American Crime Story: Book III: American Crime Story: A Thriller Series, #3

By Vincent Zandri

WHEN THE AMERICAN DREAM DIES, YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TURN TO AMERICAN CRIMES!

A lower middle-class couple, a mailman and a housewife, living in the suburbs suddenly find themselves caught up in the middle of a Mexican Cartel drug war. In Book III, the Jones' up their game in the drug trade by creating a product so popular that even their sworn cartel enemies want in on the action.

Grab your pulse-pounding copy now!

Praise for Vincent Zandri:

"The story of Vincent Zandri is the story of our times."
--Business Insider

"Vincent Zandri hails from the future."
--The New York Times

"Sensational . . . masterful . . . brilliant."
--New York Post

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vincent Zandri
• Release date: Nov 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798224239115

Vincent Zandri

"Vincent Zandri hails from the future." --The New York Times “Sensational . . . masterful . . . brilliant.” --New York Post "Gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting." --Harlan Coben, New York Times bestselling author of Six Years "Tough, stylish, heartbreaking." --Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of Savages and Cartel. Winner of the 2015 PWA Shamus Award and the 2015 ITW Thriller Award for Best Original Paperback Novel for MOONLIGHT WEEPS, Vincent Zandri is the NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and AMAZON KINDLE OVERALL NO.1 bestselling author of more than 60 novels and novellas including THE REMAINS, EVERYTHING BURNS, ORCHARD GROVE, THE SHROUD KEY and THE GIRL WHO WASN'T THERE. His list of domestic publishers include Delacorte, Dell, Down & Out Books, Thomas & Mercer, Polis Books, Suspense Publishing, Blackstone Audio, and Oceanview Publishing. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, his work is translated in the Dutch, Russian, French, Italian, and Japanese. Having sold close to 1 million editions of his books, Zandri has been the subject of major features by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Business Insider. He has also made appearances on Bloomberg TV and the FOX News network. In December 2014, Suspense Magazine named Zandri's, THE SHROUD KEY, as one of the "Best Books of 2014." Suspense Magazine selected WHEN SHADOWS COME as one of the "Best Books of 2016". He was also a finalist for the 2019 Derringer Award for Best Novelette. A freelance photojournalist, freelance writer, and the author of the popular "lit blog," The Vincent Zandri Vox, Zandri has written for Living Ready Magazine, RT, New York Newsday, Hudson Valley Magazine, The Times Union (Albany), Game & Fish Magazine, CrimeReads, Altcoin Magazine, The Jerusalem Post, Market Business News, Duke University, Colgate University, and many more. He also writes for Scalefluence. An Active Member of MWA and ITW, he lives in New York and Florence, Italy. For more go to VINZANDRI.COM

Book preview

Begin your Moonlight journey today with a FREE copy of MOONLIGHT FALLS, the first novel in the Thriller and Shamus Award-winning series.

Or visit WWW.VINZANDRI.COM to join ’Vincent’s For your eyes only newsletter today.

PRAISE FOR VINCENT ZANDRI

SENSATIONAL . . . MASTERFUL . . . brilliant.

—New York Post

(A) CHILLING TALE OF obsessive love from Thriller Award–winner Zandri (Moonlight Weeps) . . . Riveting.

—Publishers Weekly

. . . OH, WHAT A STORY it is . . . Riveting . . . A terrific old school thriller.

—Booklist Starred Review

"ZANDRI DOES A FANTASTIC job with this story. Not only does he scare the reader, but the horror 

Show he presents also scares the man who is the definition of the word tough.

—Suspense Magazine

I VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book . . . It’s a great crime drama that is full of action and intense suspense, along with some great twists . . . Vincent Zandri has become a huge name and just keeps pouring out one best seller after another.

—Life in Review

(THE INNOCENT) IS A thriller that has depth and substance, wickedness and compassion.

—The Times-Union (Albany)

THE ACTION NEVER WANES.

—Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

GRITTY, FAST-PACED, lyrical and haunting.

—Harlan Coben, New York Times bestselling author of Six Years

TOUGH, STYLISH, HEARTBREAKING.

—Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of Savages and Cartel.

A TIGHTLY CRAFTED, smart, disturbing, elegantly crafted complex thriller . . . I dare you to start it and not keep reading.

—MJ Rose, New York Times bestselling author of Halo Effect and Closure

A CLASSIC SLICE OF raw pulp noir...

