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The White Van
At a dive bar in San Francisco’s edgy Tenderloin district, drug-hustling Emily Rosario is drinking whiskey and looking for an escape from her desperate lifestyle. When she is approached by a Russian businessman, she thinks she might have found her exit. A week later—drugged, disoriented and wanted for robbery—Emily finds herself on the run for her life.
When cop Leo Elias—broke, alcoholic and desperate—hears about an unsolved bank robbery, the stolen money proves too strong a temptation. Elias takes the case into his own hands, hoping to find Emily and the money before anyone else does.
A sharply drawn cast of characters—dirty cops, Russian drug dealers, Chinese black-market traders, street smart Cambodians, and shady entrepreneurs—all take part in this terrifying tour through San Francisco’s underbelly. Confronted with the intimate details of characters that blur the line between good and evil, and twists that surprise until the end, readers of THE WHITE VAN will find their own moral code challenged by the desperate decisions the characters are forced to make.
When cop Leo Elias—broke, alcoholic and desperate—hears about an unsolved bank robbery, the stolen money proves too strong a temptation. Elias takes the case into his own hands, hoping to find Emily and the money before anyone else does.
A sharply drawn cast of characters—dirty cops, Russian drug dealers, Chinese black-market traders, street smart Cambodians, and shady entrepreneurs—all take part in this terrifying tour through San Francisco’s underbelly. Confronted with the intimate details of characters that blur the line between good and evil, and twists that surprise until the end, readers of THE WHITE VAN will find their own moral code challenged by the desperate decisions the characters are forced to make.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2014
106 people are currently reading
2010 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Hoffman
4 books179 followersPatrick Hoffman is a novelist and private investigator based in Brooklyn, NY.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
May 23, 2020
For me, this book is very close to a Wow. Wine connoisseurs might describe a great wine as having full-bodied bouquet, bright, complex and oaked with an essence of chocolate, and a plum finish. This description might also describe The White Van. The voice, the kind of characters the way the story is layered is reminiscent of Jim Thompson with an essence of Charles Williford and John D. MacDonald. It’s a noir heist story (one of my favorite kind in the mystery genre), but with a fresh concept (I have never seen before) that I enjoyed watching unfold. There are no redeeming characters here and the story is a tad bit dark. But I loved it and picked another of this author’s books. For crime and mystery readers, I highly recommend it.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
December 17, 2014
This is a very dark debut novel featuring druggies, loan sharks, Russian gangsters, bank robbers and crooked cops, all fighting desperately for turf on the very mean streets of contemporary San Francisco.
Emily Rosario is a lost soul who relies on booze and drugs to make it from one day to the next. One evening, she meets a Russian man in a seedy bar called the Kum Bak Club. After a few drinks, she accompanies him to a hotel for more booze and drugs, but once there, the Russian and his accomplices keep her drugged to the point of incoherence, paying her two hundred dollars a day for her help in what they insist will be an identity theft scheme.
Emily is so totally blitzed that she goes along for the ride, thinking of what she might do with her promised end of the money. Then one day she's loaded into a white van and sent into a bank, only to discover that she's been conned into what is really a bank robbery.
At that point, as it usually does in a noir novel like this, the excrement hits the proverbial fan and Emily finds herself on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the Russians and the cops all of whom are searching for her desperately. In particular, a troubled cop who's deeply in debt named Leo Elias, sees a chance to grab the money from the bank for himself and solve all of his financial problems.
What results is a wild ride where anything can happen to anyone and everyone. Patrick Hoffman has created a number of interesting characters and placed them into motion against a very well-rendered depiction of San Francisco. There are any number of twists and turns that the reader will not see coming and in the end, it's a very satisfying book that fits brilliantly into the noir tradition.
Emily Rosario is a lost soul who relies on booze and drugs to make it from one day to the next. One evening, she meets a Russian man in a seedy bar called the Kum Bak Club. After a few drinks, she accompanies him to a hotel for more booze and drugs, but once there, the Russian and his accomplices keep her drugged to the point of incoherence, paying her two hundred dollars a day for her help in what they insist will be an identity theft scheme.
Emily is so totally blitzed that she goes along for the ride, thinking of what she might do with her promised end of the money. Then one day she's loaded into a white van and sent into a bank, only to discover that she's been conned into what is really a bank robbery.
At that point, as it usually does in a noir novel like this, the excrement hits the proverbial fan and Emily finds herself on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the Russians and the cops all of whom are searching for her desperately. In particular, a troubled cop who's deeply in debt named Leo Elias, sees a chance to grab the money from the bank for himself and solve all of his financial problems.
What results is a wild ride where anything can happen to anyone and everyone. Patrick Hoffman has created a number of interesting characters and placed them into motion against a very well-rendered depiction of San Francisco. There are any number of twists and turns that the reader will not see coming and in the end, it's a very satisfying book that fits brilliantly into the noir tradition.
April 6, 2014
While admittedly biased, I read an early draft of this book and thought it was great. It's only gotten better since. Literary crime is hard to pull off, but "The White Van" delivers (sorry.)
October 3, 2014
http://www.mybookishways.com/2014/10/...
Emily Rosario is 31 years old, and addicted to crack. When she meets a Russian man in a bar and he invites her back to his hotel, ostensibly to take drugs, she goes with him. It isn’t smart and she knows it isn’t, but her habit won’t let her say no. Soon she realizes drugs aren’t the only thing on the menu. After days of being dosed with crack and various other drugs by the Russian, an old woman who calls herself Sophia, and a man named Georgy, she’s put in disguise, a bomb is handcuffed to her hand, and she’s sent by her captors into a San Francisco bank to rob it.
