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Cordero: A California Noir
April 1980. Cordero, California.
A bank robbery is about to tear the town open.
Tony Gonzalez never planned to raise his younger brother. But when Joey has nowhere else to go, Tony takes him in—and straight into Nate’s orbit: a desert compound fueled by guns, drugs, and apocalyptic dreams.
Across the street, Katie Harrison wants out of Cordero.
So does Tony—if he can keep Joey alive long enough.
For fans of Elmore Leonard, Don Winslow, and S. E. Hinton,.
A lean California noir—fast, immersive, and unforgiving
A bank robbery is about to tear the town open.
Tony Gonzalez never planned to raise his younger brother. But when Joey has nowhere else to go, Tony takes him in—and straight into Nate’s orbit: a desert compound fueled by guns, drugs, and apocalyptic dreams.
Across the street, Katie Harrison wants out of Cordero.
So does Tony—if he can keep Joey alive long enough.
For fans of Elmore Leonard, Don Winslow, and S. E. Hinton,.
A lean California noir—fast, immersive, and unforgiving
175 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 9, 2026
About the author
Eric Weiss
1 book6 followersEric Weiss is a screenwriter whose AFI thesis script became the feature film Wicked, starring Julia Stiles and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. He later co-wrote Bongwater and Buffalo Soldiers, starring Joaquin Phoenix.
Cordero: A California Noir is his fiction debut.
Read the first 5 chapters free
books.ericweissbooks.com/Cordero
Cordero: A California Noir is his fiction debut.
Read the first 5 chapters free
books.ericweissbooks.com/Cordero
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 4, 2026
Gratitude to NetGalley and Weiss House for the ARC
While reading Cordero, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching a tightly paced action film unfold on the page and by the end, the numbers alone justify that impression: “A fifty-mile chase. Forty-three police vehicles damaged, many completely destroyed. One police helicopter shot down…”
That kind of scale and momentum is no accident. It comes as little surprise to learn that this is Eric Weiss’s debut novel after a solid career in screenwriting. The book carries that DNA throughout. In terms of style and length, Cordero reads very much like a good action movie: sharp, visual, and relentlessly driven forward.
The backdrop of the Iranian hostage crisis adds an interesting layer. Its inclusion not only grounds the narrative historically but also gives it an unexpected relevance, echoing a sense of disillusionment that feels familiar today. That parallel gives the story a bit more weight beneath the action-heavy surface.
If there is anything to note, it’s that the cinematic pacing sometimes leaves less room for deeper character exploration but that feels like a conscious choice rather than a flaw.
Overall, Cordero is an impressive debut: fast, vivid, and clearly shaped by a storyteller who knows how to keep an audience engaged. One to watch, both on the page and, quite possibly, on screen.
While reading Cordero, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching a tightly paced action film unfold on the page and by the end, the numbers alone justify that impression: “A fifty-mile chase. Forty-three police vehicles damaged, many completely destroyed. One police helicopter shot down…”
That kind of scale and momentum is no accident. It comes as little surprise to learn that this is Eric Weiss’s debut novel after a solid career in screenwriting. The book carries that DNA throughout. In terms of style and length, Cordero reads very much like a good action movie: sharp, visual, and relentlessly driven forward.
The backdrop of the Iranian hostage crisis adds an interesting layer. Its inclusion not only grounds the narrative historically but also gives it an unexpected relevance, echoing a sense of disillusionment that feels familiar today. That parallel gives the story a bit more weight beneath the action-heavy surface.
If there is anything to note, it’s that the cinematic pacing sometimes leaves less room for deeper character exploration but that feels like a conscious choice rather than a flaw.
Overall, Cordero is an impressive debut: fast, vivid, and clearly shaped by a storyteller who knows how to keep an audience engaged. One to watch, both on the page and, quite possibly, on screen.
May 21, 2026
This was really good.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Tony Gonzalez, 21 and out of options, flees through California mountains with police helicopters hunting him after a catastrophic bank shootout. His bookish girlfriend Katie races through roadblocks to find him. The story backtracks to show how an aimless young man got swept into an armed survivalist compound run by paranoid Vietnam vets convinced the end times are near.
Eric Weiss debut novel opens with propulsive action – helicopters, searchlights, a desperate flight. But it’s a deliberate character study at heart. Set during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, the story tracks Tony's slide from directionless youth into the orbit of Nate and the Lovett brothers, aimless malcontents who stockpile weapons, grow cannabis, and foam about "national malaise" whilst building escape tunnels beneath their barbed-wire compound.
Weiss gives a solid portrayal of how ordinary disaffected men slide into extremism (economic precarity, military fetishism, apocalyptic Christianity) rather than making them complex antiheroes. They get explanation but not justification. The prose stays lean and atmospheric, capturing dusty Cordero, a town with wagon-wheel lampposts and a missile-cum-rodeo-ride, and the quietly mounting dread as reasonable people make unreasonable choices.
