This Is What We Do

Praise for This Is What We Do

“A compelling, existential thrill ride.” —Booklist

“A tight retro noir that’s as equally comfortable channeling The Stranger as it is George V. Higgins. But there’s also a sly anarchic subtext rumbling below the drugs–and–molls narrative, a welling need to bring plutocrat America to its knees. Where, of course, it belongs. This Is What We Do is a love story. Or, to be more accurate, it’s a story that’s in love with its own existential indifference. But it’s also Atlas Shrugged jammed in reverse and with the tires smoked. It’s Ayn Rand for people with a brain. And a gun. It’s a kick. Read it.” —Sean Beaudoin, author of You Killed Wesley Payne and The Infects

“Hansen’s debut novel covers even wilder, trickier ground than his memoir, American Junkie. Anti–hero James Nethery seems an ordinary, lonely man drinking Coke at the bar, until he meets “Lily,” a Ukrainian prostitute, and what began as a quiet, atmospheric meditation on down–and–out expats in Paris explodes into a nonstop, genre–blending noir–crime–vigilante–political–sexy–nihilistic–almost surreal thrill ride, infused in equal measures with brutality and beauty.” —Gina Frangello, author of My Sister’s Continent, Slut Lullabies, and A Life in Men

“There’s what people say, and then there’s what they do. The phrase will infect your consciousness, contorting and twisting itself around to take on more and more dimensions. What does it mean to act on our desires when one person’s wish fulfillment means another’s nightmare? What does it mean to be free, or to escape? At its core, This Is What We Do gives us two people left with nothing, cutting close to the uncoolness of loving without fear.” —Grace Krilanovich, author of The Orange Eats Creeps