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WORK TITLE: In Wolves’ Clothing
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: greglevin.com
CITY: Austin
STATE: TX
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2012017425
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2012017425
HEADING: Levin, Greg, 1969-
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035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca09107413
040 __ |a OC |b eng |c OC
100 1_ |a Levin, Greg, |d 1969-
670 __ |a Notes on an orange burial, c2011: |b t.p. (Greg Levin) p. 245 (debut novel; b. 1969 in Huntington, N.Y.; graduated Univ. of New Hampshire; resides in Austin, Tex.)
PERSONAL
Born 1969, in Huntington, NY; married; children: a daughter.
EDUCATION:University of New Hampshire, B.A. (communication and media studies), B.A. (communication; summa cum laude), both 1991.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and novelist. ICMI, Colorado Springs, CO, creative projects coordinator, 1994-2009; community services manager, 2009-2010; Off Center, Austin, TX, 2010-14; fiction writer, 2011–.
AWARDS:Independent Publisher Book Award, 2015, for The Exit Man, and another for Sick to Death.
WRITINGS
The Exit Man was optioned by HBO and then Showtime for development into a TV series.
SIDELIGHTS
Greg Levin worked in the customer care industry and founded a consulting company focusing on this area before he turned to writing full time. He is the author of thrillers with a humorous edge to them. In an interview with Georgina Cromarty for the Divided Serenity blog, Levin noted the book that has most influenced him is Fight Club, remarking: “It’s the book that really got me into contemporary transgressive fiction. And it’s not even my favorite book by Chuck Palahniuk. But it’s the one that awoke in me a fresh new way of writing—dangerous prose with a minimalist bent. Prose that is dark and startling, but also peppered with pathos, humor and humanity.”
The Exit Man
Levin’s debut novel is titled Notes on an Orange Burial. In his second novel, The Exit Man, Levin tells the story of Eli Edelmann who finds himself making a living via mercy killings. Following the death of his father, Eli takes the helm at the family’s party supply store, something he really did not want to do. Then one day a friend of his late father, retired policeman Sergeant Rush, comes with a request. It seem’s that Eli’s father had agreed to help Rush, who is suffering from emphysema, end his life by the use of helium, something in plentiful supply at the party story. Now that Eli’s father is dead, Rush asks Eli to keep his father’s promise.
Eli is reluctant and debates the various legal and moral ramifications of the act. However, he eventually helps Rush end his life. Eli thought that the mercy killing would be the end of it but soon finds himself becoming the Exit Man, helping terminally ill patients die with dignity. Meanwhile, Eli has trepidations about the situation, wondering how long before someone catches on and he is arrested. In addition, he is hiding his mercy killings from his girlfriend. “There are many points on the page that generate genuine laugh out loud humor,” wrote a Red City Review website contributor.
In Wolves' Clothing
Levin’s next book, Sick to Death, revolves around a terminally ill man who joins a support group and becomes a vigilante, beating up bad guys with the knowledge that he has nothing to lose. Levin’s follow-up novel, In Wolves’ Clothing, is based on child trafficking. “While I geared the book to enthrall and entertain readers, I also I aimed to do right by all the victims of human trafficking—and all the women and men who’ve dedicated their lives to liberating and caring for those victims,” Levin noted in an interview with T’s Stuff blog contributor Teresa Noel.
In Wolves’ Clothing tells the story of a man posing as a pedophile in order to save children. Zero Slade is committed to saving children’s lives and is part of a team fighting child sex trafficking. Zero has traveled the world saving children and, in the process, has become adept as posing as a pedophile himself and ingratiating himself with the sexual underworld figures. He also often gets arrested in the process.
Zero’s efforts, however, are beginning to take their toll. His marriage is in trouble and his sanity is questionable, leading him to rely on prescription pain medication. Following the rescue in Cambodia of five-year-old Sung, the youngest girl he has ever saved, Zero forms a bond with Sung and vows to keep her safe. However, Sung ends up getting abducted from a safe house in Cambodia, leading Zero to try and rescue her once again. Meanwhile, Zero is still recovering from a gunshot wound that he miraculously survived and an overdose of pain medication.