Katie emerges as the story's moral center, riding horses through heat haze as Tony gets pulled deeper into apocalyptic fantasies that spiral toward violence. The time-hopping structure is not to everyone’s taste and demands patience, but Weiss excels at showing how ordinary American paranoia curdles into tragedy.
Eric Weiss debut novel opens with propulsive action – helicopters, searchlights, a desperate flight. But it’s a deliberate character study at heart. Set during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, the story tracks Tony's slide from directionless youth into the orbit of Nate and the Lovett brothers, aimless malcontents who stockpile weapons, grow cannabis, and foam about "national malaise" whilst building escape tunnels beneath their barbed-wire compound.
Weiss gives a solid portrayal of how ordinary disaffected men slide into extremism (economic precarity, military fetishism, apocalyptic Christianity) rather than making them complex antiheroes. They get explanation but not justification. The prose stays lean and atmospheric, capturing dusty Cordero, a town with wagon-wheel lampposts and a missile-cum-rodeo-ride, and the quietly mounting dread as reasonable people make unreasonable choices.
Katie emerges as the story's moral center, riding horses through heat haze as Tony gets pulled deeper into apocalyptic fantasies that spiral toward violence. The time-hopping structure is not to everyone’s taste and demands patience, but Weiss excels at showing how ordinary American paranoia curdles into tragedy.
May 4, 2026
Cordero: A California Noir delivers a lean, character-driven crime story that goes deeper than its premise suggests. Set against the backdrop of late-1970s California, the novel follows Tony Gonzalez, a young man pushed into responsibility as he struggles to raise his younger brother Joey in a town that offers few real options and even fewer second chances.
What gives the book its weight is the relationship between the brothers. Their bond feels authentic. Part loyalty, part obligation, and shaped by a shared sense of displacement. As American Hispanic brothers disconnected from their cultural roots, their identity adds a layer of quiet tension that runs beneath the surface of the story. Tony’s attempts to keep Joey grounded clash with the growing influence of men drawn to extremism, creating a steady pull toward inevitable trouble.
Weiss builds the narrative with restraint. His prose is clean and efficient, allowing the story to move quickly without losing emotional impact. The time-shifting structure, beginning with a desperate escape after a botched bank robbery, demands some patience, but it pays off as the pieces fall into place. The depiction of a survivalist compound, fueled by paranoia and national disillusionment during the Iran hostage crisis, adds thematic depth without turning preachy.
Katie Harrison provides a necessary counterbalance. Her determination to escape Cordero, and to pull Tony with her, introduces a fragile sense of hope that never feels guaranteed.
Cordero works best as a study of how ordinary people slide into bad decisions under pressure. It’s fast-paced, atmospheric, and grounded in emotional realism, offering a noir story that resonates beyond its crime elements.
What gives the book its weight is the relationship between the brothers. Their bond feels authentic. Part loyalty, part obligation, and shaped by a shared sense of displacement. As American Hispanic brothers disconnected from their cultural roots, their identity adds a layer of quiet tension that runs beneath the surface of the story. Tony’s attempts to keep Joey grounded clash with the growing influence of men drawn to extremism, creating a steady pull toward inevitable trouble.
Weiss builds the narrative with restraint. His prose is clean and efficient, allowing the story to move quickly without losing emotional impact. The time-shifting structure, beginning with a desperate escape after a botched bank robbery, demands some patience, but it pays off as the pieces fall into place. The depiction of a survivalist compound, fueled by paranoia and national disillusionment during the Iran hostage crisis, adds thematic depth without turning preachy.
Katie Harrison provides a necessary counterbalance. Her determination to escape Cordero, and to pull Tony with her, introduces a fragile sense of hope that never feels guaranteed.
Cordero works best as a study of how ordinary people slide into bad decisions under pressure. It’s fast-paced, atmospheric, and grounded in emotional realism, offering a noir story that resonates beyond its crime elements.
March 15, 2026
Cordero: A California Noir pulls readers into a dusty corner of 1980 California, where desperation, loyalty, and bad decisions collide. Eric Weiss creates a tight story centered on Tony Gonzalez, a young man forced into responsibility when he ends up raising his younger brother Joey in a town that seems designed to swallow people whole.
The relationship between Tony and Joey drives the emotional core of the book. Their bond feels complicated and real, shaped by obligation, loyalty, and the constant pressure of surviving in an environment where danger is never far away. Tony is trying to hold things together while the influences around them keep pulling Joey toward trouble.
The setting adds another layer to the tension. The desert town of Cordero feels rough around the edges, the kind of place where small choices can spiral into serious consequences. As the looming bank robbery begins to take shape, the story builds a quiet sense of inevitability that keeps the pages turning.
