hoping to finally learn the truth.

Philadelphia, 2015: Jim's daughter Audrey, a forensic science student, re-opens her grandfather's murder for a research paper. But as Audrey digs deeper, she comes to realize that Stanton probably didn't pull the trigger -- and her father may have made a horrible mistake...

Revolver

by Duane Swierczynski

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Best of Godzilla, Vol. 2

by Duane Swierczynski, Chris Mowry

All the best monster stories that can fit in one book, with features on Destoroyah, Gigan, Mechagodzilla, and SpaceGodzilla!

Find out why Godzilla is the undisputed King of the Monsters with these specially picked comic issues from series such as Godzilla: History's Greatest Monster, Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Godzilla: The Half-Century War, Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, Godzilla Legends, Godzilla: Cataclysm, Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths, Godzilla In Hell, and Godzilla: Rage Across Time!

By a variety of talented writers and artists such as Duane Swierczynski, Jeremy Robinson, James Stokoe, Chris Mowry, Matt Frank, Simon Gane, Jeff Zornow, Jay Fotos, and more!

Godzilla Library Collection, Vol. 3

by Duane Swierczynski

Relive the destruction of the History's Greatest Monster series in this IDW Library Collection! Cities, special forces teams, and a legion of kaiju are no match for...Godzilla!

The Godzilla Library Collection is a comprehensive line of books that will collect every comic series by IDW! Volume 3 collects the 13-issue series History's Greatest Monster by Duane Swierczynski and Simon Gane.

Godzilla continues to destroy cities and lives all over the world, and ex-special forces tough guy Boxer is a man with a grudge who vows to end the terror--no matter what! He assembles a top-notch team to take Godzilla and the other monsters down at $7 billion a bounty.

Lion and Lamb A Thriller

by James Patterson, Duane Swierczynski

Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb are rival PIs in Philadelphia in this "fun ride...the romance between Cooper and Veena is artfully handled...endearing characters including Cooper's two preternaturally clever kids and his Rhodesian ridgeback puppy." -Publishers Weekly



​"Great storytelling...a spectacular murder case." -Kirkus, starred review

The city is in a state of shock over the fate of two hometown heroes: Eagles starting quarterback Archie Hughes, and his even more famous wife, Grammy-winning singer Francine Hughes.