I Stole Oppenheimer's Car: Book One

Forward by Daniel Knauf Creator of Carnivale A list writer the Blacklist & more

Had anyone else written it, I would have appreciated it as a superb post-modern gonzo take on late-70s America, resonant of Ken Kesey. But this was Billy Fucking Burke. So my first question was not, "When did you learn how to write this well?"

No. It was, "Is this shit true?"

"Most everything is," Billy drawled.

"And what isn't," I replied, "still is."

"Yup," he said.

Besides A Confederacy of Dunces, it is, hands down, the best debut novel I've ever read, its voice clear and true, mature and muscular. The telling, the same as if you were sitting across the table from The Teller.

Hate it or love it, you'll never forget it.