Today we introduce January’s Rogue author, Edward Weinman, a journalist and travel writer whose 15 years as an ex-pat in Iceland informs his gripping crime novel The Ring Road. Blending the inventive plotting of Jo Nesbo, the dark fantasies of Stieg Larsson and the hardboiled anti-heroes of Elmore Leonard, The Ring Road is a dark-hearted crime drama set in the fire and ice of the world’s most enigmatic island.
A glacial volcano awakens with a series of eruptions, stranding ex-cop Hobson at 66° North, where human behavior is as unpredictable as the weather. Hobson’s quickly ensnared in a bizarre murder investigation involving Gummi, a road-weary homicide detective; Jon Kari, an amoral entrepreneur; Snorri, a brutal pimp; and Úlfar, a homicidal sheep farmer. As Hobson falls in with a group of enigmatic tourists trying to survive the volcanic aftermath, the chase for a killer pushes them all to the icy edge of the inhabitable world.
Here’s what our original Rogue Ro Cuzon had to say:
“Edward Weinman’s novel is a hell of a trip—and a trip to Hell—through the unique landscape of Iceland and the no-less peculiar inner lives of some of its more colorful inhabitants (because, surely, Icelanders cannot all be this f**ked-up). A gripping tale laced with dark twisted humor, I couldn’t put it down. A Nordic Noir not for the faint of heart.” - Ro Cuzon, author of Under the Dixie Moon and Under the Carib Sun.
Edward Weinman spent nearly one fourth of his life as an expat on Iceland, enduring many long, dark, cold, windy, gray winters. But he made it out alive, without kids, and having suffered only one nervous breakdown. His debut thriller, The Ring Road, is born out of his life in Reykjavik where he worked as a travel writer. His journalism has been picked up byThe Associated Press and The Sunday Times of London, among others. Edward co-wrote the film A Little Trip to Heaven, a psychological thriller starring Forest Whitaker, Jeremy Renner and Julia Stiles, which screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Edward earned his MFA in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. You can connect with Ed on Twitter and on our Facebook page.