But…Emily does the unexpected. Her kidnappers thought they’d done everything right, so when Emily leaves the bank, with almost $900,000 in tow, there in shock when, instead of getting in the white van that took her there, she runs, and keeps running.
Meanwhile, SFPD cop Leo Elias is falling apart. He’s an alcoholic, he’s on the verge of losing his house and his marriage, and he envies everything about his rookie partner, Sam Trammell, from his age to his looks. Everyone from the street kids that he interacts with each day to his fellow cops call him “Plastic Face” for the mask of fake toughness that he dons so effectively. He has no idea when or how his life started going of the rails, when this feeling of desperateness started leaking in, but his breaking point is near. He can feel it. When he hears of the bank heist, and the amount of money stolen, he resolves to find it, and take it for himself. That will solve all of his problems, right?
It’s very easy to slot each of these characters into stereotypes: an irresponsible addict, a crooked cop, etc, but Hoffman never lets that happen. Emily is complex and very, very tough and resourceful. She longs for a better life, even as her addiction drives many of her actions. Elias is very, very unsympathetic at first, but strangely, as he gets deeper and deeper into trouble, even if you can’t condone his actions, you can see how someone so desperate can go so low. The Russian that first lures Emily back to the hotel carries an undeniable undercurrent of sadness and futility. It’s very evident he doesn’t want to do this horrible thing, but later you find out why he does. Even Sophia, who looks like everyone’s sweet grandma, yet casually talks about cutting off body parts, isn’t completely without a soul.
There’s no pure black and white in this book, and Hoffman presents his players, and their actions, in spare prose that somehow maximizes some of the inevitable tragedy that befalls them. Lest you think it’s all doom and gloom, you may be surprised. There’s light here, and it’s quickly apparent that it lies in the broken, yet hopeful Emily.
You’ll want to set aside a few hours for this noir gem. It’s a quick, gritty, unputdownable book, and you’ll probably finish it in one sitting. Crime lovers won’t want to miss this one.
Emily Rosario is 31 years old, and addicted to crack. When she meets a Russian man in a bar and he invites her back to his hotel, ostensibly to take drugs, she goes with him. It isn’t smart and she knows it isn’t, but her habit won’t let her say no. Soon she realizes drugs aren’t the only thing on the menu. After days of being dosed with crack and various other drugs by the Russian, an old woman who calls herself Sophia, and a man named Georgy, she’s put in disguise, a bomb is handcuffed to her hand, and she’s sent by her captors into a San Francisco bank to rob it.
But…Emily does the unexpected. Her kidnappers thought they’d done everything right, so when Emily leaves the bank, with almost $900,000 in tow, there in shock when, instead of getting in the white van that took her there, she runs, and keeps running.
Meanwhile, SFPD cop Leo Elias is falling apart. He’s an alcoholic, he’s on the verge of losing his house and his marriage, and he envies everything about his rookie partner, Sam Trammell, from his age to his looks. Everyone from the street kids that he interacts with each day to his fellow cops call him “Plastic Face” for the mask of fake toughness that he dons so effectively. He has no idea when or how his life started going of the rails, when this feeling of desperateness started leaking in, but his breaking point is near. He can feel it. When he hears of the bank heist, and the amount of money stolen, he resolves to find it, and take it for himself. That will solve all of his problems, right?
It’s very easy to slot each of these characters into stereotypes: an irresponsible addict, a crooked cop, etc, but Hoffman never lets that happen. Emily is complex and very, very tough and resourceful. She longs for a better life, even as her addiction drives many of her actions. Elias is very, very unsympathetic at first, but strangely, as he gets deeper and deeper into trouble, even if you can’t condone his actions, you can see how someone so desperate can go so low. The Russian that first lures Emily back to the hotel carries an undeniable undercurrent of sadness and futility. It’s very evident he doesn’t want to do this horrible thing, but later you find out why he does. Even Sophia, who looks like everyone’s sweet grandma, yet casually talks about cutting off body parts, isn’t completely without a soul.
There’s no pure black and white in this book, and Hoffman presents his players, and their actions, in spare prose that somehow maximizes some of the inevitable tragedy that befalls them. Lest you think it’s all doom and gloom, you may be surprised. There’s light here, and it’s quickly apparent that it lies in the broken, yet hopeful Emily.
You’ll want to set aside a few hours for this noir gem. It’s a quick, gritty, unputdownable book, and you’ll probably finish it in one sitting. Crime lovers won’t want to miss this one.
February 1, 2016
I'm not sure where all the rave reviews are coming from for this book. There were few redeeming features: not a single sympathetic character (except maybe poor Rada), too many plot lines moving too quickly, and a truly unlikely final denouement. I did like the descriptions of the ugly side of San Francisco; they were an interesting contrast to the mostly romantic images usually portrayed in any book set in that city.
January 18, 2024
Hoffman’s debut is as assured and immersive as his later works. Killer creations populate his gritty San Francisco. Hoffman has a gift for conveying characters in few words.
Dark, ugly, unsettling, and brilliant. Top shelf crime fiction.
Dark, ugly, unsettling, and brilliant. Top shelf crime fiction.
February 2, 2015
A compact thriller set among San Francisco's Russian mafia with original, well-considered characters. Definitely worth a read!
January 12, 2015
Knowing my penchant for edgy American crime fiction, The White Van from debut novelist Patrick Hoffman, delivered in spades. With what appears to be an incredibly simple premise for a story, the power of Hoffman’s incredibly understated prose, and the natural fluidity and ramping up of the tension, heralds a striking new voice in the genre. I am confident enough to compare Hoffman to another of my favourite authors Denis Johnson, in terms of the pared- down style. Like Johnson, the rendition of violence when it occurs is rapid and brutal, entirely reflective of the burgeoning intensity of the story.