“Levin provides a window into one of the world’s darkest underbellies,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor, going on to note that Levin “deserves a wide audience.” Clint West, writing for Midwest Book Reviews Online, called In Wolves’ Clothing “a riveting, fast-paced novel replete with unexpected twists and turns.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2018, review of In Wolves’ Clothing, p. 57.
ONLINE
Divided Serenity blog, https://thewritingchimp.com/ (October 11, 2017), Georgina Cromarty, “Author Interview – Greg Levin.”
Greg Levin website, http://greglevin.com (September 2, 2018).
Midwest Book Review, http://www.midwestbookreview.com (February 1, 2018), Clint Travis, review of In Wolves’ Clothing.
Red City Review, http://redcityreview.com (September 2, 2018), review of The Exit Man.
T’s Stuff blog, https://www.tsstuff.net/ (October 11, 2017) Teresa Noel, “In Wolves’ Clothing By Greg Levin Blitz,” author interview.
ABOUT GREG LEVIN
Greg is an award-winning author of transgressive thrillers with a dark comedic tinge. He’s gone from being read merely by immediate family and friends to being read also by extended family and Facebook acquaintances.
Greg’s novel The Exit Man was optioned by HBO and later by Showtime for development into a TV series, and won a 2015 Independent Publisher Book Award (a.k.a., an “IPPY”). He earned a second IPPY with his next novel, Sick to Death, which Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist’s Handbook) called “a tour de force dark comedy.” Greg’s latest book, In Wolves’ Clothing, came out in October 2017 and is his most dangerous work to date. (He wrote much of it during a ten-week-long workshop led by the great Chuck Palahniuk—author of Fight Club and lots of other books Greg sleeps with at night.) In Wolves' Clothing was named a Finalist for the 2018 National Indie Excellence Book Awards in two categories: "Contemporary Novel" and "Cross-Genre."
Greg resides with his wife, daughter and two cats in Austin, Texas. He is currently wanted by local authorities for refusing to say “y’all” or do the two-step.
"This author deserves a wide audience." —Publishers Weekly
Author Interview – Greg Levin #authors @Greg_Levin #books
Posted on October 11, 2017 by Georgina Cromarty
Today I have the pleasure of introducing author Greg Levin who will be sharing his thoughts on reading and writing, and details of his new book, In Wolves’ Clothing.
Greg on Writing
What motivates you to write?
The desire to remain sane. Kafka was spot on when he famously said, “A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.” I can sometimes make it two or three days without working on a novel, blog post or grocery list, but after that I absolutely MUST write. Even when I’m on vacation in paradise with my beautiful wife, I need to scratch out a page here and there to keep the crazy away. Too much sun and surf and relaxation terrifies me.
Your biggest writing distractions?
My wife’s desire to go on vacations in paradise. That, and any kind of noise other than the clicks of my own keyboard and synapses. I wear silicone earplugs whenever writing to avoid being pulled out of my fictional world by such annoying sounds as my wife saying good morning, my teenage daughter sneaking back into the house, or my forgotten cats begging me to feed them. I know this makes me seem a little selfish and mean, but in my defense, I’m not a very good person.
What are your favorite books or sites you go to for writing tips/advice?
It’s been a while since I’ve referenced the following books (and maybe it’s time I revisit), but I’d have to say Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life and Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel. As for sites on the Interweb, I regularly click to Writer Unboxed, Lit Reactor and Writer’s Digest. Joanna Penn’s site—The Creative Penn—is another excellent online resource for writers, newbies and veterans alike.
Least favorite thing about writing?
That’s easy—the fact that I can’t quit it. It’s got me by the goodies and will never let go. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing, but there are times when the relationship turns abusive and I just want out. I’ve tried to leave in the past, but she always finds me and lures me back with her irresistible guile and powerful verbs.
What do your friends and family think about you being a writer?
My friends all think it’s fantastic … until I come out with a new novel and camp outside their homes until they buy multiple copies and write a rave review on Amazon. It’s tiresome for everyone involved.
