“If you haven’t read Stewart O’Nan, you have some catching up to do.”—Stephen King “Scathing and intelligent . . . Makes the skin crawl.” — Los Angeles Times In Stewart O’Nan’s cult classic crime novel, a death-row inmate gives her confession—a hair-raising tale of sex, drugs and murder across Oklahoma—in this “sexy, breathless, and pitch-perfect tale.” ( Detour ). I bet everyone asks you about Jack in ‘The Shining’ and whether that’s supposed to be you. You say no, I bet, or maybe he’s just a little part of you. This’ll be more like ‘Dolores Claiborne’ meets ’The Green Mile,’ but still… Marjorie Standiford sits on Oklahoma's death row, hours away from execution, speaking into a tape recorder, telling her life story. She's answering questions about how she became the Speed Queen, one of the Mach 6 Killers--how mainlining speed with her husband Lamont and her lover Natalie grew into dealing, how dealing grew into robbery, and robbery into mass murder. She's telling her story because she wants to set the record straight, to correct the lies in Natalie's book, which became a bestseller. Marjorie's book will be better. It will be written by a bestselling novelist. Told in Marjorie's dreamy, bemused, unforgettable voice, set against a uniquely American landscape of fast-food joints and endless highways, and scored by the blare of the dashboard radio, The Speed Queen is a taut, violent, darkly comic story into the dark soul of America’s Heartland. Praise for The Speed Queen : “If you haven’t read Stewart O’Nan, you have some catching up to do.” —Stephen King “O’Nan is an incredibly versatile and charming writer.” —George Saunders “Stewart O’Nan has been one of the best chroniclers of the lives of American women.” —Susan Straight “Classic American noir.” — San Francisco Chronicle “Vividly realized . . . Hypnotic . . . Features an unfailing intelligence, a grim and bracing humor, an unblinking eye for the telling detail.” — The New York Times Book Review “I liked The Speed Queen so much I went back and bought five or six copies to send to everyone I know. The conceit is ingenious and the book is beautifully executed. I wish I’d written it.” —Sue Grafton “A sexy, breathless, and pitch-perfect tale . . . An unabashed roller coaster of a book . . . Marjorie is a character straight out of a David Lynch film, realistic and unsentimental, creepy and bizarre.” — Detour “A terrific novel: gripping, quirky, funny, violent, and heart-breaking. I haven’t read a better book so far this year.” —Nick Hornby “Scathing and intelligent . . . Makes the skin crawl.” — Los Angeles Times “Creepy, clever, and blackly funny.” — Details “An authentic American voice, by turns naïve, brutal, pathetic, comic, and woefully ignorant.” — Chicago Tribune “Brazen, brilliantly paced . . . The Speed Queen is both a traditional crime confessional and a modern anthem to the open road. Like Cain and Chandler, O’Nan gets inside the head of a good woman gone bad . . . Slick imagery sparkles like a beefy line of crystal meth laid out on a moonlit dashboard, while the story flows smooth and strong as an intravenous injection.” — The Syracuse New Times “Fascinating, compelling, and chilling . . . You can’t wait to turn the page.” — The Oklahoma Gazette “Clean, mean, creepy storytelling.” — The Oregonian “Chilling . . . Marjorie Standiford is both endearing and terrifying, funny and pathetic . . . Her oral autobiography reveals far more about the heart of darkness than a Stephen King horror story ever could.” — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Marjorie’s voice is strong, detailed, and compelling . . . O’Nan’s power of language combine[s] with his strong storytelling skills.” — The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel “At once comic and terrifying, yet addictive . . . I have to confess, I read the whole thing in one day because I couldn’t let go.” — Pittsburgh Magazine “Marjorie’s ingenuous voice, rendered with wit and polish, sounds as stark and hypnotic as a midnight talk-radio host.” — Publishers Weekly “Combines the manic rush of Natural Born Killers with the dreamy lyricism of Badlands . . . An unflinching take on the land of fast food and fast cars, where everyone is juiced to the max—and no one is really going anywhere.” — People Stewart O’Nan is the author of numerous books, including Wish You Were Here , Everyday People , In the Walled City , The Speed Queen , and Emily, Alone . His 2007 novel, Last Night at the Lobster , was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where he lives with his family.