From its ‘what-the-hell-is-going-on’ opening, I was utterly hooked from the outset, and immediately immersed in Emily’s world sharing her confusion and fear at the situation she finds herself in. The build-up to her involvement in a bank robbery is brilliantly formulated, and likewise her attempts to extricate herself from the clutches of the Russian gang that have used her effectively as an unwitting pawn in their crime. She is a curious mix of vulnerability, underscored by a steely determination to both conquer and profit from the situation she finds herself in. Equally, Hoffman’s cast iron characterisation of the burnt out cop, Leo Elias, down on his luck, in debt to his eyeballs with an imploding marriage, gave a real solidity to the storyline overall. As Elias becomes enmeshed in a maelstrom of problems, and his natural greed kicks in, his unrelenting pursuit of Emily and her cohorts adds a further intense momentum to the plot. This is further strengthened by the changing parameters of Elias’ professional relationship with his police partner, Trammell, which can only be destructive as Elias goes into free fall.
Hoffman’s depiction of the Tenderloin district of San Francisco also works terrifically well, as the down at heel, sordid and dangerous backdrop to this violent tale, easily assuming a character of its own. It’s brilliantly done, and overall a debut that I cannot recommend highly enough.
From its ‘what-the-hell-is-going-on’ opening, I was utterly hooked from the outset, and immediately immersed in Emily’s world sharing her confusion and fear at the situation she finds herself in. The build-up to her involvement in a bank robbery is brilliantly formulated, and likewise her attempts to extricate herself from the clutches of the Russian gang that have used her effectively as an unwitting pawn in their crime. She is a curious mix of vulnerability, underscored by a steely determination to both conquer and profit from the situation she finds herself in. Equally, Hoffman’s cast iron characterisation of the burnt out cop, Leo Elias, down on his luck, in debt to his eyeballs with an imploding marriage, gave a real solidity to the storyline overall. As Elias becomes enmeshed in a maelstrom of problems, and his natural greed kicks in, his unrelenting pursuit of Emily and her cohorts adds a further intense momentum to the plot. This is further strengthened by the changing parameters of Elias’ professional relationship with his police partner, Trammell, which can only be destructive as Elias goes into free fall.
Hoffman’s depiction of the Tenderloin district of San Francisco also works terrifically well, as the down at heel, sordid and dangerous backdrop to this violent tale, easily assuming a character of its own. It’s brilliantly done, and overall a debut that I cannot recommend highly enough.
August 9, 2016
A quick and easy read that is certainly not light-hearted in tone. This crime novel delivers in its exacting perversity. All of the characters have despicable characteristics that fascinated me as a voyeuristic readers. Drug dealers, murderers, mob bosses, liars, cheaters, etc. The plot meanders in surprising ways and could possibly become too much to handle, but I was only amused. The narrative changes between characters as the book progresses which only added to my enjoyment. It's not a book that I loved or would want to read over and over, but I did enjoy reading it.
April 11, 2021
I don't know why this book has such lower average rating on Goodreads. This is a really good thriller. Better than most higher rated crime novels here. There's everything- bank job, mob, crooked policemen, and murders.
I would certainly be reading more of the author in the future.
February 4, 2017
Emily is a alcohol and drug abusing hustler living in the Tenderloin area of San Fransisco when one night she is talked into going back to a Russian businessman's hotel on the promise of a good time. However she is drugged and held captive for a week before being co-erced into taking part in a bank robbery from which she unwittingly walks away from but still carrying all the loot. Emily goes on the run but she has nowhere else to go but her old stomping ground and she now has the Russian Mafia on her tail and a couple of bent cops all looking for the stolen money. Can she evade them and get away with the stolen bounty ?
The opening chapter of the book sets out the basic premise of the story and although the story is advanced in the preceding chapters, we also get the backstories of all the various characters involved and find that Emily was not the only unwilling party in the scheme. I did quite enjoy the book but I think my main critisism was that I didn't feel any real connect or empathy with any of the characters and wasn't really bothered one way or another who eventually came out on top. I also felt that some of the characters made some stupid decisions, which in truth advanced the story but didn't make much sense when viewed logically. I also wasn't too keen on the Epilogue which was voiced by a minor character to tidy up the loose ends and finish the story.
A promising debut though and would, on the strength of this first novel, would be willing to read more of Patrick Hoffman's work in the future.
The opening chapter of the book sets out the basic premise of the story and although the story is advanced in the preceding chapters, we also get the backstories of all the various characters involved and find that Emily was not the only unwilling party in the scheme. I did quite enjoy the book but I think my main critisism was that I didn't feel any real connect or empathy with any of the characters and wasn't really bothered one way or another who eventually came out on top. I also felt that some of the characters made some stupid decisions, which in truth advanced the story but didn't make much sense when viewed logically. I also wasn't too keen on the Epilogue which was voiced by a minor character to tidy up the loose ends and finish the story.
A promising debut though and would, on the strength of this first novel, would be willing to read more of Patrick Hoffman's work in the future.
July 26, 2022
This was a nice & easy read to start my week off nicely with some crime. I haven't read a lot of crime novels so I don't have much to compare Hoffman's work to, but ultimately I enjoyed reading it.
I thought the staggered/overlapping timeline and insight into different characters was what made the novel so gripping. Hoffman keeps a good pace throughout and this really is a page-turner.