As for my family, they’re extremely supportive—even when I’m losing my mind and being belligerent and/or neglectful while trying to finish a book. When I do finally finish, my parents always read it in one sitting, then call me afterward to tell me it’s brilliant. I should point out my parents are drinkers. My wife, she’s a bit too supportive. Whenever I even joke about quitting the writing game, she slaps me around—much the way writing does, albeit with better intentions. Still, having someone believe so strongly in you is dangerous.
Most important things a writer should spend money on?
If you’re an indie author like me, you can’t skimp on cover design, editing, proofreading, formatting and marketing. It’s also a good idea to fork over some cash for a course on how to be a drug kingpin or a jewel thief—that way you’ll always have plenty of money to pay for all those other items I mentioned. Finally, bourbon and vodka. (But never mix the two. That’s unhealthy.)
How do you measure your success as a writer?
By the word. It’s a lot more gratifying than measuring success by the royalties. Delusional is my middle name.
What advice would you give to yourself if you were starting the writing journey again?
I’d tell myself debut novels very rarely do well, so it’s better to start off with your third or fourth. I’d also tell myself that trying to make it as a writer is a grind, and that the grind is often painful and miserable, and that it’s important to use that pain and misery to write something worth a damn.
And to never quit. Because you can’t. And if you can, then you were never a writer to begin with. (Insert image of me dropping a mic and confidently strutting away … then blushing upon the realization I still have several interview questions left to answer.)
As a reader
What is your favorite book quote?
Oh my, I have to choose just one? That’s like asking me to choose a favorite snowflake or Rocky film. Hmmm, I think I’ll have to go with the following staggeringly good one from Denis Johnson—an amazing writer we lost earlier this year:
“Talk into my bullet hole. Tell me I’m fine.” (From Jesus’ Son.)
Favorite book hero and/or villain, and why?
I have two favorites, but (spoiler alert) they are really the same person. The first is the unnamed protagonist of Fight Club, and the second is Tyler Durden of Fight Club. I could go on for days explaining why they/he are/is my favorite hero/villain, but I must respect the first rule of Fight Club and not talk about Fight Club. I’ve already said too much.
Your most influential book?
This may shock you, but it’s Fight Club. It’s the book that really got me into contemporary transgressive fiction. And it’s not even my favorite book by Chuck Palahniuk. But it’s the one that awoke in me a fresh new way of writing—dangerous prose with a minimalist bent. Prose that is dark and startling, but also peppered with pathos, humor and humanity.
Warning: Humble-brag ahead. … You can imagine my elation—and my terror—when, after having been a huge fan of Palahniuk’s for years, I got selected by him to participate in his inaugural “Writing Wrong” workshop in Portland this past spring (along with a dozen other writers). Every Monday for ten weeks I got to sit in a room with Chuck, read sections of In Wolves’ Clothing (a work in progress at the time), and have him tell me everything I had to fix to make the book as good as I had deluded myself into thinking it already was. The whole experience was extremely rewarding, and humbling. Most importantly, it gave me the ability to name-drop Chuck Palahniuk during interviews for the rest of my life.
Tell us what you are currently reading and your verdict so far?
I’m reading Kiss Me, Judas by Will Christopher Baer. It’s dark, sardonic and absurd. You know, the perfect book to bring to the beach. A fellow writer recommended it to me after shaming me for having never read it. I don’t know why it took me so long to discover Mr. Baer’s writing talent. I guess I’ve just been too busy trying to discover mine.
If you could have a signed copy of a book by an author (dead or living) what book would it be and why?
The Bible. Because I want to know who wrote it, and because I’d make millions charging people admission to see my signed copy. But I don’t want to end this interview on such a snarky note, so I’m going to provide another answer: Fight Club. You know, in case I ever lose my current copy that Chuck Palahniuk signed for me. Did I mention I know Chuck?
Before I go, thank you very much, Georgina (or is it Gee? Or G. L.?) for giving me such valuable real estate on your most excellent blog. Also, a huge thank you to your readers, who hopefully stuck around here till the end so I can remind them to check out my brand new novel, In Wolves’ Clothing..
Gee: You’re welcome 🙂
About the book
You are living in the your latest novel. Where are you living, and what is it like?
