Citizen Vince: A Novel

Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel of the Year

“You just have to read it . . . . Utterly inventive. . . excruciatingly breathless." —Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins: a riveting story of witness protection, petty thievery, local politics, and murder—set against the turbulent backdrop of the 1980 presidential election

It’s the fall of 1980, the last week before the presidential election that pits the downtrodden Jimmy Carter against the suspiciously sunny Ronald Reagan. In a seedy suburban house in Spokane, a small-time crook formerly from New York, Vince Camden, pockets his weekly allotment of stolen credit cards and heads off to his witness-protection job at a donut shop. At the shop he takes a shine to a regular named Kelly, who works for a local politician. Somehow he finds himself and the politician in a parking lot at three in the morning, giving the slip to a couple of menacing thugs. And then he crosses the path of a young detective—and discovers his credit-scam partner, lying dead in his passport-photo office with a Cheerio-size bullet-hole in his head. No one writing crime novels today tells a story or sketches a character with more freshness or élan than Jess Walter. Citizen Vince is his funniest and grittiest book yet.

One day you know more dead people that live ones...

Jess Walter is a writer with a rare talent for finding humanity and emotional truths in lives lived on both sides of the law. With his third novel, Citizen Vince, Walter has crafted a story as inventive as it is suspenseful -- an irresistible tale about the price of freedom and the mystery of salvation.

It's the fall of 1980, eight days before a presidential election that pits the downtrodden Jimmy Carter against the suspiciously sunny Ronald Reagan ("Are you better off than you were four years ago?"). In a quiet house in Spokane, Washington, Vince Camden wakes up at 1:59 a.m., pockets his weekly stash of stolen credit cards, and drops in on an all-night poker game with his low-life friends on his way to his witness-protection job dusting crullers at Donut Make You Hungry. This is the sum of Vince's new life: donuts, forged credit cards, marijuana smuggled in jars of volcanic ash, and a neurotic hooker girlfriend who dreams of being a real estate agent.

But when a familiar face shows up in town, Vince realizes that no matter how far you think you've run from your past . . . it's always close behind you. Over the course of the next unforgettable week, on the run from Spokane to New York's Lower East Side, Vince Camden will negotiate a maze of obsessive cops, eager politicians, and emerging mobsters, only to find that redemption might just exist in -- of all places -- a voting booth.

Darkly funny and surprisingly hopeful, Citizen Vince is the story of a charming crook chasing the biggest score of his life: a second chance. |

“You just have to read it ... Utterly inventive ... excruciatingly breathless … Maybe if Aaron Copland had written the score for a film noir starring the Marx Brothers there would be some prototype for Walter’s fusion fiction, but he didn’t and there isn’t.” - Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post

“Refreshing ... entertaining ... For readers who appreciate wry precision and expert timing, it may be enough to know that “Citizen Vince” arrives with sky-high praise from both Ken Bruen and Richard Russo, with whom Mr. Walter shares these qualities. For others, the book’s fusion of humor, crime and politics may be recommendation enough.” - Janet Maslin, New York Times

“Fresh and different—a gritty story of betrayal, and an extended riff on life, death, and politics. Walter is a literary talent writ large.” - Boston Globe

“Rich in robust characters ad wry dialogue, with agile prose, a big heart and a finely tuned plot.” - Seattle Times

“A splendidly entertaining, thoughtful book. . . . Jess Walter continues to impress.” - Sunday Telegraph

“Admirably unpredictable ... a story full of wonderful small surprises. Dispassionate and compassionate by turns, and always engrossing. Walter’s best by far.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Citizen Vince is the book of 2005 for me. I flat-out adore it. The dialogue is marvelous, and the characters-man, they sing. It’s a stunning, moving piece of work.” - Ken Bruen, author of The Magdalene Martyrs

“(An) immensely entertaining crime thriller and wry social commentary.” - Chicago Tribune

“With a multitude of scruffy, likable characters and a hopping plot, the story moves along, at turns gritty, funny, poignant and, despite some bloody crimes, surprisingly charming.” - The Oregonian (Portland)

“The magic—and, yes, that’s the correct word—of “Citizen Vince” comes from the character of the protagonist and the setting he finds himself in.” - Spokesman Review

“This tale of unlikely redemption works because of Walter’s virtuoso command of character and dialogue—along with a wicked second-act twist. . . with its Capara-like spirit, it serves as a surprisingly satisfying antidote to the avalanche of cynical chatter emanating from this year’s political campaigns and commentators.” - Booklist

“It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book as compulsively, indeed greedily, as I read Citizen Vince. Here are characters who seem to live of their own volition, who talk out of a terrible inner need to make themselves known and understood, who reveal not just themselves but the yearning heart of our great flawed democracy.” - Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Empire Falls

“What makes Walter’s third novel so enjoyable is Vince, a flawed but sympathetic character trying to find redemption.” - Library Journal