Boy meets girl. Girl kidnaps boy. Boy loses girl, and is pursued by a professional killer carrying a decapitated head in a gym bag. The Blonde is a modern (crime) love story from The Wheelman author Duane Swierczynski. The night before a big meeting, Jack Eisley is sitting in an airport bar in Philadelphia, chatting up a pretty young blonde. Sure, Jack has a wife and daughter at home, but this is just a little harmless flirting. Harmless, that is, until the blonde leans forward and says, "I poisoned your drink." She tells Jack that unless she can keep someone within ten feet of her at all times, she'll die. And if he wants the antidote, he'll have to take her back to his hotel room and promise to stay by her side. Jack thinks: psycho. But as the violent night wears on, and he encounters a relentless government assassin, a threatening voice on a cell phone, a deadly waitress, dirty cops, and shady cab drivers . . . He begins to believe her...

デュアン・スウィアジンスキーが描く本作は、日常が瞬時にして悪夢へと変貌する、まさにアドレナリン全開のノワールです。「飲み物に毒を入れた」という衝撃的な告白から始まる物語は、読者を息つく暇もないスリリングな地獄巡りへと誘います。単なる犯罪小説の枠を超え、極限状態に置かれた人間が露呈する滑稽さと狂気、そして予測不能な展開に翻弄される快感こそが、本作の真骨頂と言えるでしょう。 特筆すべきは「半径3メートル以内にいなければ死ぬ」という呪縛がもたらす、異常なまでの親密さと緊張感です。逃げ場のない関係性のなかで、家庭を持つ平凡な男の本性が剥き出しになっていく過程は、現代社会の脆さを鋭く突いています。スピーディーな筆致と毒のあるユーモアが絡み合い、愛と死が隣り合わせの狂騒曲を奏でる、文学的パルプフィクションの傑作です。