Negative Tilt: Stories

About the Book

An out-of-work journalist finds a second life ‘stealing cars’; A grad student finds out that theft is easy, but getting away with it is another matter entirely; A long-lost love can’t be rekindled in a remote hotel room, but a long-held ember of anger can be reignited; A tale of murder and mayhem in the Big Easy …

In NEGATIVE TILT: Stories, award-winning author Bobby Mathews shares twenty-eight tales that run the gamut, from a literary punch in the gut to unrequited and lost love to fast-and-hard crime fiction to out-and-out horror that’s hard to turn away from.

What folks are saying...

“Bobby Mathews is a hell of a Southern storyteller conjuring stories with brutal honesty and truth. He writes about a world of jilted lovers, down on their luck journalists, and desperate men seeking revenge. A wild and haunting ride from start to finish.”

—Ace Atkins, New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Let the Devil Ride

“Negative Tilt unveils Bobby Mathews as a modern, powerful, and versatile voice of modern noir, with a collection that will weave readers through a tangled cast of characters that reflect the lonesome, hard-fought, and relatable that populate Mathews’s tales of struggle and revenge. Negative Tilt’s stark, chiseled prose shoots through you from the first story. Next thing you know, you’ve burned through the entire book. Don’t miss this collection.”

—Alex Segura, award-winning and bestselling author of Secret Identity and Alter Ego

“Mixing gimlet-eyed intensity, a poet’s gift for the perfect phrase, and a breathtaking depth of humanity, Bobby Mathews offers one stunner after another in Negative Tilt, illuminating the lives of characters haunted by what they’ve done, what’s been done to them, and the fierce weight of what they might do next.”

—Art Taylor, Edgar Award-winning author of The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions

“This gripping, wide-ranging collection encompasses backwoods vengeance, Parisian tricksters, a mirror that reflects the crimes of the past, and so much more. Bobby Mathews’ versatility is matched only by the humanity he invests in even his most broken, desperate characters.”

—Scott Von Doviak, Edgar Award-nominated author of Lowdown Road and Charlesgate Confidential

“Most crime writers come on hard, like they want to show the world how tough they are. Bobby Mathews is a different kind of cat: in Negative Tilt, he wants to show you how even the worst of us have a vulnerable heart. This insightfulness and empathy make him one of the best writers working today.”

—Nick Kolakowski, author of Payback Is Forever and Love & Bullets

“Negative Tilt is more than a collection, it’s a body, sprawled out on the table, open and sensitive and bleeding yet furiously, gloriously, alive. With a reporter’s eye for detail, a barbarian’s taste for chaos, a poet’s sense of soul, and a conman’s mastery for turns of phrase, Bobby Mathews announces himself as a vital voice, not just to crime fiction, but also as an heir to Portis, Woodrell, and Hiaasen.”

—Paul J. Garth, author of The Low White Plain