Devil She Knows - (Maureen Coughlin) by Bill Loehfelm (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"A taut, knowing story...Maureen Coughlin is a hero for the ages, a character who jumps off the page and demands the reader's full attention."--Laura Lippman, author of The Most Dangerous Thing

Maureen Coughlin's life isn't turning out as planned. At twenty-nine, she's stuck waiting tables in a Staten Island bar, and her only excitement comes from the next cigarette or a discreet dash of coke before her shift. But when a tryst between her coworker Dennis and an aspiring state senator named Frank Sebastian turns deadly, Maureen is jolted out of her routine. Soon she's on the run through the borough's seedy underbelly, desperate to stop Sebastian. She thinks she has seen the face of evil--and she doesn't know the half of it. A smoldering, hard-boiled crime story with a tough new heroine, The Devil She Knows has suspense to burn.

Review Quotes

"The deeply conflicted Maureen, in particular, is brilliantly developed--as compelling a character as this reviewer expects to see this year." --Thomas Gaughan, Booklist (starred review)

"A terrific drama . . . Loehfelm expertly ramps up the suspense, taking the reader on a dark ride . . ." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A rousing tale with riveting characters." --People

"The conspiracy in [The Devil She Knows] is on a smaller scale--and is all the more menacing for being so intimate." --The Wall Street Journal

"Bill Loehfelm's new book just won't get out of my mind. And the reason is Maureen Coughlin, the character of the year . . . At its base, this wonderful book is about power and lack of it . . . [I hope Loehfelm will] launch this unforgettable woman into a series of her own." --Diana Pinckley, The Times-Picayune

"In Maureen, Loehfelm has created an unlikely hero who is both appealing and believable . . . He tells [this] story in an original voice that is by turns gritty and lyrical . . . Rarely has a crime novelist launched a career with a trio of books that display such superior craftsmanship." --Bruce DeSilva, The Associated Press

"As complex and dirty as politics can be. And as scary." --New York Daily News

"At a bar, a tough city girl sees something she really shouldn't see, and immediately there's trouble--well-dressed, connected, and brazenly confident trouble. A tough city girl can get out of trouble, right? Not if she's caught in a dark corner of Staten Island, New York City's most tribal and secretive borough. So begins Bill Loehfelm's page-ripping thriller, The Devil She Knows. It's a fast, rough ride you can't put down." --Colin Harrison

"The Devil She Knows is nothing short of terrific. An absolutely original voice, and a story that grabs you by the throat and doesn't ever, ever, ever even think of letting go." --John Lescroart

"Bill Loehfelm, a rising star in crime fiction, just keeps rising higher: The Devil She Knows is a taut, knowing story, and Maureen Coughlin is a hero for the ages, a character who jumps off the page and demands the reader's full attention and empathy from the very start." --Laura Lippman

"A serious talent." --The Baltimore Sun

About the Author

Bill Loehfelm is the author of Fresh Kills, the first winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and another novel, Bloodroot. He was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Staten Island; he lives in New Orleans with his wife, the writer AC Lambeth.