As the protagonist of In Wolves’ Clothing, I’m based in present-day LA, which is nice if you can stand the brutal traffic, brutal sunshine and all the brutally beautiful people. I, personally, cannot. So it’s a good thing I travel the globe for my job. I might be in Phnom Penh one week, Mumbai the next, and Rio de Janeiro the week after that. It’s not as glamorous as it sounds. Not even close. After all, there’s nothing glamorous about pretending to be a pedophile. Yup, that’s what I do for work. If you know of a better way to rescue victims of child sex trafficking, feel free to share it with me. Until then, my team and I will keep hopping on planes, drinking with pimps, and pulling off the most heartbreaking sting operations you can imagine.
About Greg Levin
Greg Levin is an award-winning author of contemporary fiction with a dark comedic tinge. He resides with his wife, daughter and two cats in Austin, Texas, where he’s currently wanted by local authorities for refusing to say “y’all” or do the two-step.
In Wolves’ Clothing by Greg Levin
Zero Slade is not a bad guy—he merely plays one when saving children’s lives.
During his seven years on a team fighting child sex trafficking around the globe, Zero’s become quite good at schmoozing with pimps, getting handcuffed by cops and pretending not to care about the Lost Girls he liberates. But the dangerous sting operations—along with Zero’s affinity for prescription painkillers—are starting to take their toll on his marriage. And sanity.
You can also follow Greg on his social media sites!
Website: http://greglevin.com
Blog: http://greglevin.com/scrawl-space-blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greglevintheauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/greg_levin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greglevinauthor
If you have recently published a book and would like to feature in an author interview, please email me at TheWritingChimp@gmail.com
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Greg Levin
University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
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Experience
Greg Levin
Author (of contemporary fiction with a dark comedic tinge)
Company NameGreg Levin
Dates EmployedNov 2011 – Present Employment Duration6 yrs 9 mos
Greg Levin is an award-winning author of dark comedic fiction. His first novel… meh, nobody but Greg really cares about his first novel. His second novel, 'The Exit Man,' was optioned by HBO for development into a TV series and won a 2015 Independent Publishers Award (a.k.a., an “IPPY”), earning a silver medal for Best Adult Fiction Ebook. Greg’s third novel, 'Sick to Death,' is out now and is being hailed by critics everywhere as one of the top three books he has ever written. Author Craig Clevenger ('The Contortionist’s Handbook') has called 'Sick to Death' “a tour de force dark comedy.”
Greg resides with his wife, daughter and two cats in Austin, Texas, where he reportedly is wanted by local authorities for refusing to say “y’all” or do the two-step. Greg is currently working on his fourth novel.
Off Center
Founder
Company NameOff Center
Dates EmployedJul 2010 – Jun 2014 Employment Duration4 yrs
LocationAustin, TX
Greg Levin was a unique and refreshing voice in the customer care industry -- offering a diverse range of resources aimed at informing, empowering and entertaining contact center professionals worldwide:
• The uproarious and educational Off Center blog
• Contact Centerfold articles – profiles of innovative and “sexy” contact centers
• Full Contact – the critically acclaimed ebook on best practices in contact center management and customer care.
• Much, much more, including research, song parodies and more.
ICMI
Community Services Manager
Company NameICMI
Dates Employed2009 – 2010 Employment Duration1 yr
ICMI
Creative Projects Coordinator
Company NameICMI
Dates Employed1994 – 2009 Employment Duration15 yrs
Education
University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
Degree NameB.A. Field Of StudyCommunication
Dates attended or expected graduation 1987 – 1991
-Graduated summa cum laude
-Presidential Scholar
-Phi Beta Kappa (national academic honor society)
University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
Degree NameBachelor of Arts (B.A.) Field Of StudyCommunication and Media Studies
Dates attended or expected graduation 1987 – 1991
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
In Wolves’ Clothing by Greg Levin blitz
In Wolves’ Clothing
Greg Levin
Publication date: October 11th 2017
Genres: Adult, Psychological Thriller
Zero Slade is not a bad guy—he merely plays one when saving children’s lives.
During his seven years on a team fighting child sex trafficking, Zero’s become quite good at schmoozing with pimps, getting handcuffed by cops and pretending not to care about the Lost Girls he liberates. But the dangerous sting operations are starting to take their toll on his marriage and sanity. His affinity for prescription painkillers isn’t exactly helping matters.
