Dry Hustle

by Sarah Kernochan

On the road with a pair of sexual con artists preying on men and their wallets. Author Kernochan followed around a real duo before writing this riotous, raunchy novel. The story: a conniving (and big-breasted) scam queen named Kristal schools a young (small-breasted) naif in the art of the "dry hustle." Starting in a Times Square dance hall, the two women travel across bicentennial America, targeting hapless males in a string of Hilton hotels - until they run into Cody, a con man who is a master seducer in his own right. First published in 1977, Dry Hustle is now considered a classic.

"Serves up some of the raunchiest, explicit sex scenes yet...ferociously funny..." - Barbara Bannon, Publishers Weekly

"Entertaining, ingenious scams. It's raunchy...fast-paced and funny!" - San Francisco Examiner

"What's a nice girl from Sarah Lawrence doing writing a dirty book like this?" - US Magazine

Genres: Fiction

308 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 23, 2010

About the author

I decided to be a writer at age 14. The books I loved made me want to draw love in the same way, to beguile and woo a reader away from the sensory world. I don't think of myself as an author but rather as a storyteller. I have only published two books because I got sidetracked into film. That career reached its peak with my directing a movie from my own script called "All I Wanna Do" [original title: "The Hairy Bird"] with Kirsten Dunst and Lynn Redgrave. The other peak was winning a second Academy Award for documentary.

I worried that, when I eventually returned to writing novels, screenwriting would have ruined my prose style. I found that, instead, it had sharpened my ability to plot and shape a story. I felt more confident about constructing the intricate mystery of JANE WAS HERE and to keep readers turning pages.

Because of several personal experiences with ghosts, as well as past-life flashbacks, I became interested in reincarnation and the paranormal. (I am currently writing about those experiences in an ongoing series on my blog - sort of a paranormal memoir. Please visit!) Over time I developed my own spirituality and rapport with the divine, and I drew upon all my beliefs when writing JANE WAS HERE. This makes the novel so much more than an entertainment to me. I am still trying to lift people out of this world!

Reviews

[Kathe Koja · Rating 3 out of 5]

A picaresque for the ages. A dirty funny heartbreak sister act tale of loss, motherhood, longing, belonging, with wigs, firemen, strangers in bars, too many Irish coffees and the proverbial heart of gold.

[Jessica T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty fun