Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Haul: A Heist Novel by Gary Phillips

 

Los Angeles native Gary Phillips has been called the hardest-working man in crime fiction. He has written novels, comics, novellas, and short stories. He’s been a contributing columnist to the Los Angeles Times, LA Watts Times, Rap Pages, the San Francisco Examiner, CrimeReads, and Black Scholar. He edited the Anthony-winning anthology The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Almost thirty years after its publication, his debut, Violent Spring (West Coast Crime, 1994), his first book about PI Ivan Monk set in the aftermath of the 1992 riots, was named one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He was also a writer and co-producer on Snowfall, a show that streamed on Hulu for 60 episodes. Taking place mostly in the 1980s, it describes the first crack epidemic in Los Angeles and its impact, particularly in South Central where Phillips grew up.

Phillips generally takes his readers to Los Angeles in mid to late 20^th century with its uncontrolled growth and social upheaval. I can always count on seeing references to the LA music scene, some of the performers who made the national stage I recognize but others are unknown to me because they remained local gems. Some of the same places and events emerge often in his work, which reminds me of the fiction of Rabbi Chaim Potok whose Depression-era childhood consistently appears in his early novels.

In The Haul (Soho, July 2026), the newest book from Phillips, O’Conner, the professional thief who first appeared in The Warlord of Willow Ridge (Dafina Books, 2012) is back, settled into a quiet middle-class life with Gwen who knows his criminal past and doesn’t particularly object. He thinks he’s retired and then someone asks him to plan the theft of several million dollars from an unscrupulous tech bro who can spare it. In his methodical planning and scheduling O’Conner reminded me of mercenary Cat Shannon as he prepared to take over a third-world country in The Dogs of War (Hutchinson & Co., 1974) by Frederick Forsyth.

With flashbacks to O’Conner’s childhood on the streets of LA, it’s easy to see how the adult O’Conner took shape. Of course plenty of mentions of LA night clubs and jazz performers sprinkled throughout the pages. There’s even a quick, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to Harry Ingram from One-Shot Harry, Phillips’ historical crime story published in 2022 and its sequel Ash Dark as Night, (Soho, 2024).

In the afterword Phillips gives credit to Donald Westlake and Westlake’s professional thief Parker for the inspiration for this suspense-filled takedown of an apparently impenetrable facility with a sizable payday at the end. I always loved the Parker books so of course I enjoyed this one.

A Los Angeles Times Best Summer Read and a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

·         Publisher: ‎Soho Crime

·         Publication date: ‎July 14, 2026

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎304 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎164129664X

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1641296649

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4eIKzZJ

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.