★2016年英國「犯罪時報」網站（Crime Time）百大犯罪小說Top 1
★2016年CWA金匕首獎、新血匕首獎雙料得主
★2016年美國亞馬遜書店年度最佳驚悚推理小說選書
★已授權美、英、法、韓、希、日、德、荷、瑞、土，10國語文
★亞馬遜書店四月選書
★美國獨立書商Indie Next四月選書
★邦諾書店發現新人作家選書
★Apple四月選書
★榮獲洛杉磯時報圖書獎的懸疑驚悚小說獎
★《神棄之地》（The Devil All the Time）獲獎作者Donald Ray Pollock，普立茲獎得主Robert Olen Butler，柑橘獎、愛倫坡獎決選作家Attica Locke盛情推薦
★電影公司Gotham Group（【移動迷宮】系列）簽下電影改編權。新聞：http://www.thewrap.com/bill-beverlys-acclaimed-crime-novel-dodgers-snags-movie-rights-deal/

「令人驚豔的犯罪小說，融冶如《麥田捕手》般的成長故事與凱魯亞克式的旅記。」《出版人週刊》星級書評

認真謹慎的十五歲少年小東，在洛杉磯毒品幫派底下工作。小說開篇就是緊繃的場面，小東負責把風的毒品交易站在毫無預警的情況下遭到警方突襲，迅速淪陷，在雙方激烈駁火中，一名無辜的女孩不幸喪生。

小東被迫藏匿起來，但是不久就接到幫派老大，也就是他叔叔的電話，指示他去執行一個特別任務：刺殺一名逃到威斯康辛州的關鍵證人。於是小東與另外三名黑人青少年（包括小東衝動莽撞的弟弟阿泰）生平第一次離開家鄉，前往美國遙遠的另一頭。

小東一行人匆忙出發，褪去洛杉磯人的身份，離開熟悉的文化，駕駛普通的藍色廂型車穿越（幾乎全是白人的）美國中部，在任務完成前只能以車為家。上面給的只有乾淨衣服、一捲付油錢的鈔票、食物、槍，以及狙擊目標，剩下的全靠他們自求多福。

這是一段危機四伏的漫漫長途：四個年輕人之間的分裂衝突、洛杉磯以外的陌生美國社會、幫派組織始料未及的脆弱，小東雙手沾上的又會是誰的血？最終，他必須思考哪裡才是屬於他的安身立命之處，他想成為什麼樣的人。他必須抉擇，是否要回家重拾原本的身份，或者繼續流亡，成為另外一個人！

《Dodgers》以精鍊的文字創造一系列令人難以忘懷的鮮活人物，同時灌注深厚同理心與銳利機鋒，小東的自我追尋與救贖之路既黑暗且動人，並反思美國認同自我再創造的本質。

 

Bill Beverly grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and studied at Oberlin College and the University of Florida. His research on criminal fugitives and the stories surrounding them became the book On the Lam: Narratives of Flight in J. Edgar Hoover's America. He teaches American literature and writing at Trinity University in Washington, DC.

 

"“A dazzling crime novel that’s equal parts coming-of-age tale à la Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and travelogue à la Kerouac... Readers won’t soon forget East and his bloody journey of self-discovery and, ultimately, salvation.” - Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review)

“The premise and execution are terrific, and the prose is remarkable: Beverly does more with a sentence than many writers accomplish in a paragraph. East and his compatriots are old before their time, and yet we never lose the sense that they are still growing up, even if their growing-up is like that of soldiers dropped behind enemy lines in their first war… Highly recommended for fans of Richard Price, this is a searing novel about crime, race, and coming-of-age, with characters who live, breathe, and bleed.” - Booklist (Starred Review)

"Dark, edgy and riveting and, for all that, deeply, humanly serious, Dodgers is white knuckles for the mind. I love this book and will closely follow Bill Beverly forever hereafter." - Robert Olen Butler , Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

“Not only is the fast-paced and masterfully plotted Dodgers one of the greatest literary crime novels you will read in your lifetime, Bill Beverley has also created, in the teenage boy, East, one of the most unforgettable and heartbreaking characters ever encountered in American fiction.”- Donald Ray Pollock, author of Knockemstiff & The Devil All the Time

"Propulsive, brutally honest and yet unexpectedly tender, Dodgers is one of the best debuts I've read. I was absolutely gripped by the voice, the world of East and his brother, and surprised at nearly ever turn. I audibly gasped at the end." - Attica Locke, author of Black Water Rising and Pleasantville