The Ultimate Rush - Hardcover

If you thought Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock on a bus was thrilling, wait until you meet Chet Griffin, the hero of Joe Quirk's first novel, The Ultimate Rush. Chet makes his living as the only rollerblading courier in San Francisco, a job that entails screaming down steep hills at high speeds; dodging automobiles, pedestrians, and streetcars; and delivering, among other things, highly illegal stock information all around town. Enter the Chinese Mafia who, for reasons we won't get into here, consider Griffin a threat; suddenly our hero-on-wheels is in mortal danger from more than just a traffic accident. Targeted by a gang of Chinese killers, Griffin and his girlfriend, Ho, careen through a series of high-speed chases and narrow escapes before finally turning the tables on their tormentors in a bloody, but highly original, finale. What makes The Ultimate Rush such a hoot is the way Quirk piles one thriller-genre cliché after another onto his plot, then puts his own quirky twist on them. Hackers, skateboarders, crooked cops, and Chinese assassins keep Chet and Ho hopping and the reader happily going along for the wild ride from first page to last.

"Exciting...Witty...Skillfully paced." --The New York Times Book Review

"A joyride." --Vanity Fair

"A lively tale of Chinese gangs, stock market deceit and murder with jolly, breakneck style and a fine grasp of skater attitude...RUSH has wheels, er, legs." --People

"Hip...Engaging...Memorable...Quick knows how to keep an action plot twisting along." --Publishers Weekly

"Attention all rollerblading, computer-hacking, grunge-listening, omnisexual, multi-pierced twentysomethings. Okay, now attention all those who think RAM is a male sheep and a mosh pit the center of a fruit. And finally, attention all lovers of engrossing works of literature that offer a new look at an age-old story of identity and self-acceptance. The Ultimate Rush has arrived." --Time Out New York

"The first virtuoso chase scene through downtown San Francisco--including a spell atop a BART train--will leave even the quibblers wrung out and chuckling." --San Francisco Chronicle

"I just read a book that made me feel old. And I liked it...I feel like I'm in some parallel universe....Quirk...has not only a feel for these defiant characters, but also true affection. I like them, too." --Mark Johnson, San Jose Mercury News

"Quirk's debut novel is a rollicking read with countless chase scenes, wisecracking dialogue and a smooth and sassy prose style. Good fun." -- Booklist

"Heartstopping...His narrative sputters along with hilariously manic Hunter Thompson-like word-spray." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Slick...Entertaining...Crackles throughout..." -- Library Journal

"We strongly recommend Joe Quirk's novel about an inline skate messenger in San Francisco--if you like your protagonist on wheels." --Inline magazine

"A fast-paced but highly unusual thriller...Quirk's words cut like scalpels at the heart of this interesting and yes, quirky debut...Joe Quirk has come out of nowhere to write a hip, ironic thriller...At certain points as I read, I gasped at the perfect imagery he had created in The Ultimate Rush...Strong writing and whiplash prose...Quirk is a strong new talent."

--Douglas Clegg, author of The Children's Hour

"This is wonderful, off-centre, high-action fiction for readers willing to try something different." --Toronto Star

"This is no ordinary thriller. As roller-blade-hero says to bike punk Spider: 'What seems at first to be lame might actually be pretty hype shit'...language that thrills. This book sings in San Francisco speak of love between a sugar-strung blader and a blue-haired 'planker' (skateboarder) who take on crooks, cops and bankers." --The Guardian (UK)