When the youngest girl the team has ever rescued gets abducted from a safe house in Cambodia, Zero decides to risk everything to find her. His only shot is to go rogue—and sink deeper into the bowels of the trafficking world than he’s ever sunk.
It’s the biggest mission of his life. Trouble is, it’s almost certain death.
—
“A truly original and enthralling novel. Levin’s blazing prose and acerbic wit capture the madness—and the humanity—of working undercover in the darkest corners.”
Radd Berrett, former Jump Team member, Operation Underground Railroad
Goodreads / Amazon
—
EXCERPT:
I can’t remember if I took an oxy during the flight, so I eat two. They pair nicely with the scotch.
It’s good to be home.
I should be upstairs sleeping, especially since I didn’t catch a single wink on the flight from Guadalajara. But there’s something I have to finish first.
An eight-letter word for gradually losing one’s edge.
Slipping.
I fill in each box of 27 Down with my black pen and take another sip of scotch. It’s times like these I turn into God. The crossword squares fill up by themselves in a secret blurry code. A few of the answers might even be correct.
The black pleather couch makes love to me as I solve 32 Across.
A four-letter word for spouse.
Neda.
She’s leaning on the banister, wearing a white T-shirt and gray sweatpants that might have fit me when I was ten. Her eyes, almond-shaped during waking hours, are half open.
“You’re home?” she says, pre-dawn gravel in her voice.
“Hi, baby,” I say while trying to conceal the nearly empty lowball glass in my hand. “Sorry to wake you. I’ll be up in a sec.”
Neda yawns and combs her hand through a shining cascade of black hair. “What time d’you get in?”
I scratch my shaved dome, feeling the perspiration forming, and say, “Uh, a little after one maybe.”
Neda opens her eyes the rest of the way. “You’ve been here for nearly two hours? Why didn’t—”
“Baby, I just needed to unwind a bit before bed.”
Neda’s eyes open wider than the manual recommends. “Why must unwinding always involve single malt and a crossword?” she asks. “You know, some men unwind by spooning their beautiful wife. Especially when they haven’t seen her in four days.”
I ponder the answer to 36 Across.
“Zero!” Neda shouts.
The sound knocks the pen from my fingers, and I go, “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“And look how that worked out for you,” says Neda. “At least if you’d come up when you got home you wouldn’t be getting yelled at.”
I tell her not to be mad, then get up from the couch as gracefully as a man two drinks and twenty milligrams in can. “I knew if I woke you right when I got home, you’d want to talk about the mission.”
I realize this is not what God would say. I can tell by Neda’s face.
Author Bio:
Greg Levin is an award-winning author of contemporary fiction with a dark comedic tinge. He’s gone from being read merely by immediate family and friends to being read also by extended family and Facebook acquaintances.
Greg’s novel The Exit Man was optioned by Showtime for development into a TV series, and won a 2015 Independent Publisher Book Award (a.k.a., an “IPPY”). He earned a second IPPY with his next novel, Sick to Death, which Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist’s Handbook) called “a tour de force dark comedy.” Greg’s upcoming book, In Wolves’ Clothing, is due out October 2017 and is his most dangerous work yet. He wrote much of it during a ten-week-long workshop led by the great Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club and lots of other books Greg sleeps with at night).
Greg resides with his wife, daughter and two cats in Austin, Texas. He is currently wanted by local authorities for refusing to say “y’all” or do the two-step.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter
Q &A with Greg Levin
You write about issues that most authors would tiptoe around. Care to comment on that?
Sure. I do it because there are already so many novels about vampires, zombies and wizards, and I don’t want to have to compete with them. Besides, it’s exciting to explore subversive and controversial topics. To go underground and get a little dirt on my pajamas while I’m sitting in the house writing. Also, I’ve never been big on tiptoeing. Sometimes it’s better to charge straight toward a dark or dangerous topic and see who flinches first.
And where does your dark sense of humor come from?