But, at the same time I didn't really FEEL for any of the characters. I had no emotional or moral connection to the plot at all. Even when the ending was a little disappointing, I didn't really mind because I felt totally distanced from it anyway (if that makes sense?). I also found the narrative quite inconsistent - sometimes giving a lot of internal insight to the character's thoughts and feelings, sometimes not giving much away at all.
This is not to say that Hoffman isn't a great writer - as his debut novel this is damn good and if I was more into crime I'd probably read his other books. This is definitely one to pass on to my dad 👍
I thought the staggered/overlapping timeline and insight into different characters was what made the novel so gripping. Hoffman keeps a good pace throughout and this really is a page-turner.
But, at the same time I didn't really FEEL for any of the characters. I had no emotional or moral connection to the plot at all. Even when the ending was a little disappointing, I didn't really mind because I felt totally distanced from it anyway (if that makes sense?). I also found the narrative quite inconsistent - sometimes giving a lot of internal insight to the character's thoughts and feelings, sometimes not giving much away at all.
This is not to say that Hoffman isn't a great writer - as his debut novel this is damn good and if I was more into crime I'd probably read his other books. This is definitely one to pass on to my dad 👍
May 20, 2016
i won this as a goodreads giveaway during the great reading drought of 2015, when i couldn't read books and i could satisfy my need for reading only by listening to them. it was a fallow time for me but i thank the divinities that came up with audiobooks cuz they saved me. problem is, since i didn't read or review this, i never got another giveaway again!!!! at least this, i tell myself, is the reason.
in any case, i finally read it! and it's great! great fun, some implausibility that could have been fixed but who cares, and the second part is breathtaking. well the whole thing is breathtaking. some people here say it's dark and violent, but my tolerance for dark and violent must have gone way way up cuz i read it with great pleasure and on more than one occasion i laughed a lot. and i loved the language. really cool language.
you will wonder all along how will hoffman pull off a convincing end? and the way he does is brilliant and fun and super cool.
in any case, i finally read it! and it's great! great fun, some implausibility that could have been fixed but who cares, and the second part is breathtaking. well the whole thing is breathtaking. some people here say it's dark and violent, but my tolerance for dark and violent must have gone way way up cuz i read it with great pleasure and on more than one occasion i laughed a lot. and i loved the language. really cool language.
you will wonder all along how will hoffman pull off a convincing end? and the way he does is brilliant and fun and super cool.
January 26, 2021
An enjoyable read, nothing too fancy. I thought the reader’s perspective was a little too loose at times, alternating between all-knowing and staying with one character in a scene. I was aiming for four stars after just finishing, but as I collect my thoughts now I can’t go higher than 3. For a 5 star version, read “Dog Soldiers” by Robert Stone.
[spoiler]
I also felt that an interesting scene was missing at the end.. instead of the boring epilogue, why not explain what, if anything, happened between Elias and Emily? Why do writers mess up the latter parts of books so often?
edit: I have to say I absolutely loved the way the police report was conveyed in the book. That alone is worth half a star, so maybe I should give it 3.5 stars. I wish the book had continued more in the routine of the police officers. That way the author could've showed off his knowledge of these details.
[spoiler]
I also felt that an interesting scene was missing at the end.. instead of the boring epilogue, why not explain what, if anything, happened between Elias and Emily? Why do writers mess up the latter parts of books so often?
edit: I have to say I absolutely loved the way the police report was conveyed in the book. That alone is worth half a star, so maybe I should give it 3.5 stars. I wish the book had continued more in the routine of the police officers. That way the author could've showed off his knowledge of these details.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2014
This is another awesome Goodreads First Reads win. It was an awesome book,I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing in less than two(2) days. I loved the story plot,and I liked how it was written. I was really surprised with the ending,though....definitely a great little twist there! I loved it,and my 20 year old daughter is reading it now.
September 15, 2020
This one was alright. What I did like was the backwards way the story plot came to light. More or less it was told backwards but out of sequence and it made for an interesting read. And added to the mystery.
May 22, 2025
I mean, it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read but it was entertaining and made me think. That’s all I ask!!
March 16, 2017
Wow! This was a terrific book that actually meets the definition o a "page turner. " I can't understand how the ratings are not higher (it's close to a 4.5 I think).
This is Patrick Hoffman's first novel, and I believe he's got a bright future as a writer. His characters are gritty, wholly unlikeable, and so well drawn one can almost smell their foul breath. And yet, I found myself engrossed, expectantly waiting for each of their fates to be revealed page by page.
This is a brief book at 240 pages and things move along so quickly that you'll be through before you know it. I sure hope the author focuses himself more on writing and less on his regular job (private investigator), as I'd love to read more by him.
This is Patrick Hoffman's first novel, and I believe he's got a bright future as a writer. His characters are gritty, wholly unlikeable, and so well drawn one can almost smell their foul breath. And yet, I found myself engrossed, expectantly waiting for each of their fates to be revealed page by page.
This is a brief book at 240 pages and things move along so quickly that you'll be through before you know it. I sure hope the author focuses himself more on writing and less on his regular job (private investigator), as I'd love to read more by him.
August 19, 2015
[2.5 stars]
I had a coworker who had this wallpaper on her computer that showed the kid from The Sixth Sense and the caption, I see dumb people. They're everywhere. They walk around like everybody else. They don't know that they're dumb. For awhile I thought that could have been an alternate title for this book. We have Emily Rosario, not exactly a criminal or junkie but on the fringes of both, who gets chatted up in a San Francisco bar by some dubious Russian guy and in about ten minutes talked into an even more dubious criminal scheme, in addition to agreeing to accompany him back to an apartment and being plied with pills. All this, with next to no coercion, mind you. So we start there. But, Emily eventually turns into the best thing in the book.
