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Albuquerque to Berkeley
Albuquerque to Berkeley brings together two John Byrne Barry election-season thrillers — the award-winning Bones in the Wash: Politics is Tough. Family is Tougher, set during the 2008 presidential campaign in New Mexico, and Wasted, a “green noir” mystery set in the Berkeley recycling world, against the backdrop of a pivotal city council race.
What ties the books together is the daunting challenge of doing the right thing. Honesty is the best policy, right? Except maybe in politics, family, love, and murder.
In Bones in the Wash, ambitious Albuquerque Mayor Tomas Zamara is charged with doing "whatever it takes" to deliver the state’s five electoral votes for John McCain. Though he has a strong sense of integrity, he knows politics is like playing football on a muddy field. If you don’t get dirty, you’re not giving your all.
In Wasted, Berkeley reporter Brian Hunter investigates the “recycling wars,” finds the body of his friend Doug crushed in an aluminum bale, and hunts down the murderer, all the while trying to win the heart of Barb, Doug’s former lover, now a suspect in his murder. In his zeal to tell the truth about the threat of a corporate takeover of the local recycling collective, he tells a few white lies to get information. And maybe he keeps some of the truth to himself instead of publishing it. It's a murky business, this truth-telling.
These novels are “page-turners with a conscience” — in that sweet spot between trashy beach reading and literary masterpiece, where the plot gallops like a racehorse, but the characters are three-dimensional and face tough moral choices.
What ties the books together is the daunting challenge of doing the right thing. Honesty is the best policy, right? Except maybe in politics, family, love, and murder.
In Bones in the Wash, ambitious Albuquerque Mayor Tomas Zamara is charged with doing "whatever it takes" to deliver the state’s five electoral votes for John McCain. Though he has a strong sense of integrity, he knows politics is like playing football on a muddy field. If you don’t get dirty, you’re not giving your all.
In Wasted, Berkeley reporter Brian Hunter investigates the “recycling wars,” finds the body of his friend Doug crushed in an aluminum bale, and hunts down the murderer, all the while trying to win the heart of Barb, Doug’s former lover, now a suspect in his murder. In his zeal to tell the truth about the threat of a corporate takeover of the local recycling collective, he tells a few white lies to get information. And maybe he keeps some of the truth to himself instead of publishing it. It's a murky business, this truth-telling.
These novels are “page-turners with a conscience” — in that sweet spot between trashy beach reading and literary masterpiece, where the plot gallops like a racehorse, but the characters are three-dimensional and face tough moral choices.
677 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 16, 2016
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About the author
John Byrne Barry
5 books28 followersJohn Byrne Barry is a writer, designer, actor, bike tour leader, and crossing guard.
His first novel — Bones in the Wash: Politics is Tough. Family is Tougher — set during the 2008 presidential campaign in New Mexico, won the 2015 Best Book Award from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA).
His first novel — Bones in the Wash: Politics is Tough. Family is Tougher — set during the 2008 presidential campaign in New Mexico, won the 2015 Best Book Award from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA).
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