I guess you could say it’s a survival tactic. I don't use dark humor to offend—I use it to defend. Humor is a magnificent weapon, one that, instead of destroying, keeps us from being destroyed. Nietzsche said, “We have art in order to not die of the truth.” I feel humor serves the same purpose. In fact, humor—when deftly wielded—is art.
What motivates you to write?
The desire to remain sane. Kafka was spot-on when he famously said, “A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.” I can sometimes make it two or three days without working on a novel, blog post or grocery list, but after that I absolutely MUST write. Even when I’m on vacation in paradise with my beautiful wife, I need to scratch out a page here and there to keep the crazy away. Too much sun, surf and relaxation terrifies me.
What are your biggest writing distractions?
My beautiful wife’s desire to go on vacations in paradise. That, and any kind of noise other than the clicks of my own keyboard and synapses. I wear silicone earplugs whenever writing to avoid being pulled out of my fictional world by such annoying sounds as my wife saying good morning, my teenage daughter sneaking back into the house, or my cats begging me to feed them. I know this makes me seem a little selfish and mean, but in my defense, I’m not a very good person.
How has your upbringing influenced your writing?
I had a pretty happy childhood, which normally dooms a writing career. But I managed to overcome all the unconditional love and support and still become a tortured writer of dark and twisted tales. That’s not to say my upbringing didn’t help me at all. I was a very talkative kid, and when all my family and friends finally got sick and tired of listening to me, I turned to the written word. Nobody can shut you up when you're alone in a room typing ... nobody except my cat, Dingo, who loves to sit on my laptop right when the prose is flowing.
What would you say is your greatest strength as a writer?
At the risk of sounding a tad redundant, I’d say it’s my ability to bring levity and humor to dark topics while simultaneously revealing the heart and humanity of my main characters. I love getting readers to root for a well-meaning sociopath or serial killer or just plain loser, and eliciting laughter and tears in the process.
As a reader, what is you favorite book quote?
I have to choose just one? That’s like asking me to choose a favorite snowflake or Rocky film. Hmmm, I think I’ll have to go with the following staggeringly good one from Denis Johnson—an amazing writer we lost earlier this year:
“Talk into my bullet hole. Tell me I'm fine.” (From Jesus’ Son.)
Who is your favorite book hero and/or villain, and why?
I have two favorites, but (spoiler alert) they are really the same person. The first is the unnamed protagonist of Fight Club, and the second is Tyler Durden of Fight Club. I could go on for days explaining why they/he are/is my favorite hero/villain, but I must respect the first rule of Fight Club and not talk about Fight Club. I’ve already said too much.
What book has influenced you the most as a writer?
This may shock you, but it’s Fight Club. It’s the book that really got me into contemporary transgressive fiction. While it’s not my favorite book by Chuck Palahniuk, it is the one that awoke in me a fresh new way of writing—dangerous prose with a minimalist bent. Prose that is dark and startling, but also peppered with pathos and humor.
You know, this would be the perfect time for me to share a humble-brag. I was fortunate enough to be one of a dozen writers Chuck Palahniuk selected to participate in his inaugural “Writing Wrong” workshop in Portland this past spring. Every Monday for ten weeks I got to sit in a room with him, read sections of In Wolves’ Clothing (which was a work in progress at the time), and have him tell me everything I had to fix to make the book as good as I had deluded myself into thinking it already was. The whole experience was extremely rewarding, and humbling. More importantly, it gave me the ability to name-drop Chuck Palahniuk during interviews for the rest of my life.
Tell us a little about In Wolves’ Clothing.
It’s about a guy named Zero Slade who travels the world posing as a pedophile to help rescue victims of child sex trafficking. I’m not kidding, and the book is no joke. There are men and women in real life who carry out the kind of elaborate sting operations that Zero, along with his cohorts, carry out in the book.
In Wolves’ Clothing is definitely not a dark comedy like my previous two novels, however, there is an ample amount of subversive humor and comic relief in the story. But let me assure you, not once do I (or my characters) make light of the horrors of child sex trafficking. The humor in the book never comes at the expense of the Lost Girls. It comes from how my protagonist and his fellow undercover “pedophiles” cope with the harrowing missions—and the absurd role they must play in order for those missions to succeed.
