The New Five by Ralph Dennis
There’s never been a sports novel like this one. The basketball action is so raw and visceral, you’ll feel like you’re on the court yourself.
A lost, previously unpublished novel from the late Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels. Now he takes a gritty, hard-boiled “police procedural” approach to 1980s college basketball, tracking a struggling, but ambitious team through a tumultuous season, approaching each game like a decisive battle in a bloody war.
Timothy McCarren is the tough, hard-charging new sports director at a small North Carolina university. To him, the basketball court is a battlefield, the players are his soldiers, and he is their cunning General, leading them into war…and showing no mercy. He will do whatever it takes, bend any rule, and push his players to their physical and emotional limits to make them champions.
Books by Ralph Dennis
Hoop Noir
Two gritty, fast-moving novels set in the world of basketball by legendary crime writer Ralph Dennis.
Tales of a Sad, Fat Wordman
This collection of some of Ralph's early short stories and poetry, framed with excerpts from articles about him and by essays from authors who knew him well.
Dust in the Heart
There's a killer stalking children in a small, North Carolina town...and the only one who can stop him is the local Sheriff, a man crippled physically and emotionally by a war that he's still fighting within himself. The haunting, powerful new thriller by Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels
All Kinds of Ugly
The recently discovered, long-lost, 13th and final Hardman adventure sends the unlicensed PI to London to find a missing man...where he becomes embroiled in an ugly case of embezzlement and murder.
Reviews For The New Five
"Exceptional characterization, strong and vigorous prose, and a glimpse into a place and time that has long since disappeared."
"Gritty writing? Tough talk? Gripping action? Yes, yes and yes."
“His prose was muscular, swift and highly readable. Like Chandler and Hammett before him, Dennis was trying to do something different with what was thought of as throwaway literature.”
"A breathless, lean noir thriller. Every line is razor sharp."
"It's gritty, it's grounded, and it's also strong on character. The writing is a cut above."
