A ';wonderfully evocative' caper novel for fans of Donald E. Westlake and Elmore Leonard';a signal pleasure for crime-fiction aficionados' (Booklist). New Jersey, 1967. Angelo DiNoto is a powerful crime lord who bolsters his empire by importing pure heroin from an old Turkish farmer. But when a five-million-dollar shipment goes missing during the Newark riots, DiNoto isn't the only one to turn over every rockand bust some heads, arms, and legsto find it. A shady developer sees the heroin as the key to rejuvenating his fading business. His daughter Gloria, literally in bed with a band of wannabe revolutionaries, thinks the stash could be her chance to escape her father's influence and impress the woman she truly loves. ';The Mailman' is a longtime postal clerk who's survived the worst that life has to offeruntil throat cancer robs him of his voice and the will to live. To him, the drugs are a ticket to a better place. Topping off the wild cast of characters running through Newark and Manhattan is Walkaway Kelly, a private eye and Hell's Kitchen barfly who teeters continually on the brink of redemption. A twisty, thrilling crime story whose disparate threads converge in an unforgettable showdown, The Old Turk's Load is ';a marvel of Chandleresque plotting, with a deeply felt and utterly real ';60s setting and a heart as big as all outdoors' (Luc Sante, author of Low Life and Kill All Your Darlings).
