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Hold-Up
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2013
22 people want to read
About the author
Patrick O'Neil
9 books153 followersPatrick O’Neil is the author of the memoirs: ANARCHY AT THE CIRCLE K (Punk Hostage Press, 2022), GUN, NEEDLE, SPOON (Dzanc Books, 2015), and HOLD-UP (13e Note Editions, 2013). He is the co-author on two instructional writing manuals, WRITING YOUR WAY TO RECOVERY: HOW STORIES CAN SAVE OUR LIVES (Independent Press, 2021), with the author James Brown. And PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program's, THE SENTENCES THAT CREATE US: CRAFTING A WRITER'S LIFE IN PRISON (Haymarket Books, 2022). His writing has appeared in numerous publications including: Juxtapoz, Salon, The Fix, Decibel, and Razorcake.
O'Neil is a contributing editor for Sensitive Skin Magazine, a Pushcart nominee, a two time nominee for Best Of The Net, avid supporter of PEN America, and a former Emerging Voices Mentor. His novel, LA COUNTY - the first book in a trilogy of noir crime novels set in LA - is currently making the rounds for publication.
O'Neil holds an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles where he is adjunct faculty for their Continuing Education program. He also teaches at a Los Angeles community college and various rehabs, correctional facilities, institutions, and workshops. You can find more of his writing, music, and films online at patrick-oneil.com
O'Neil is a contributing editor for Sensitive Skin Magazine, a Pushcart nominee, a two time nominee for Best Of The Net, avid supporter of PEN America, and a former Emerging Voices Mentor. His novel, LA COUNTY - the first book in a trilogy of noir crime novels set in LA - is currently making the rounds for publication.
O'Neil holds an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles where he is adjunct faculty for their Continuing Education program. He also teaches at a Los Angeles community college and various rehabs, correctional facilities, institutions, and workshops. You can find more of his writing, music, and films online at patrick-oneil.com
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 6, 2014
I'm not going to review my own book (even though I did rate it five star... Ha! Fuck yeah). Here, read what these good folks had to say instead:
“HOLD-UP is a marriage of two types of cautionary memoir, the addict’s tale and the criminal’s professional reminiscences. Its ancestors include such worthy tomes as You Can’t Win by Jack Black, Where the Money Was by Willie Sutton, The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll and Life Plus 99 Years by Nathan Leopold. In fiction, William Burroughs’s Junky, William Fogle’s Drugstore Cowboy and Charles Fischer’s (sadly out-of-print) Trips cover similar ground. Hold-Up sits comfortably on the shelf in such worthy company. It stands out on its own merits, however, thanks to its author’s sharp, vivid voice and unsentimental view of both his addiction and his erstwhile career. There’s genuine grief at the loss of a number of friends and running companions, but no self-pity, and no happy ending, either; the only indication in the book of O’Neil’s eventual sobriety is the fact that he lived to write the thing down, and beautifully at that. And for that we can only be grateful.”
––Scott Phillips, author of THE ICE HARVEST
“There aren’t many books that when you finish them leave you silent and unable to reenter the world for a while—and Patrick O’Neil’s HOLD-UP is one of them. This is a life recorded that no one in their right mind would want—but it’s a sharp and precise look back by someone now in his right mind trying to make sense of a past that went well off its rails. HOLD-UP grabs the reader from page one and doesn’t let up until you’ve turned the last page and are left moved, disturbed and a little out of breath.”
––Rob Roberge, author of THE COST OF LIVING
“Patrick was a roadie for Dead Kennedys and road manager for Flipper, one of the best punk bands of the San Francisco Bay Area. He was a roadie, but mostly he was an addict. Fifteen years later, he’s robbing banks and supermarkets, surviving overdoses, and playing Sid & Nancy with his girlfriend Jenny… Patrick O’Neil recounts this long journey punctuated by lightning discharges of adrenaline. A nightmare-like creepy thriller: his life. Brutal!”
–– ROLLING STONE
“HOLD-UP is a marriage of two types of cautionary memoir, the addict’s tale and the criminal’s professional reminiscences. Its ancestors include such worthy tomes as You Can’t Win by Jack Black, Where the Money Was by Willie Sutton, The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll and Life Plus 99 Years by Nathan Leopold. In fiction, William Burroughs’s Junky, William Fogle’s Drugstore Cowboy and Charles Fischer’s (sadly out-of-print) Trips cover similar ground. Hold-Up sits comfortably on the shelf in such worthy company. It stands out on its own merits, however, thanks to its author’s sharp, vivid voice and unsentimental view of both his addiction and his erstwhile career. There’s genuine grief at the loss of a number of friends and running companions, but no self-pity, and no happy ending, either; the only indication in the book of O’Neil’s eventual sobriety is the fact that he lived to write the thing down, and beautifully at that. And for that we can only be grateful.”
––Scott Phillips, author of THE ICE HARVEST
“There aren’t many books that when you finish them leave you silent and unable to reenter the world for a while—and Patrick O’Neil’s HOLD-UP is one of them. This is a life recorded that no one in their right mind would want—but it’s a sharp and precise look back by someone now in his right mind trying to make sense of a past that went well off its rails. HOLD-UP grabs the reader from page one and doesn’t let up until you’ve turned the last page and are left moved, disturbed and a little out of breath.”
––Rob Roberge, author of THE COST OF LIVING
“Patrick was a roadie for Dead Kennedys and road manager for Flipper, one of the best punk bands of the San Francisco Bay Area. He was a roadie, but mostly he was an addict. Fifteen years later, he’s robbing banks and supermarkets, surviving overdoses, and playing Sid & Nancy with his girlfriend Jenny… Patrick O’Neil recounts this long journey punctuated by lightning discharges of adrenaline. A nightmare-like creepy thriller: his life. Brutal!”
–– ROLLING STONE
Displaying 1 of 1 review