—William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob

ZANDRI (IS) A VETERAN wordsmith who executes quality and quantity at superlative levels.

—Book Reporter

American Crime Story

A Thriller Series: Book III

Vincent Zandri

I remember before I finally fell asleep feeling like there wasn't all that much to say about my life. I'd had several satisfying relationships, they hadn't amounted to much. I'd gotten better at my work and been rewarded for it, but I sometimes felt like life had run out of surprises for me. I did what I did and got the results I expected.

—John Darnielle, Devil House

Book III

1

Two months later

The cooking equipment recently installed in the embalming/cremation room barely leaves enough space for our funeral services. But the stuff is state-of-the-art, or so Sean insists. You know what’s entirely convenient? Just like Sean promised, there was no need to hire additional staff to cook the new drug concoction Sean and my lovely wife came up with.

Smirking Jack and Tall Jay are able to handle the process pretty easily by mixing together several forty-pound bags that are identified only by the chemical composition codes attached to them. What’s even more convenient? The chemicals are readily available at chemical stores across the country that cater to drug manufacturers, hospitals, colleges, university laboratories, research programs, dentistry suppliers and offices, and yes, even funeral parlors like the new and improved Fitzgerald Funeral home, where wakes are no longer required to be a deadly sad affair.

So, what’s the new product that already seems to be taking the country by storm? Or at least, the Northeast portion of what was once Juan Perez’s territory? It’s not a pill. It’s not a powder. It’s not even an ice cube-like, translucent chunk of blue crystal. It is instead an aerosol spray that can be ingested by either inhaling it with a common vape device like all the spoiled kids use to smoke inside the Starbucks, or by...get this...using an aerosol device that sort of looks like a black mace can, to spray it on your face. But vaping the drug has turned out to be by far, the most popular of choices since customers can use the stuff in plain sight.

I repeat. Unlike most illicit mind-altering substances that not only mess up your brain, but also your work, your health, your relationships with family and friends, and in general, your life, our product can be used right out in the open. The product even has a sweet aroma to it, reminiscent of Bubble Gum. Thus, the name, Bubble Gum. That’s what Joanne insisted on calling it. Naturally, Sean loved the idea (since it was my wife’s idea), and even Don Juan Perez liked the idea.

It all sounds so innocent when you think about it, he says in his smooth Latin accent from behind a mammoth mahogany wood desk he transported from his giant hacienda outside Mexico City along with the many hunting trophies mounted to the mahogany walls. Or so he is quick to tell Sean, me, and Joanne during our initial face to face with him (Carcov is aware of the meeting but apparently, he never shows his face in public. Not even Sean knows what he looks like).

Perez sits up straight in his leather swivel chair, plants his elbows on the desk and clasps his hands together at the knuckles. He’s wearing an expensive silk shirt that’s unbuttoned enough to show off his weight trained pecs and a silver cross that rests in between them. A 9mm Glock sits on the desk beside an open laptop computer. Our guns were checked at the door when we were frisked upon entering by a very massive Mexican man who’s tattooed from head to toe.

Set on a small table behind his desk, directly under a double-hung window, are two framed portraits of his dead younger brothers, Hector and Julio. They’re younger in the pictures than they were when they were killed outside Little’s Lake. School pictures. Pre-teens with no tattoos and full heads of neatly combed hair. Far more innocent looking than the bald, tattoo-covered gangsters Joanne encountered on the side of the road.

A statue of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe is set between the photos, and a rosary is draped over it. Several candles are also placed before the photos. The wax and the wicks have been burned considerably. Obviously, Hector is getting some good use out of his shrine. 

Your proposal to make my organization the exclusive distributor for the Northeast corridor is certainly an interesting one, the drug Lord says while smoothing out his thick black mustache with his index finger and thumb. But one question. This stuff is selling like hot cakes as you Americans like to say. You’ve made quite a mark on this city and done so in almost no time. You’ve come out of nowhere with a product that is not only enjoyed by the minorities...the Latinos and the Blacks...but also the average white suburbanites. It can be ingested out in the open with a simple Vape device. It produces a pleasant odor that can easily be confused for one of the many vape products available on the market today, legal and illegal.

Cops don’t give a shit about what you vape, buddy, Sean chimes in, his red face full of smiles.

I feel a pit grow in my stomach at Sean’s interjection. My eyes lock on Joanne’s. I can tell by her expression she doesn’t think it