Easy Money (Siler novel)
Easy Money is a debut novel by American writer, Jenny Siler, published in 1998. It is a thriller about a young woman drug runner who becomes an inadvertent investigator after the mysterious drowning death of a CIA agent. Siler was inspired by former roommates who had worked in the illicit drug trade and by conspiracy theories about the death of former CIA director of William Colby.[1]
Reception
The Missoula Independent noted that the novel draws from Siler's "rich and interesting range of experiences".[2] It was noted by The Guardian and Publishers Weekly as having established Siler as a new talent in crime fiction.[3][4]
The work was named a Notable Book of 1999 by The New York Times;[5] reviewer Marilyn Stasio praised Siler's "seductive voice" and "intensely vivid" writing, commenting that: "Once in a blue moon, a new writer speaks up in a voice that gets your attention like a rifle shot. [Siler] has that kind of voice: clean, direct and a little dangerous".[6] The Wall Street Journal said Siler "has shown tough-guy thriller writers how a woman does it ... she packs some punch".[7]
Cathrine Avery, writing in Contemporary Women's Writing, describes Easy Money and Siler's other early novels as belonging to the hardboiled detective genre, with "a central happenstance investigative character who works independently to solve a mystery".[8] Siler herself has said that she was influenced by the Western genre and the idea of an outlaw or outsider who is "searching for their place in the world".[8]
Publication history
- Easy Money (Henry Holt, 1998; ISBN 978-0-8050-6025-6)[2]
References
- ↑ Devlin, Vince (July 1, 2002). "Siler trades odd jobs for writing novels". The Missoulian. Missoula, Montana. p. 1. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
- 1 2 Healey, Maria (October 22, 1998). "Thrills and more mark Siler's accomplished debut". Missoula Independent. Missoula, Montana. p. 12. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- ↑ Jakubowski, Maxim (10 February 2001). "Big in crime". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- ↑ "Iced by Jenny Siler". Publishers Weekly. January 11, 2001. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- ↑ "Notable Books of the Year". The New York Times. December 5, 1999. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- ↑ Stasio, Marilyn (January 24, 1999). "Crime". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
- ↑ "Bookmarks". Wall Street Journal. 19 February 1999. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- 1 2 Avery, Cathrine (March 2022). "Movement and Memory: Reconfiguring the Significance of Place in Jenny Siler's Easy Money and Flashback". Contemporary Women's Writing. 16 (1): 42–59. doi:10.1093/cww/vpac007. Retrieved 31 October 2025.