ABOUT THE BOOK

Two drifters pull their caddy ragtop into a 7-Eleven outside Austin, Texas. They buy a pack of cigarettes; they shoot a guy over a penny. And hit the road to mayhem. Joined by Della,a young working class woman who's had to leave town because of a lethal encounter in a hotel bar, the trio embark on a bullet-riddled odyssey, pursued by Rule Hoos, a Texas Ranger who follows his own lonely code, and breaks it.

In this fast moving southern noir that marries poetry to action, the story flows over terrain from Texas hill country through coastal swamps into the lush East Texas riverbottoms as each flawed character seeks his own redemption. Robbers is a literary thriller of the first order.

Is life imitating art? Check out this news report of a recent Texas jailbreak...

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

'A lethal ride into America's heart of darkness - jaded, sordid, amoral and poetic.'
- Ian Rankin

'it's fabulous'
- Donna Leon

'This is my kind of book.'
- James Ellroy

'A bullet-riddled odyssey of jaded rednecks in search of illusory redemption, this is a hell of a debut.'
- The Guardian

'If Elmore Leonard lived in Texas, his name would be Christopher Cook.'
- Kinky Friedman

'Christopher Cook writes like an angel, and he has certainly done his homework. He paints a perfect picture of the Texas low-life - which is a level of hell all its own - and even better, he knows how to love and savour his characters. This is a terrific book. I haven't enjoyed a novel this much in years. And I can't wait for the next one.'
- James Crumley

'...fearless originality, in a lyric voice that sings itself raw.'
- New York Times Book Review

'...an excellent novel by an authentic new voice.'
- Crime And Detective Stories

The harsh, foreboding essence of rural Texas dominates Christopher Cook's bloody, bittersweet debut novel, Robbers, which charts the adventures of two criminal drifters and their pursuer.
This gritty crime drama is not for the faint of heart, but Cook's prose sets it a notch above many like novels. - Publishers' Weekly