Then we have the Russian criminals. They're pretty stupid too. Not terrible characters, but a bit from Central Casting. Then there are two bad cops, Elias and Trammell, the dead weight that nearly drags this down to two stars. I know corrupt cops are a staple of crime stories like this, and that's fine, but at least make them interesting. These guys are the blandest bad cops ever. They're not evil, or sociopaths, or ruthlessly ambitious, or self-deluding rationalizers who think they are justified. No, they're a bit lazy, a bit insecure, a whole lot whiny, and dull as dishwater. Oh, and not very bright either (you may notice a pattern here). And big chunks of the book follow these guys. Not riveting.
So I nearly rounded my rating down, rather than up, but in the last 50 pages shit finally comes together and Patrick Hoffman (a private investigator, this is his first book) pulls off the one subtle move he's been saving. Turns out he was doing a bit of rope-a-dope with Emily. You get bits of her backstory here and there, and without ever calling attention to it, a sense emerges that the beginning of the book in the bar represented her at rock bottom, and the Russians' insane bank robbery scheme (which no doubt was planned to leave them with the money and her as a corpse) somehow serves as a wake-up call. At the 11th hour, she turns the tables, and ends up on the run. At her most desperate, she somehow comes into her own and uses her natural smarts and instincts to try to keep a step ahead of her pursuers. Hoffman handles this believably, as Emily still makes one or two more bad decisions, but is quicker to react to them and able to improvise. If only the focus stayed on her the whole book.
Or as Emily might have put it: This Hoffman dude is hella wack with the story, starts out ok then we following these boring-ass cops for way too long, who cares about them? And the Russians, I mean, I guess they're Russians cuz we told they're Russians, but one pretty much like another, you know? Takes too damn long to get back to me, which is the only reason anyone's still turning pages. But whatever, it's his book I guess, just sayin'.
Hella too right, Emily.
I had a coworker who had this wallpaper on her computer that showed the kid from The Sixth Sense and the caption, I see dumb people. They're everywhere. They walk around like everybody else. They don't know that they're dumb. For awhile I thought that could have been an alternate title for this book. We have Emily Rosario, not exactly a criminal or junkie but on the fringes of both, who gets chatted up in a San Francisco bar by some dubious Russian guy and in about ten minutes talked into an even more dubious criminal scheme, in addition to agreeing to accompany him back to an apartment and being plied with pills. All this, with next to no coercion, mind you. So we start there. But, Emily eventually turns into the best thing in the book.
Then we have the Russian criminals. They're pretty stupid too. Not terrible characters, but a bit from Central Casting. Then there are two bad cops, Elias and Trammell, the dead weight that nearly drags this down to two stars. I know corrupt cops are a staple of crime stories like this, and that's fine, but at least make them interesting. These guys are the blandest bad cops ever. They're not evil, or sociopaths, or ruthlessly ambitious, or self-deluding rationalizers who think they are justified. No, they're a bit lazy, a bit insecure, a whole lot whiny, and dull as dishwater. Oh, and not very bright either (you may notice a pattern here). And big chunks of the book follow these guys. Not riveting.
So I nearly rounded my rating down, rather than up, but in the last 50 pages shit finally comes together and Patrick Hoffman (a private investigator, this is his first book) pulls off the one subtle move he's been saving. Turns out he was doing a bit of rope-a-dope with Emily. You get bits of her backstory here and there, and without ever calling attention to it, a sense emerges that the beginning of the book in the bar represented her at rock bottom, and the Russians' insane bank robbery scheme (which no doubt was planned to leave them with the money and her as a corpse) somehow serves as a wake-up call. At the 11th hour, she turns the tables, and ends up on the run. At her most desperate, she somehow comes into her own and uses her natural smarts and instincts to try to keep a step ahead of her pursuers. Hoffman handles this believably, as Emily still makes one or two more bad decisions, but is quicker to react to them and able to improvise. If only the focus stayed on her the whole book.
Or as Emily might have put it: This Hoffman dude is hella wack with the story, starts out ok then we following these boring-ass cops for way too long, who cares about them? And the Russians, I mean, I guess they're Russians cuz we told they're Russians, but one pretty much like another, you know? Takes too damn long to get back to me, which is the only reason anyone's still turning pages. But whatever, it's his book I guess, just sayin'.
Hella too right, Emily.
January 4, 2015
Patrick Hoffman’s 2014 short novel The White Van has one of the best beginnings I’ve read in the crime thriller genre, and the snappy pace continues throughout the novel. This is a good one!
Emily Rosario is an alcoholic and a drug addict. She is picked up in a San Francisco bar by a Russian named Benya, and she spends several days heavily sedated in a motel room as Benya and Sophia, his partner, prep her for some “simple identity theft” work. It turns out that Benya owes a huge chunk of cash to the Russian mafia and that Sophia had bought his note. To get the cash, Benya and Sophia plan a heist in which Sophia’s niece, the innocent Rada, is forced to assist.
The plan goes awry and drugged-out Emily wanders away with $800,000 in cash. Knowing that the Russians will insist on a successful outcome, Benya and Sophia search for Emily, Now enter Leo Elias, an alcoholic SFPD detective, and his rookie partner, Sam Trammel. Elias is not assigned to the case, but he likes the idea of intercepting the cash; as he tells Sam “it is ours.” Apparently, property rights in New York are a confusing concept.
