Longlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2017.
A truly impressive debut by a London-based American journalist who has investigated both Hollywood and the sex trade and uses his research to best effect in a twisting tale at the same time realistically gripping and sardonic. Jerry is a nest of traumas: depression is his normal state of mind and that is when he is not having psychotic hallucinations. Accused of stealing a valuable painting, he is obliged to go on the run where he encounters a woman as complicated as he is and is inadvertently through her embroiled in the clandestine world of the film industry's darker secrets. Their joint quest to make things right and find answers to the voices he hears proves daunting as they journey through Hollywood's underground and are confronted by a deep well of iniquity through which they journey caper-like with a light touch as they tread through the horrors. Grothaus writes with a delicate fluency which contrasts with the depravity of his subject matter. Humour and emotions: what more could you ask for in a thriller?
Jerry has a traumatic past that leaves him subject to psychotic hallucinations and depressive episodes. When he stands accused of stealing a priceless Van Gogh painting, he goes underground, where he develops an unwilling relationship with a woman who believes that the voices she hears are from God. Involuntarily entangled in the illicit world of sex-trafficking amongst the Hollywood elite, and on a mission to find redemption for a haunting series of events from the past, Jerry is thrust into a genuinely shocking and outrageously funny quest to uncover the truth and atone for historical sins. A complex, page-turning psychological thriller, riddled with twists and turns, Epiphany Jones is also a superb dark comedy with a powerful emotional core. You'll laugh when you know you shouldn't, be moved when you least expect it and, most importantly, never look at Hollywood, celebrity or sex in the same way again. This is an extraordinary debut from a fresh, exceptional new talent.
'[A] captivating story that manages to be funny, sinister and surprising.' NY Daily News Online
Author
About Michael Grothaus
Michael Grothaus is a journalist who spent years researching sex trafficking, using his experiences as a springboard for his debut novel Epiphany Jones. As a writer at Fast Company, Michael tells the stories about tech, creativity, personal health, the effects of mass media on our psyches, and just plain mysterious stuff. For VICE, he tells stories about cultures, subcultures, sex, and pornography and has also done immersion journalism at geopolitical events including the Hong Kong protests against Beijing in 2014. As a contributing writer to The Guardian and Know Your Mobile, a features writer for Engadget, and the former European Editor for AOL's popular tech news site TUAW, Michael regularly writes about all things mobile. He also contributes to the online men's lifestyle magazine, Asylum, is a former screenwriter, and the author of a dozen 'tech' books, published by Pearson and Apress. American-born, Michael now lives in London.
