Description

Professional wrestling meets Empire in a trilogy that RollingStone.com called “a one-of a kind literary offering for die-hard wrestling fans.”

New York City, 1969. Danno Garland is a middling member of the National Wrestling Council, a secretive syndicate of pro-wrestling promoters. He’s kept his head down for fifteen years, but now he’s found a new heavyweight champion, Babu, and plans to use him to build a wrestling empire. Blocked, though, by the NWC, Danno makes a deal with Florida boss Proctor King to ensure Danno’s man will be the next title holder. In exchange, the belt will go to Proctor’s son, Gilbert, once he’s out of prison in a couple of years.

But things don’t go according to plan, and now Danno is standing in a sold-out Shea Stadium on the night of biggest wrestling card of all time, and neither Babu nor Gilbert has shown up. Meanwhile, Lenny Long, Danno’s driver, is walking dazedly from the overturned van that was supposed to bring them to the venue, and the only sign of Gilbert is his foot.

Across the country, Proctor nervously watches the show on TV, wondering why his screw-up of a son doesn’t already have the championship belt in his hands. It’s taken four years of pay-offs, double dealing, and bone-breaking to arrange this match, and if all that’s gone to waste, he might just have to take a business trip to New York. The “fake” world of professional wrestling is going to get very real.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

About the author(s)

Paul O’Brien is an award-winning filmmaker and bestselling author from Wexford, Ireland. His Blood Red Turns Dollar Green novels—a crime trilogy set in wrestling’s territory days—have been bestsellers in Canada, Australia, Germany, Mexico, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States. Paul is currently developing those novels for TV.

Reviews

Praise for Paul O'Brien and the Blood Red Turns Dollar Green trilogy:

“An entertaining look at the world of professional [wrestling], not to mention a solidly plotted mystery—more than enough to put readers on the alert for the next Danno Garland book." —Booklist

Blood Red Turns Dollar Green is a one-of-a-kind literary offering for die-hard wrestling fans that respects the business enough to place it inside a wider fictionalized world of crime and corruption.” —Kenny Herzog, RollingStone.com

“So real you can smell the sweat on the mat and taste the blood on the floor.” —Paul Guay, Hollywood screenwriter of Liar, Liar; The Little Rascals; and Heartbreakers

Blood Red Turns Dollar Green is one hell of a novel, with shades of Mario Puzzo, Elmore Leonard, and Michael Connelly. The action is relentless, the characters are shady, and the justice is swift and final. Paul O’Brien is the real deal” —Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, Plugged, and Another Thing

“I strongly suggest that you read Paul O'Brien's Blood Red Turns Dollar Green series as they are amazing novels that embrace the pro-wrestling biz amazingly and accurately and will take you on a Slobber Knocker of a ride. Must-read novels.” —Jim Ross, WWE legend

“There’s only a few great wrestling novels out there and Paul O’Brien has written them all. He set the bar so high that it’s put me off writing a wrestling novel.” —Mick Foley

“Paul has a real gift. I could not put it down. Blistering pace, very suspenseful throughout. A great read.” —Bret “The Hitman” Hart

“Paul O’Brien knows his crime and Paul O’Brien know his writing. He brings both of these worlds together brilliantly here.” —John Leiberman, The Howard Stern Show

“A literal collision through romantically depraved underworlds, in an age of lawless magnificence, with a cast of disturbingly relatable deviants. —Keith Greenberg, NBC News

Praise for Paul O'Brien and the Blood Red Turns Dollar Green trilogy:

“An entertaining look at the world of professional [wrestling], not to mention a solidly plotted mystery—more than enough to put readers on the alert for the next Danno Garland book." —Booklist

Blood Red Turns Dollar Green is a one-of-a-kind literary offering for die-hard wrestling fans that respects the business enough to place it inside a wider fictionalized world of crime and corruption.” —Kenny Herzog, RollingStone.com

“So real you can smell the sweat on the mat and taste the blood on the floor.” —Paul Guay, Hollywood screenwriter of Liar, Liar; The Little Rascals; and Heartbreakers

Blood Red Turns Dollar Green is one hell of a novel, with shades of Mario Puzzo, Elmore Leonard, and Michael Connelly. The action is relentless, the characters are shady, and the justice is swift and final. Paul O’Brien is the real deal” —Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, Plugged, and Another Thing

“I strongly suggest that you read Paul O'Brien's Blood Red Turns Dollar Green series as they are amazing novels that embrace the pro-wrestling biz amazingly and accurately and will take you on a Slobber Knocker of a ride. Must-read novels.” —Jim Ross, WWE legend

“There’s only a few great wrestling novels out there and Paul O’Brien has written them all. He set the bar so high that it’s put me off writing a wrestling novel.” —Mick Foley

“Paul has a real gift. I could not put it down. Blistering pace, very suspenseful throughout. A great read.” —Bret “The Hitman” Hart

“Paul O’Brien knows his crime and Paul O’Brien know his writing. He brings both of these worlds together brilliantly here.” —John Leiberman, The Howard Stern Show

“A literal collision through romantically depraved underworlds, in an age of lawless magnificence, with a cast of disturbingly relatable deviants. —Keith Greenberg, NBC News