New York, 1993. Jimmy Lettner, a convicted drug-trafficker who lost a daughter in a narco-fueled car wreck, runs Manhattan’s hottest nightspot, Abattoir. Reformed by his time in prison, all he wants is to run a clean club. But that’s not possible in a city rife with corruption.
Jimmy doesn’t know it, but his right-hand man, Serge Thanakis, is operating an ecstasy ring that’s drawing the wrong kind of attention. Jealous industry rivals will do anything to shut Abattoir down, and the new mayor presses the NYPD to clean up the city’s darkest corners. As Jimmy’s troubles mount, temptations from his past call to him.
Meanwhile, Ben Hopkins, a straight-edge rookie cop on the hunt for a fast-track ticket to detective, turns his attention to Abattoir. He has something to prove—to his father and to himself. But he’s not prepared for undercover work. The club scene devours Ben, along with his ability to tell right from wrong.
As the war for Abattoir escalates, bodies drop, drawing more heat from city officials. The competition threatens Jimmy’s only surviving daughter, a revelation about his past threatens his future, and he questions how long his reign as NYC’s nightclub king can last. But through it all, the dance floor stays packed—and Jimmy will do anything to keep his crown.
Praise for THE KILLING YARDS
“THE KILLING YARDS is a gloriously gritty and dazzling novel. Jason Allison brings to blazing life the raucous, ruthless, riveting nightclub world of New York City in the early 1990s and populates it with flawed and fascinating characters. This is time travel at its best. This is crime fiction at its best.”
Lou Berney, Edgar Award-winning author of CROOKS
“Jason Allison’s debut crime novel, The Killing Yards, hits like a high-octane James Ellroy/Michael Mann cocktail. Allison’s sure hand guides us through a claustrophobic Gotham on the brink of massive change. Sin, corruption, bad choices—all the dirty, divine terrain is well-covered. The Killing Yards is blunt, forceful, and explosive. Get your top-shelf noir fix here.”
William Boyle, author of SAINT OF THE NARROWS STREET and HEAVY SUGAR
“Behold a fresh new voice in noir fiction. In the vein of Don Winslow and Abel Ferrara, former NYPD detective Jason Allison brings to life the seedy underbelly of 1990s New York City, its pulsating neon clubs and pitch-black alleys and brutal hedonism.”
I.S. Berry, Edgar award winning author of THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW
“A blistering tour de force debut from the sure hands of an author who knows the turf. I will read everything Allison writes."
Adam Plantinga, Edgar Award nominee and USA Today bestselling author of THE ASCENT and HARD TOWN
"The Killing Yards’ pulse-pounding portrait of New York City club culture is a cinematic work of gritty poetry. The psyches of the people here are rich and real; their dialogue snaps from the page. Allison deftly shifts from perspective to perspective, each chapter raising stakes like an igniter ticking, ready for explosion."
Chris Harding Thornton, USA Today bestselling author of PICKARD COUNTY ATLAS and LITTLE UNDERWORLD
“Jason Allison’s The Killing Yards is a grim, gritty, gripping mix of the mob, clubs, and drugs. His vision of Nineties-era New York is all bright dance floor lights and dark streets, with dialogue that pops off the page. A story of desperation, denial, and betrayal, it's a hell of a read from beginning to end.”
J. Todd Scott, author of THE FLOCK and THE FAR EMPTY
“An excellent crime novel revealing the cost of business in New York City’s nightclub empire, where ambition and betrayal reign. The Killing Yards by Jason Allison is a finely crafted narrative of interconnecting characters, with a concise and rapid style reminiscent of the best Elroy.”
John Woods, author of LADY CHEVY
“Jason Allison’s The Killing Yards is one of the most stunning debut novels I have ever read. It transports you to the nightclub setting of New York City. You can feel the sweat on the dance floor, the sexual charge between the patrons, and the ever-present threat of violence as the characters negotiate between the cops and criminals who run the system. Allison knows this world as a Bronx native who spent twenty years in the NYPD, and he portrays New York in all its complexity and monstrous beauty on the page as only a person who has lived there can. It reads like a James Ellroy novel set in the Big Apple.”
Steven Powell, author of LOVE ME FIERCE IN DANGER: THE LIFE OF JAMES ELLROY
“Jason kills it in this debut! An authentic and gritty look at the seedy underbelly of New York City, told through the lens of a person who has seen it up close. A must read novel from my new favorite author!”
Jack Stewart, USA Today bestselling author of Riptide