Crowbar

by Andrew Edwards

Jay and Al, exiled Rhodesian mercenaries near the end of their rope, take a bagman job for a man in black named Cohen. Launched deep into the heavy syndicate, Jay and Al navigate cutouts and cults, MK-Ultra and ethnomafias, and the shadowy founders of the digital era -- a dark journey culminating in an inconceivable collision of the criminal and spiritual underworlds. Part hardboiled noir, part psychogenic fugue, CROWBAR races at the bugged-out speed of the cocaine-and-cash-fueled '80s, as if James Ellroy mindflayed David Lynch into the arms of Dostoevsky.

Genres: Fiction

242 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2025

Reviews

[Gnarly Authenticity . · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paean to the state of Oregon. Thinkingmans ellroy. Neuromancer prequel. A tale told in blipverts. Military-industrial monolith mcguffin. Darkside psychedelia from the maxheadroom/philcollins era. A pair of S.O.F. Mag gunsels with oddly impeccable musical taste. The ghost of Robert Stone hovers over all such tales of wrong turns taken at the sixties crossroads. Guitars & cars, dope & guns--the trappings of American possibility on the Pacific's edge between eternal life and eternal buglife in scum. A novella from the wiki wormholes: of, for, by and about the spiritual war arising from the networks.

Hippy gunslinger Andrew Edwards continues to illuminate his tender noir cosmos with the faulknero-Mccarthyian flashes familiar from King Of Dogs.

[Gunter]

I’ve found myself a few times wondering what I was reading. This is not necessarily a knock on the author. It might just be me being tired, or not sharp enough with prose or style. So I’ll skip the rating for now. I think it deserves a reread at some point, or maybe I’ll try some of the author’s other work first.

[Buddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i enjoyed King of Dogs so i was looking forward to Crowbar, I got 75 pages in and stopped reading. i hate the writing style, it seems stream-of-consciousness, condensed/compact and aimless. i dont see an interesting plot with pacing. at least king of dogs was a poor man's cormac mccarthy ripoff but this seems more influenced by burroughs. the book would've benefited from an editor/quality control. the front and back cover appear blurry.

[Allen Vines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding

Very well done and interesting. The spiritual world is very real and active. I look forward to more from Edwards.

[Austin H · Rating 5 out of 5]

a kaleidoscope on every page

What a trip. I’m going to have to read it a few more times to fully understand it. Fantastic painting put to words.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked King of Dogs more. This was frenetic and difficult to follow though I liked the structure and way it was written. Characters could be better developed

[James Mordechai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not for me!