So begin separate searches for Emily and the missing loot: one by the Russians, Benya, and Sophia; the other by Elias and Trammell. As will happen when a drunk decides to strike it rich, unexpected things happen in Elias’s search for ill-gotten gains. Will Emily be found? Who will benefit? Who will suffer? Perhaps the only good news is that criminals are so prominent at the low-IQ strata, but the bad news is that the police are also well below Mensa eligibility.
Oh, and we get sound advice on what to steal and what not to steal: “don’t steal what you can’t sell, and don’t steal from anyone who would enjoy cutting your hand off.” Words to the wise!
Four stars!
October 2, 2015
I won this book from a Goodreads Giveaway, started reading it and had a reverse reaction. Usually there's a clear hero and as I discover his or her failings I find the character more relatable and begin to care about what happens to him or her. All of the characters portrayed in Hoffman's debut novel enter the plot as total lowlifes. I wasn't sure I'd ever care what happened to any of them. Then slowly, a couple of them emerged as victims and I like rooting for the underdog. Soon one or two managed to display some ingenuity and bravery and then the plot picked up speed and I was turning those pages faster than the alcoholic cop called Plastic Face could pound down Gatorade bottles filled with wine. I hated to see it end. I'm looking forward to Patrick Hoffman's next novel.
September 8, 2016
"The White Van" is a dark, dark noir set in the underbelly of San Francisco. If it were a self help book, it would be titled "When Bad Things Happen to Stupid People." A dimwitted drug addict, an alcoholic cop, and a Russian businessmen all get themselves mixed up in a failed bank robbery. Before you can say "Let a thousand bad ideas blossom!", the bodies start dropping. While these losers make cringeworthy choices, Hoffman never lets the reader lose sight of his characters' humanity. The plot continually ratchets up the tension. Hoffman (a former P.I. in San Francisco) knows his seedy spots. So instead of Golden Gate Park and Coit Tower, we get McLaren Park, San Bruno, Airport Blvd, and Minna St., all dreary havens of the underclass. Nice for a change.
August 9, 2018
A perfect gritty crime novel. Hoffman is such a good writer in this genre. You can tell he worked in the system (his bio says he was an investigator for the SF Public Defenders' office). His voice is so authentic. I also read Every Man a Menace, which was good but this one was better. It was the perfect length and every loose end was tied. With all the talk these days about every new novel being the best book ever, THIS is a book that should have gotten the press. This is a fantastic first novel. Comparable to Richard Wright. I hope Hoffman writes more.
August 31, 2016
I was asked to blurb this book and didn't know what to expect. What I got was a blast of classic San Francisco noir a la Dashiell Hammett. This book is really fun, really brutal, with a twist on every page. I loved it.
March 10, 2015
bunch of lowlifes involved in one, long train wreck of a heist. need at least one character to root for so probably no more from this author.
August 23, 2020
3 1/2 stars for this non-stop grime coated thrill ride played out in San Francisco's dark back alleys and hustler lined streets. Quite the enjoyable romp!
May 7, 2018
Messy, mysterious and not really amounting to much in the end. The White Van follows multiple players involved in a bank robbery gone wrong. Emily is a junkie picked up off the streets and selected by a Russian mob leader, the elderly Sophia, to pull off a bank robbery by walking into the bank Sophia's niece works at and demanding almost a million in cash with a bomb handcuffed to her wrist as the incentive. Emily grows paranoid in the midst of pulling off the job and goes rogue, refusing to hand the cash over to the Russians. On the run, Emily has her work cut out for her with both the Russians and the cops looking for her, including washed up officer Elias looking to make Emily's cash his own. Multiple bad decisions are made and chaos quickly ensues.
The book starts off in an enigmatic manner with Emily picked up from a bar by a nervous Russian man who tempts her with drugs, followed by a job offer in taking part in a bank robbery. It is all very mysterious but I didn't feel hooked, relating more with Emily's drugged state of confusion instead. After the bank robbery is botched and Emily makes off on her own, we are introduced to the whole cast of characters including some supporting members that play crucial roles. Besides the aforementioned Russian Benya, there's also Trammell, Elias' rookie partner; Rada, Sophia's niece who worked as the manager at the robbed bank; Yakov, a competing Russian mob boss; and Nichols, a private investigator hired by Sophia to find Emily. They all have their own individual motivations which somewhat overlap but at the end of the day, everyone really prioritises their own concerns.
The issue with this book is that there isn't a single character that feels likeable or that I want to root for. I couldn't really care about the fate of most of them. Some of them are sympathetic like Rada and Benya but ultimately I was never invested in any of these characters. Additionally, I'm pretty baffled by some of the choices that they make as well. Elias ropes in Trammell as part of his plan to find Emily before anyone else does and make the stolen money his own to pay off his snowballing debt. Trammell seems pretty hesitant about all this but next thing you know, he ends up killing Rada after she catches them snooping around in her house. It's extremely jarring to see such a jump in character from Trammell even though it was considered a move made out of panic but breaking someone's neck by putting them in a headlock before slamming them with your body weight onto the ground seemed like one too many steps to be made out of a rushed decision.
All characters are haunted by their bad decisions throughout this book. Besides Rada's murder, we have Benya being forced to work for Sophia out of a debt he owed to Yakov, Sophia roping in her niece as part of her bank robbery plan and Emily just making poor drug- and money-related decisions one after another. The book builds up to a crossroads encounter where both the Russians and the corrupt cop duo track down Emily at the same time. A quick shootout ensues, killing Trammell and one of Sophia's henchmen. Elias is heralded and sympathised as a hero cop for losing and avenging his partner while Emily is taken in by Sophia and Nichols. Nichols double-crosses Sophia and takes off with the bank money for himself but it turns out to be a double with Emily keeping most of the cash in another bag for herself. In an odd epilogue told from Emily's stripper friend/partner Jules, Elias' debts get paid off by the police commission as a reward for his heroic behaviour, getting what he wanted in a sick twist. Sophia takes her revenge on Yakov by torturing and killing him while Jules and Emily live out their life in Miami, looking to start a new career as drug lords with their newfound capital.