Katie Harrison’s desire to escape the town gives the story a fragile sense of hope. Her connection with Tony offers a possible way out, though it never feels guaranteed. That uncertainty adds weight to the decisions the characters make.
Fast-paced and atmospheric, Cordero delivers a focused crime story about family, survival, and the pull of a place that refuses to let people go easily. Readers who enjoy gritty character-driven noir will likely find plenty to appreciate here.
The relationship between Tony and Joey drives the emotional core of the book. Their bond feels complicated and real, shaped by obligation, loyalty, and the constant pressure of surviving in an environment where danger is never far away. Tony is trying to hold things together while the influences around them keep pulling Joey toward trouble.
The setting adds another layer to the tension. The desert town of Cordero feels rough around the edges, the kind of place where small choices can spiral into serious consequences. As the looming bank robbery begins to take shape, the story builds a quiet sense of inevitability that keeps the pages turning.
Katie Harrison’s desire to escape the town gives the story a fragile sense of hope. Her connection with Tony offers a possible way out, though it never feels guaranteed. That uncertainty adds weight to the decisions the characters make.
Fast-paced and atmospheric, Cordero delivers a focused crime story about family, survival, and the pull of a place that refuses to let people go easily. Readers who enjoy gritty character-driven noir will likely find plenty to appreciate here.
March 17, 2026
I ended up liking Cordero more than I expected. On the surface it’s a crime novel, but what makes it worth recommending is the way Eric Weiss uses Tony and Joey’s relationship to carry something larger: they’re American Hispanic brothers who don’t speak Spanish and are cut off from their cultural roots, stranded in a small-town dead zone of boredom, grievance, and shrinking horizons, as they fall in with a group of disaffected losers planning a bank robbery. That estrangement gives their loyalty to each other a lot of force and sadness. The book also captures the mood of 1980 America, with its frustration, drift, and loss of confidence, reinforced by references to the Iran hostage crisis and the Carter-era sense that the country had lost some of its direction. Read now, that thread feels newly relevant because U.S.-Iran tensions have turned into conflict in March 2026, so the novel’s sense of anxiety and decline lands with an unsettling contemporary echo. Weiss’s prose is cool and efficient, which helps the book move quickly without losing its seriousness. It’s not trying to be flashy, and that restraint works in its favor. I’d recommend it to readers who like crime fiction that also has something meaningful to say about family, identity, and a country going through a deeper kind of decline.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is the kind of crime novel that starts with a bang—and then quietly breaks your heart.
From the opening news report of a fifty-mile police chase, a downed helicopter, and multiple casualties, you know this story won’t end well. What makes it compelling isn’t just the spectacle of violence, but the slow, believable unraveling that leads there. The author does an excellent job building tension step by step, showing how small compromises harden into dangerous ambition.
At the center of the novel is the bond between Tony and Joey. Their brotherhood feels authentic—messy, loyal, and ultimately tragic. Tony’s charisma and reckless drive contrast sharply with Joey’s quieter, more cautious nature, and watching Joey choose loyalty over self-preservation adds real emotional weight to the story. Their relationship is the book’s strongest asset and what elevates it beyond a straightforward crime thriller.
Overall, this is a gripping, character-driven tragedy about loyalty, ambition, and the dangerous allure of power.
From the opening news report of a fifty-mile police chase, a downed helicopter, and multiple casualties, you know this story won’t end well. What makes it compelling isn’t just the spectacle of violence, but the slow, believable unraveling that leads there. The author does an excellent job building tension step by step, showing how small compromises harden into dangerous ambition.
At the center of the novel is the bond between Tony and Joey. Their brotherhood feels authentic—messy, loyal, and ultimately tragic. Tony’s charisma and reckless drive contrast sharply with Joey’s quieter, more cautious nature, and watching Joey choose loyalty over self-preservation adds real emotional weight to the story. Their relationship is the book’s strongest asset and what elevates it beyond a straightforward crime thriller.
Overall, this is a gripping, character-driven tragedy about loyalty, ambition, and the dangerous allure of power.
April 4, 2026
Cordero by Eric Weiss is a fast paced action thriller which held my attention from the beginning to the end.
Author Eric creatively introduces the main characters in the story before taking us into the action packed bank robbery drama in the end. All the characters--Tony, Nate, Joey, Brian, and Kate--are well developed in the story and they play an important roles until the end.
The plot is seamless and the pacing picks up from the middle of the story. The story looks like a fast paced movie being played in front of us. It is a great California Noir that is set in the late seventies and early eighties.
The story is emotional too with some characters losing their lives or getting injured in a high chase drama. Tony's grief when he loses his brother is well narrated and it blends well with the action scenes in the story.
Highly recommended for the thriller readers who likes to enjoy a brisk read over a metro train journey.