So, while I geared the book to enthrall and entertain readers, I also I aimed to do right by all the victims of human trafficking—and all the women and men who’ve dedicated their lives to liberating and caring for those victims.
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In Wolves' Clothing
Publishers Weekly.
265.15 (Apr. 9, 2018): p57.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* In Wolves' Clothing
Greg Levin. White Rock, $13.95 trade paper
(272p) ISBN 978-0-9904029-4-7
Levin movingly conveys the stomach-churning horrors of child sex trafficking in this effective thriller. Zero
Slade works for Operation Emancipation, a globe-trotting group of operatives with intelligence
backgrounds, who pose as prospective clients as a way to bust the traffickers and liberate their young
captives. After one such mission, while waiting for a flight from Guadalajara, Mexico, to L.A., Zero muses:
"Before I joined Operation Emancipation, I was just like the dozens of people fuming at Gate A-l 1 right
now. Flight delays would ruin my day.... Now I can smile and whistle while walking through a pediatric
cancer ward." Zero feels deep empathy for the helpless victims he labors to save at great personal risk. The
conflict between a facade of professionalism and heartfelt involvement with the suffering he witnesses
reaches a head after he bonds with Sung, a five-year-old girl he rescues in Cambodia. Zero does his best to
keep Sung safe, but more perils for the girl lie ahead. Levin provides a window into one of the world's
darkest underbellies, while somehow managing to insert appropriate lighter moments, as when Zero meets a
new recruit to OE, a Buddhist former FBI agent. This author deserves a wide audience. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"In Wolves' Clothing." Publishers Weekly, 9 Apr. 2018, p. 57. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A535099958/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=edd139f6.
Accessed 26 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A535099958
In Wolves' Clothing
Greg Levin
www.greglevin.com
White Rock Press
9780990402947, $13.95, PB, 272pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: During his seven years on a team fighting sex trafficking, Zero's become quite good at schmoozing with pimps, getting handcuffed by cops and pretending not to care about the young girls he liberates. But the dangerous sting operations are starting to take a toll on his marriage and sanity. His affinity for prescription painkillers isn't exactly helping matters.
When the youngest girl the team has ever rescued gets abducted from a safe house in Cambodia, Zero decides to risk everything to find her. His only shot is to go rogue, and sink deeper into the bowels of the trafficking world than he's ever sunk.
It's the biggest mission of his life. Trouble is, it's almost certain death.
Critique: A riveting, fast-paced novel replete with unexpected twists and turns, Greg Levin's "In Wolves' Clothing" is an immensely satisfying read by an author that has a genuine flair for originality and narrative driven action. A non-stop suspense thriller, "In Wolves' Clothing" is unabashedly and unreservedly recommended for community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "In Wolves' Clothing" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).
Clint Travis
Reviewer
THE EXIT MAN BY GREG LEVIN
The Exit Man by Greg Levin
Greg Levin seems to channel his humor vicariously through Eli Edelmann, his sardonic and quick-witted protagonist in The Exit Man. Eli, a little jaded and a lot fed up with his current position running the family party store Jubilee, has his life quickly changed when he is approached by Sergeant Rush, an old friend of his father who makes of him an unusual request. It seems Mr. Edelmann, recently dead of terminal cancer, failed to come through on a final promise: a promise to help Mr. Rush, who is suffering from severe emphysema, to die. It is to be a death by helium, an apparently painless way to go. Who better to ask than the guy who runs the party store? And so, after briefly battling with the more obvious legal and moral implications, Eli fulfills the old man’s request…but he doesn’t stop there. Instead, he becomes the Exit Man, a self proclaimed hero helping the terminally ill to go out with dignity. Of course, there’s inevitably a girl and a little bit of intrigue, too.
Levin presents us with a very interesting, complex concept, rich with potential for insight and good social commentary. Much of the prose acts as Eli’s stream of consciousness as he consistently battles the psychological effects of his new past time. There are many points on the page that generate genuine laugh out loud humor. The story moves quickly, running through most of the predictable conflicts. The lengthy, rambling dialogue and underdeveloped characters ultimately leave the reader wanting and a little weary. Still the topic, despite its canned presentation, is novel enough to act as a light read.
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