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Parole
"You can get out of jail, but you never get out of parole."
Kenny Ruffin, a former gang leader serving hard time in San Quentin, looks forward to his release so he can get his life back and meet his teenage son for the first time. His destiny becomes entangled with that of a redneck career criminal called Cat McGrath when the two of them are sent back to L.A. on the same bus. McGrath warns Ruffin that the gangs will never allow him back on the street and he will end up back in prison no matter what he does. As predicted, they are met with gunfire as they step off the bus. Ruffin vows to track down the shooters to redeem his honor and status, as McGrath draws him into a crackbrained scheme to even old scores with a gang of dirty cops.
With memorable characters, lots of action, a suspenseful plot and plenty of humor, PAROLE is a crime thriller in the tradition of Elmore Leonard.
"...A tale that is hard to put down and satisfyingly original: a standout in its genre." - Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review
"...A joy to read!" - Ken Bruen, author of the award-winning Jack Taylor series
Kenny Ruffin, a former gang leader serving hard time in San Quentin, looks forward to his release so he can get his life back and meet his teenage son for the first time. His destiny becomes entangled with that of a redneck career criminal called Cat McGrath when the two of them are sent back to L.A. on the same bus. McGrath warns Ruffin that the gangs will never allow him back on the street and he will end up back in prison no matter what he does. As predicted, they are met with gunfire as they step off the bus. Ruffin vows to track down the shooters to redeem his honor and status, as McGrath draws him into a crackbrained scheme to even old scores with a gang of dirty cops.
With memorable characters, lots of action, a suspenseful plot and plenty of humor, PAROLE is a crime thriller in the tradition of Elmore Leonard.
"...A tale that is hard to put down and satisfyingly original: a standout in its genre." - Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review
"...A joy to read!" - Ken Bruen, author of the award-winning Jack Taylor series
251 pages, Paperback
Published May 7, 2019
About the author
Bruce Hartman
19 books45 followersBruce Hartman lives with his wife in Pennsylvania. He has worked as a pianist, bookseller and attorney and has been writing fiction for many years. He is the author of fourteen novels, all available on Amazon.
His latest book, THE WHITE NAGUAL, is set in the haunting Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona in 1870. John Pierce, an army scout, is sent into the wilderness to track down a killer he knows to be his former commanding officer and friend, Andrew Brodie, who is said to be roaming the mountains in the form of an Apache demon called a nagual. It is an elemental tale of good and evil and their shifting shapes in the struggle for the human heart.
His previous book, THE DIVIDE, is a sequel to LEGEND OF LOST BASIN, which was Finalist for the 2025 Spur Award from Western Writers of America for "Best Traditional Western Novel." The two novels are the first books in the projected Lost West Trilogy. One reviewer called THE DIVIDE "a compelling sojourn into death, love, and challenge [which] represents not just a compelling Western adventure set in the late 1800s, but a review of thought-provoking perceptions and issues of the times."
Kirkus Reviews called LEGEND OF LOST BASIN "a riveting addition to the Western genre." Another reviewer called it "a literary novel of the West which stands apart." It is in fact a saga of domination, betrayal, discovery, growth and love set against the brooding high desert landscape of the West.
Among his other books, most of which are mysteries, the most popular are those in the Philosophical Detective Trilogy, beginning with THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE (2014), continuing with THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE RETURNS (2020), and concluding with THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE'S LAST CASE (2023). All three novels concern the extraordinary investigations of a blind poet and fabulist who calls himself Jorge Luis Borges, and who, together with his assistant Nick Martin, wrestles with a baffling series of crimes and the equally baffling conundrums of literature and philosophy, including Zeno's paradoxes and the mysteries of destiny, personal identity and artistic creation. Kirkus Reviews called THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE "a suspenseful, pitch-perfect novel.. an intelligent, original detective novel." The sequels stand by themselves but the three books taken together form an integrated whole.
Bruce Hartman's previous book, PAROLE, is a crime thriller in the tradition of Elmore Leonard about an unlikely pair of parolees from San Quentin struggling against the odds to recover their lives and fortunes in L.A. If it were a movie, it would probably be classified as an action/comedy/thriller. It has recently become available as an audiobook on Audible.
His first novel, PERFECTLY HEALTHY MAN DROPS DEAD, won the Salvo Press Mystery Novel Award and was published by Salvo Press in 2008. In 2018 it was reissued by Swallow Tail Press in a revised Tenth Anniversary Edition (both paperback and ebook).
Bruce Hartman's second book, THE RULES OF DREAMING, published by Swallow Tail Press in 2013, was awarded Kirkus Star for Books of Exceptional Merit. Kirkus Reviews called it "a mind-bending marriage of ambitious literary theory and classic murder mystery" and selected it as one of its "Top 100 Indie Books of 2013." Another mystery, THE MUSE OF VIOLENCE, was also published in 2013.
Bruce Hartman's seventh novel, POTLATCH: A Comedy, is a satirical comedy set in Philadelphia. Readers' Favorite Book Reviews called it "one of the most amusing reads ever to be published."
POTLATCH is the second entry in a projected trilogy which began with A BUTTERFLY IN PHILADELPHIA. Readers' Favorite Book Reviews called BUTTERFLY "one of the strange comic masterpieces that you're quite lucky to run across once in a very great while."