Author Eric creatively introduces the main characters in the story before taking us into the action packed bank robbery drama in the end. All the characters--Tony, Nate, Joey, Brian, and Kate--are well developed in the story and they play an important roles until the end.
The plot is seamless and the pacing picks up from the middle of the story. The story looks like a fast paced movie being played in front of us. It is a great California Noir that is set in the late seventies and early eighties.
The story is emotional too with some characters losing their lives or getting injured in a high chase drama. Tony's grief when he loses his brother is well narrated and it blends well with the action scenes in the story.
Highly recommended for the thriller readers who likes to enjoy a brisk read over a metro train journey.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2026
I read Cordero by Eric Weiss and ended up liking it quite a bit. The strongest part of the novel is the relationship between Tony and Joey. Their loyalty feels genuine, especially as the story pulls them deeper into desperation and violence. The 1980 setting also works well. The economic frustration, social drift, and background tension of the Iran hostage crisis give the story reality beyond the crime plot itself.
The writing is lean and fast-moving, sometimes to a fault. You can feel the author’s screenwriting background. Scenes move quickly, but some characters lacked depth and dialogue began to blur together. Still, the atmosphere is strong, and the story captures the feeling of ordinary people sliding toward irreversible decisions.
The writing is lean and fast-moving, sometimes to a fault. You can feel the author’s screenwriting background. Scenes move quickly, but some characters lacked depth and dialogue began to blur together. Still, the atmosphere is strong, and the story captures the feeling of ordinary people sliding toward irreversible decisions.
March 3, 2026
A book that is better suited to screen than print, Cordero is a fast-paced action thriller with a lot of twists and turns. It takes a while to understand what is happening since the characters enter without much introduction or development, and then by the time you do understand where the plot is headed, everything is over.
It’s a good story concept but leaves much to be desired. Some of the characters are hard to distinguish from each other since the dialogue weaves together, and it ends on a sad note with lots of remaining questions. I would recommend this novel for people who connect easily with screen plays.
It’s a good story concept but leaves much to be desired. Some of the characters are hard to distinguish from each other since the dialogue weaves together, and it ends on a sad note with lots of remaining questions. I would recommend this novel for people who connect easily with screen plays.
Review of advance copy received from Indie Reviewers
A well written and entertaining read.
A gripping California noir with an atmospheric dive into 1980s Southern California, that hooked me from the first chapter. The tension and characters are real. Tony Gonzalez finds himself trapped with a dangerous apocalyptic, gun and drug using group, which later in the book includes his younger brother. Tony wants to make a fresh start with his younger brother and girlfriend and tries to break away from the group. Great action scenes and good pacing. A noir with emotional dilemmas and depth.
A gripping California noir with an atmospheric dive into 1980s Southern California, that hooked me from the first chapter. The tension and characters are real. Tony Gonzalez finds himself trapped with a dangerous apocalyptic, gun and drug using group, which later in the book includes his younger brother. Tony wants to make a fresh start with his younger brother and girlfriend and tries to break away from the group. Great action scenes and good pacing. A noir with emotional dilemmas and depth.
Review of advance copy
So if you read the info about the author it will tell you they were experienced writing screen scripts. If you want to read a movie this is pretty good. My biggest complaint is that the characters have very little depth. Like a movie, any backstory you get is short. Lots of action. Definitely a shoot em up bang bang.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
March 9, 2026
A bank robbery is coming but no one knows about it yet. He is having to take his younger brother when they have nowhere else to live. She also wants to leave the town as much as he does and it is not going to be easy. He needs to keep his younger brother alive as well so see where it will all go
I received an advance copy from hidden gems and a brilliant read
I received an advance copy from hidden gems and a brilliant read
March 18, 2026
This story gets you from the first page and doesn’t let you go. I love the authors writing style. Having the story take place in 1980 was brilliant. This is before cell phones and computers, so it gives you a tension that you wouldn’t find if the book took place in the 2000s. Glad I found this new to me author and I can’t wait to read more from him.
May 9, 2026
It's well done - I didn't know there was a genre like California Noir, but i like it - it's very California, and the author has a screenwriter's touch, which means he directs our attention and is aware of how to redirect it. I liked the characters, and the action, kind of like the Blues Brothers of San Bernardino County - lots of wrecked police cars, but that's entertainment for you.
May 28, 2026
Honestly wasn’t expecting this to feel this emotional from the description. The whole 1980 California crime vibe and the relationship between the brothers already has me interested enough to pick it up.
March 23, 2026
Lot of Action
This book grabbed me from the first page. It has lots of action, A bank robbery and a shoot out.
This book grabbed me from the first page. It has lots of action, A bank robbery and a shoot out.
April 21, 2026
Compelling flow that hooks the readers into excitement and then it builds with intensity. Filled with thrilling scenes that the bank robbery is full of action which I truly enjoyed reading.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews