You Were Never Really Here: Ames Jonathan - Softcover

'Short, taut and in only the darkest shades of noir' -- The Sunday Times

'Achieves more than most crime novels three times the length' --The Times, Crime Novels of the Year 2016

'A striking and powerful noir debut' -- Daily Mail

'Fast-moving, agreeably violent and perfectly pared-down' --Spectator

'Ames is a skilled literary impressionist: he can do a good Bukowski and a surprisingly poitnant PG Wodehouse... [this] is Ames's take on a whole genre: noir... [his] prose flies at breakneck speed' -- Guardian

'Muscular... very noir, very hard-boiled' --The Times

'Ice-cold modern noir' -- My Hyde

'Achieves a perfect mix of fast-paced crime thriller with the literary subtleties that are too often missing from the genre' -- Pendora Magazine

'This is modern noir with an old-school style, and what a style... An action-packed story that doesn't waste a word. Gritty, dark and punchy, it's a devour in one sitting read' -- Crime Thriller Hound, Book of the Week

'A dark thriller, full of attitude and heart' -- San Francisco Chronicle

'Manages to pack in more than most in terms of plot and characterisation; there's even plenty of scope for a sequel and perhaps even an entire series' -- ON Magazine

'Bristles with literary energy... in the same way that Ross Macdonald and Dashiell Hammett mastered... Every line of dialogue snaps like a junkie heartbeat' --Hits the Fan (blog)

A former Marine and ex-FBI agent, Joe has seen one too many crime scenes and known too much trauma, and not just in his professional life. Solitary and haunted, he prefers to be invisible. He doesn't allow himself friends or lovers and makes a living rescuing young girls from the deadly clutches of the sex trade. But when a high-ranking New York politician hires him to extricate his teenage daughter from a Manhattan brothel, Joe uncovers a web of corruption that even he may not be able to unravel. When the men on his trail take the only person left in the world who matters to him, he forsakes his pledge to do no harm. If anyone can kill his way to the truth, it's Joe...