POTLATCH followed another comic novel, BIG DATA IS WATCHING YOU! (recently republished in a slightly revised form as BIG Ai IS WATCHING YOU!), a satirical techno-dystopia set i
His latest book, THE WHITE NAGUAL, is set in the haunting Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona in 1870. John Pierce, an army scout, is sent into the wilderness to track down a killer he knows to be his former commanding officer and friend, Andrew Brodie, who is said to be roaming the mountains in the form of an Apache demon called a nagual. It is an elemental tale of good and evil and their shifting shapes in the struggle for the human heart.
His previous book, THE DIVIDE, is a sequel to LEGEND OF LOST BASIN, which was Finalist for the 2025 Spur Award from Western Writers of America for "Best Traditional Western Novel." The two novels are the first books in the projected Lost West Trilogy. One reviewer called THE DIVIDE "a compelling sojourn into death, love, and challenge [which] represents not just a compelling Western adventure set in the late 1800s, but a review of thought-provoking perceptions and issues of the times."
Kirkus Reviews called LEGEND OF LOST BASIN "a riveting addition to the Western genre." Another reviewer called it "a literary novel of the West which stands apart." It is in fact a saga of domination, betrayal, discovery, growth and love set against the brooding high desert landscape of the West.
Among his other books, most of which are mysteries, the most popular are those in the Philosophical Detective Trilogy, beginning with THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE (2014), continuing with THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE RETURNS (2020), and concluding with THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE'S LAST CASE (2023). All three novels concern the extraordinary investigations of a blind poet and fabulist who calls himself Jorge Luis Borges, and who, together with his assistant Nick Martin, wrestles with a baffling series of crimes and the equally baffling conundrums of literature and philosophy, including Zeno's paradoxes and the mysteries of destiny, personal identity and artistic creation. Kirkus Reviews called THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE "a suspenseful, pitch-perfect novel.. an intelligent, original detective novel." The sequels stand by themselves but the three books taken together form an integrated whole.
Bruce Hartman's previous book, PAROLE, is a crime thriller in the tradition of Elmore Leonard about an unlikely pair of parolees from San Quentin struggling against the odds to recover their lives and fortunes in L.A. If it were a movie, it would probably be classified as an action/comedy/thriller. It has recently become available as an audiobook on Audible.
His first novel, PERFECTLY HEALTHY MAN DROPS DEAD, won the Salvo Press Mystery Novel Award and was published by Salvo Press in 2008. In 2018 it was reissued by Swallow Tail Press in a revised Tenth Anniversary Edition (both paperback and ebook).
Bruce Hartman's second book, THE RULES OF DREAMING, published by Swallow Tail Press in 2013, was awarded Kirkus Star for Books of Exceptional Merit. Kirkus Reviews called it "a mind-bending marriage of ambitious literary theory and classic murder mystery" and selected it as one of its "Top 100 Indie Books of 2013." Another mystery, THE MUSE OF VIOLENCE, was also published in 2013.
Bruce Hartman's seventh novel, POTLATCH: A Comedy, is a satirical comedy set in Philadelphia. Readers' Favorite Book Reviews called it "one of the most amusing reads ever to be published."
POTLATCH is the second entry in a projected trilogy which began with A BUTTERFLY IN PHILADELPHIA. Readers' Favorite Book Reviews called BUTTERFLY "one of the strange comic masterpieces that you're quite lucky to run across once in a very great while."
POTLATCH followed another comic novel, BIG DATA IS WATCHING YOU! (recently republished in a slightly revised form as BIG Ai IS WATCHING YOU!), a satirical techno-dystopia set i
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 7, 2019
No one does criminals like Bruce Hartman, so meet his latest: two unlikely representatives of the existential twilight zone. Men living authentically while wandering into the dilemma of responsibility. Or, two men wandering into the Hotel California trying to check out but can never leave. At first, I couldn't connect with these characters as I did with those of his previous novels but they are in your face and if injustice drives you mad, then one cannot help but cheer them on. Hartman's trademark sense of humor is present, cushioning the despair some of us feel about the justice system, the kafka-esque labyrinth of inmates running the asylum. Wheels within wheels...but that is a different song. Oh, yes, it would make a fantastically entertaining film but for now, wrap yourself up in the plot, characters, and words, carefully, while enjoying the background music of this tale.
May 28, 2023
Loved the narration of Jimmy Yu, he bring this the triller to your ear, the right of angst, action, pace and humour in the narration.
Kenny Ruffin, a former gang leader and redneck career criminal called Cat McGrath , very different criminals finds themselves, parolees leaving San Quentin side by side on the same bus. We have a murder straight of the bat, with a car chase. Parole is an exciting, witty,
Kenny Ruffin, a former gang leader and redneck career criminal called Cat McGrath , very different criminals finds themselves, parolees leaving San Quentin side by side on the same bus. We have a murder straight of the bat, with a car chase. Parole is an exciting, witty,
June 14, 2020
Pretty good
Liked it, good story, good ending, worth your time. Would be a decent beach read if they allow us to go to the beach. Recommend.
Liked it, good story, good ending, worth your time. Would be a decent beach read if they allow us to go to the beach. Recommend.
June 21, 2023
the Best Yet!
Are usually read books to pass the time. This book I could not put down Bruce this is the best one yet.
Are usually read books to pass the time. This book I could not put down Bruce this is the best one yet.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews