“A rollicking, off-kilter joy ride in the vein of Bret Easton Ellis and Jack Kerouac Hits all the laser-sharp high notes of a modern-day hero on the run, as told by one of the more accessible voices I’ve read in ages. Compelling, twisting, irreverent, and entertaining. Blends creative fiction and literary thriller in an unstoppable story for current times.”
— Claire Fullerton
Author of Little Tea, winner of the 2020 International Book Award
“A story so compulsively readable that you’ll carry it to the kitchen in the middle of the night while you’re waiting for your tea kettle to boil.”
—Jacquelyn Mitchard
Number one New York Times bestselling author
“Barry Maher has got a wicked voice and a razor-sharp tongue to match. He’s found a countercultural cad for the ages with his anti-hero Steve Witowski… [This is] a great book.”
— Clay McLeod Chapman
Author of The Remaking and Whisper Down the Lane
“Barry Maher’s debut novel is the Comp Lit classic you always wanted to read, a witches’ brew of sexual tension, metaphysical speculation, lurid crime, tabloid scandal, and black magic, all served up with sly wit and some unexpected grace notes.”
—Michael Prescott
New York Times bestselling author
Advance Praise
From Sixteen Distinguished Authors
“An utter delight… exceptionally well-realized… Novels about catastrophic failures are often the best kind of novels, and Barry Maher’s protagonist Steve Witowski proves himself an indelible part of that canon. Echoes of Denis Johnson, Carl Hiaasen, even Thomas Pynchon—those hilarious laureates of American calamity—abound, but Maher has a deadpan command that’s entirely his own. An absolute blast.”
—Matthew Specktor
Author of the New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice American Dream Machine and The Golden Hour. Founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books.
“I love the writing. Incredibly readable—the pages just fly by—and hands-down the most unique tale I’ve read in years.”
—Lisa Black
New York Times bestselling author of Every Kind of Wicked.
“If debut author Barry Maher set out to write a book consumed with mayhem, peopled with borderline Ivy Leaguers in desperate circumstances who seem to care little or nothing for each other, and make it a story so compulsively readable that you’ll carry it to the kitchen in the middle of the night while you’re waiting for your tea kettle to boil, he did, and this is it. This is pretty great fiction.
—Jacquelyn Mitchard
Number one New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean, the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, made into the film of the same name, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Whoopi Goldberg.
“What a page turner. Witty, literate, scary, sexy, and powerfully evocative of Southern California trying to leave the Sixties behind. I can’t wait to read his next novel. Barry Maher is a brilliant new literary talent.”
—Gayle Lynds
New York Times bestselling author of The Assassins and Masquerade. The Hades Factor, co-written with Robert Ludlum, became a CBS mini Series. Co-founder and former president of International Thriller Writers.
“I loved it. Barry Maher is a highly original and completely delightful new voice in crime fiction.”
—Deon Meyer
Award-winning international bestselling author of The Last Hunt. Deon’s books have been published in more than 40 countries. Dead Before Dying (as Cape Town) and Trackers were turned into international TV series.
“With a voice that jumps off the page, Barry Maher delivers a smart debut novel with a wink and a smirk that is part thriller, part supernatural horror. Like the product of a lusty, literary one night stand between Anne Rice and Lee Child. Here’s hoping Maher progresses his lead character into a follow-up story.”
—Pamela Fagan Hutchins
USA Today bestselling author of the Patrick Flint novels. Pamela has sold over 3 million books. She’s an Amazon Charts Top 15 bestseller, a multiple USA Best Books winner and the winner of the Silver Falchion Award for Best Adult Mystery.
“A man on the run, a beautiful woman, and a spooky old church combine with crackling writing, laser humor, and a little bit of magic to create a book that will keep readers turning the pages. Add a touch of the paranormal, a dash of intrigue, and a missing body, and this manuscript is a great read!”
—Casey Daniels
Bestselling author of 32 novels including Don of the Dead. Also writes as Kylie Logan.
“WOW! What a fascinating read. Barry Maher has created the ultimate antihero in Steve Witowski. This is a powerful supernatural thriller that scares the crap out of you. Just when you think you know what’s going on, you discover you don’t. A well-written, haunting debut that grabs hold and refuses to let you go. This is a book I’m not going to forget. Different and impossible to put down.”
—Chris Goff
Bestselling author of Dark Waters and Red Sky, Military Writers Society of America Gold Medalist for Mystery/Thriller.
“An enormous amount of fun. Wholly fresh and original. Wickedly funny. Within a couple of chapters you’ll think you know where this is going . . . a few chapters more and you’ll realize you were very wrong. This is a hot, sweaty, magic- and murder-infused rollercoaster of a story that takes you in every direction except the one you’re expecting. I laughed. I gagged. I loved it.”
—David Moody
Author of the Hater and Autumn novels. Guillermo Del Toro, director of The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth, bought the rights to Hater. Autumn became a film starring Dexter Fletcher and David Carradine.
“Barry Maher has got a wicked voice and a razor-sharp tongue to match. He’s found a countercultural cad for the ages with his anti-hero Steve Witowski. Don’t be surprised to hear that name echoed alongside Raoul Duke, Old Bull Lee or Mark Renton in the future… a great book.”
—Clay McLeod Chapman
Author of The Remaking and Whisper Down the Lane. Co-author of the film, The Boy, starring Elijah Wood. Clay also teaches writing at The Actors Studio MFA program at Pace University. “Clay McLeod Chapman races back and forth along the serrated edges of everyday American madness, objectively recording each whimper of anguish,” Tom Robbins wrote in Still Life with Woodpecker.
“Brilliant! Witty, fast, and fun. Maher’s novel makes your own relationship issues pale compared to the protagonist, ‘Stephen Witowski.’ A failed small-time drug dealer on the lam, his problems are just beginning when he stumbles across a stunningly beautiful woman under assault by a crazed assailant mumbling in Latin. A taste of Fatal Attraction with a rewrite by Stephen King gives you a sampling of how Witowski’s ‘harmful to worse’ scenario is about to play out in twists and turns you cannot predict.”
—Kevin Tinto
Author of the Indie mega-bestselling Ice Trilogy, with over 500,000 copies sold and 4,700 reviews on Amazon alone.
“Well written, suspenseful and original.”
—A.J. Banner
USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of The Good Neighbor.
“Barry Maher’s manuscript s a romp equal parts Indiana Jones and Elmore Leonard, with a smidge of Ira Levin for good measure!”
—John F.D. Taff
Multiple Bram Stoker Award-Nominated Author of The End in All Beginnings and The Fearing.
“I loved it… Imaginative, told in an exciting voice, and altogether fascinating… reminded me of Graham Greene.”
—John C. Sheldon
Co-author with Gayle Lynds of A Triumph of Logic.
“Barry Maher’s debut novel is the Comp Lit classic you always wanted to read, a witches’ brew of sexual tension, metaphysical speculation, lurid crime, tabloid scandal, and black magic, all served up with sly wit and some unexpected grace notes.”
—Michael Prescott
New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow Hunter. Michael has sold well over two million books.
“A rollicking, off-kilter joy ride in the vein of Bret Easton Ellis and Jack Kerouac. Hits all the laser-sharp high notes of a modern-day hero on the run, as told by one of the more accessible voices I’ve read in ages. Compelling, twisting, irreverent, and entertaining, Barry Maher blends creative fiction and literary thriller in an unstoppable story for current times.”
—Claire Fullerton
Five time award-winning author of Little Tea and Mourning Dove. Winner of the 2020 International Book Award.
About Barry
Barry Maher was ridiculously successful as “a motivational speaker for people who don’t believe in motivational speakers,” a storyteller who spoke to millions all over the world. You may have seen him:
- on the Today Show, CNBC or NBC Nightly News;
- in publications like USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the London Times;
- on any of over 850 TV and radio stations or any of over 18,000 websites.
Though Barry often referred to himself as “a highly-overpaid, self-appointed guru,” his client list was packed with organizations like the American Bar Association, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, the National Lottery of Ireland, the U.S. Army and Wells Fargo.
“Barry Maher is one persuasive son-of-a-bitch.”
-F. Paul Sheehan, CFO, Dyer Sheehan Group, Inc.
Barry Maher has a world-class track record of creating success. He built a multimillion-dollar speaking business by achieving outstanding PR. And he will be utilizing those same unique skills and resources—doing whatever is necessary, on a full-time basis—to make his debut novel a publishing phenomenon.
- Barry was the number one salesperson in the world (out of 500) for a Fortune 100 company. “To his powerful and famous clients,” declared the business journal Selling Power®, “Barry Maher is simply the best sales trainer in the business.”
- Barry is frequently sought as an expert witness on the subject in federal and state court. He even managed to convince Bill Gates to write a chapter for one of his bestselling marketing manuals.