The White Van just feels like it doesn't really go anywhere even though it has quite a cast of characters. I never really felt hooked at any point and the story ended much quicker and in a more abrupt manner than I had expected. It didn't really make me feel anything and the original premise's potential seemed very much unfulfilled. 2/5
The book starts off in an enigmatic manner with Emily picked up from a bar by a nervous Russian man who tempts her with drugs, followed by a job offer in taking part in a bank robbery. It is all very mysterious but I didn't feel hooked, relating more with Emily's drugged state of confusion instead. After the bank robbery is botched and Emily makes off on her own, we are introduced to the whole cast of characters including some supporting members that play crucial roles. Besides the aforementioned Russian Benya, there's also Trammell, Elias' rookie partner; Rada, Sophia's niece who worked as the manager at the robbed bank; Yakov, a competing Russian mob boss; and Nichols, a private investigator hired by Sophia to find Emily. They all have their own individual motivations which somewhat overlap but at the end of the day, everyone really prioritises their own concerns.
The issue with this book is that there isn't a single character that feels likeable or that I want to root for. I couldn't really care about the fate of most of them. Some of them are sympathetic like Rada and Benya but ultimately I was never invested in any of these characters. Additionally, I'm pretty baffled by some of the choices that they make as well. Elias ropes in Trammell as part of his plan to find Emily before anyone else does and make the stolen money his own to pay off his snowballing debt. Trammell seems pretty hesitant about all this but next thing you know, he ends up killing Rada after she catches them snooping around in her house. It's extremely jarring to see such a jump in character from Trammell even though it was considered a move made out of panic but breaking someone's neck by putting them in a headlock before slamming them with your body weight onto the ground seemed like one too many steps to be made out of a rushed decision.
All characters are haunted by their bad decisions throughout this book. Besides Rada's murder, we have Benya being forced to work for Sophia out of a debt he owed to Yakov, Sophia roping in her niece as part of her bank robbery plan and Emily just making poor drug- and money-related decisions one after another. The book builds up to a crossroads encounter where both the Russians and the corrupt cop duo track down Emily at the same time. A quick shootout ensues, killing Trammell and one of Sophia's henchmen. Elias is heralded and sympathised as a hero cop for losing and avenging his partner while Emily is taken in by Sophia and Nichols. Nichols double-crosses Sophia and takes off with the bank money for himself but it turns out to be a double with Emily keeping most of the cash in another bag for herself. In an odd epilogue told from Emily's stripper friend/partner Jules, Elias' debts get paid off by the police commission as a reward for his heroic behaviour, getting what he wanted in a sick twist. Sophia takes her revenge on Yakov by torturing and killing him while Jules and Emily live out their life in Miami, looking to start a new career as drug lords with their newfound capital.
The White Van just feels like it doesn't really go anywhere even though it has quite a cast of characters. I never really felt hooked at any point and the story ended much quicker and in a more abrupt manner than I had expected. It didn't really make me feel anything and the original premise's potential seemed very much unfulfilled. 2/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2017
Disappointing
The White Van is a novel about a bank robbery that goes bad mostly because the thieves involve a doper to do it.
Emily is a stoner, a tweaked, a crackhead and user of just about any other kind of dope available. She gets involved with a Russian gang that recruits her, gets and keeps her spaced out , then handcuffs a gym bag with sticking bomb inside to her wrist, then sends her into the bank. In a dope fog, she manages to flee with a bag of money, leaving the Russian thugs furious. If all this sounds like it might be funny, it isn't. In Mr. Hoffman's hands, the story his sordid, his characters without any redeeming values, and his plotting a jumbled mash.
You have been told about Emily. She start out a loser and finishes that way.
Then there is Elias, a cop. He is a drunk, a degenerate gambler over his head in debt. He and his rookie partner happen to be the first cops on the scene of the bank robbery and once the details of the spaced-out thief running off with all the money come out, Elias decides to find her and the money which will solve his debt problems. And, if the thief happens to get dead, well....
The supporting cast includes a Russian grifter , a feckless dupe, deeply in debt to a. Russian loan shark, and very nasty Russian woman who masterminds the entire fiasco.
The story is told , at first, from Emily's viewpoint then Elias'. It is not until well into the book that the reader learns how Emily was chosen for the job, later still until of how the grifter and Russian woman were set up. While we learn a lot about Emily's degraded life, everyone else's is barely sketched in. Some details seemed misplaced and reappeared later to some confusion. For example, at one point Emily had a gun, then she did not, then later, had it again.
The White Van lacked finish and attention to detail. It might be called stylish noir, if you consider ripped jeans and dopers stylish.
Trigger warnings: No sex; no graphic violence.If that makes any difference at all.
Rating: poor to fair, with the second star for possibilities.
The White Van is a novel about a bank robbery that goes bad mostly because the thieves involve a doper to do it.
Emily is a stoner, a tweaked, a crackhead and user of just about any other kind of dope available. She gets involved with a Russian gang that recruits her, gets and keeps her spaced out , then handcuffs a gym bag with sticking bomb inside to her wrist, then sends her into the bank. In a dope fog, she manages to flee with a bag of money, leaving the Russian thugs furious. If all this sounds like it might be funny, it isn't. In Mr. Hoffman's hands, the story his sordid, his characters without any redeeming values, and his plotting a jumbled mash.
You have been told about Emily. She start out a loser and finishes that way.
Then there is Elias, a cop. He is a drunk, a degenerate gambler over his head in debt. He and his rookie partner happen to be the first cops on the scene of the bank robbery and once the details of the spaced-out thief running off with all the money come out, Elias decides to find her and the money which will solve his debt problems. And, if the thief happens to get dead, well....
The supporting cast includes a Russian grifter , a feckless dupe, deeply in debt to a. Russian loan shark, and very nasty Russian woman who masterminds the entire fiasco.
The story is told , at first, from Emily's viewpoint then Elias'. It is not until well into the book that the reader learns how Emily was chosen for the job, later still until of how the grifter and Russian woman were set up. While we learn a lot about Emily's degraded life, everyone else's is barely sketched in. Some details seemed misplaced and reappeared later to some confusion. For example, at one point Emily had a gun, then she did not, then later, had it again.
The White Van lacked finish and attention to detail. It might be called stylish noir, if you consider ripped jeans and dopers stylish.
Trigger warnings: No sex; no graphic violence.If that makes any difference at all.
Rating: poor to fair, with the second star for possibilities.
January 6, 2020
Patrick Hoffman may be my new favorite author. It was hard to decide if I loved this debut novel as much as, or even more than his second book Every Man A Menace, which I devoured last year.
Like EMAM, The White Van starts with a gripping sense of uneasiness though you don't know where the plot is headed. And even when the first crime sets everything into chaos, you can't guess what'll happen next. They both have an international cast of seedy-but-sympathetic characters, and The White Van firmly establishes its anti-heroine from first scene. While his next book follows a drug shipment all around the globe, this one stays central to the inciting bank robbery in San Francisco. Aside from some solid background about its Russian gangsters, it swirls exclusively around the dark side of SF.
There are some dirty cops in this story, who are as well-defined and multi-layered as the bad guys, but their presence inevitably brings in some necessary but tired cop-tropes -- informants, interrogations, police procedures, etc. -- which is why I always prefer crime stories about the criminals. And I'd say that after reading Hoffman's second book first, you can see his writing style is still getting polished here.
So if I had to choose, I'd say The White Van is just slightly less stellar than his second novel, but I'd strongly recommend both... and I can't wait to reading Hoffman's next one.
Like EMAM, The White Van starts with a gripping sense of uneasiness though you don't know where the plot is headed. And even when the first crime sets everything into chaos, you can't guess what'll happen next. They both have an international cast of seedy-but-sympathetic characters, and The White Van firmly establishes its anti-heroine from first scene. While his next book follows a drug shipment all around the globe, this one stays central to the inciting bank robbery in San Francisco. Aside from some solid background about its Russian gangsters, it swirls exclusively around the dark side of SF.
There are some dirty cops in this story, who are as well-defined and multi-layered as the bad guys, but their presence inevitably brings in some necessary but tired cop-tropes -- informants, interrogations, police procedures, etc. -- which is why I always prefer crime stories about the criminals. And I'd say that after reading Hoffman's second book first, you can see his writing style is still getting polished here.
So if I had to choose, I'd say The White Van is just slightly less stellar than his second novel, but I'd strongly recommend both... and I can't wait to reading Hoffman's next one.
July 30, 2025
And so I now come full circle to Patrick Hoffman’s catalog.
Hoffman is a quality over quantity writer. Every 3-4 years, we are gifted with a new book of his that functions as a soup-to-nuts examination of how criminal justice works in America. A massive drug shipment in Every Man a Menace. Corporate espionage in Clean Hands. The war against white supremacists in Friends Helping Friends, which came out this year and is one of the best things I’ve read in 2025.
Here we’re back at the beginning with a bank robbery in The White Van. And what you get is the signs of a writer who would slowly perfect his style book-by-book. For a first novel, this hums with energy and it’s told effectively the way a Patrick Hoffman novel is. I loved Emily; she might be my favorite Hoffman character ever. Thrust in the same situation Hoffman always puts his life loser characters in, she navigates it with drugs, danger, and daring.
This might have worked to being my favorite Hoffman novel but the other characters weren’t as strong as his other novels, aside from Beryl. I couldn’t connect with the cop stories or what Hoffman was trying to say through them. And I felt like the ending was a bit too tidy, given the slam bang endings he’s had in other books.
But it’s a first novel and by that standard, it’s excellent. It shows the promise of what a great writer he would become. I really wish he was more prolific.
Hoffman is a quality over quantity writer. Every 3-4 years, we are gifted with a new book of his that functions as a soup-to-nuts examination of how criminal justice works in America. A massive drug shipment in Every Man a Menace. Corporate espionage in Clean Hands. The war against white supremacists in Friends Helping Friends, which came out this year and is one of the best things I’ve read in 2025.
Here we’re back at the beginning with a bank robbery in The White Van. And what you get is the signs of a writer who would slowly perfect his style book-by-book. For a first novel, this hums with energy and it’s told effectively the way a Patrick Hoffman novel is. I loved Emily; she might be my favorite Hoffman character ever. Thrust in the same situation Hoffman always puts his life loser characters in, she navigates it with drugs, danger, and daring.
This might have worked to being my favorite Hoffman novel but the other characters weren’t as strong as his other novels, aside from Beryl. I couldn’t connect with the cop stories or what Hoffman was trying to say through them. And I felt like the ending was a bit too tidy, given the slam bang endings he’s had in other books.
But it’s a first novel and by that standard, it’s excellent. It shows the promise of what a great writer he would become. I really wish he was more prolific.
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