DOG BEACH

In the tradition of Elmore Leonard and Don Winslow, acclaimed screenwriter John Fusco’s thriller DOG BEACH follows the exploits of Louie Mo, once Hong Kong’s greatest stuntman turned L.A. knee-breaker, as he’s unexpectedly cast in the role of a lifetime by his latest target.

Louie Mo, once the greatest stunt double in Hong Kong, escaped from entanglements with the Chinese mafia and now makes his living in Los Angeles as a hired knee-breaker, putting the fear of god into people reneging on payments to investors. He's teamed up with a disgraced former female stunt-car driver who uses her expertise behind the wheel to keep him moving.

Dog Beach is the home of young and hungry filmmakers who will stop at nothing to see their projects realized. Troy, an aspiring director with NYU credentials and an encyclopedic knowledge of film is beginning to realize that he's made a deal with the devil by agreeing to direct a film for Avi Ghazaryan, a producer with sketchy investment sources, who demands that his daughter, Zoe, an aspiring actress whose talents leave a lot to be desired, be cast as the lead.

When Avi's investors hire Louie to scare Troy into finishing their movie, Troy's reverence for film and keen eye saves him from a beating. He recognizes Louie Mo for the stunt man extraordinaire he once was and begs him to take his first star turn as the lead in the movie based on Troy's own pet screenplay. For Louie Mo, this chance at greatness might be his last. As his past catches up with him and his body becomes ever more broken down, he teams up with Troy in a race against the clock—and the bad guys—to pull off an impossible film of epic proportions.

Veteran screenwriter John Fusco is the author of Paradise Salvage, which was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger Award for Best First Crime Novel. He has written ten major motion-pictures, including the Academy Award-nominated film, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Fusco has also just written the long-awaited sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Most recently, Fusco signed on to adapt Paulo Coelho's bestseller The Alchemist and William Paul Young's The Shack. Dog Beach is his second novel. He lives on a farm in Northern Vermont with his wife and son.