Once upon a time Eddie played concert piano to reverent audiences at Carnegie Hall. Now he bangs out honky-tonk for drunks in a dive in Philadelphia. But then two people walk into Eddie's life--the first promising Eddie a future, the other dragging him back into a treacherous past.

Shoot the Piano Player is a bittersweet and nerve-racking exploration of different kinds of loyalty: the kind a man owes his family, no matter how bad that family is; the kind a man owes a woman; and, ultimately, the loyalty he owes himself. The result is a moody thriller that, like the best hard-boiled...

He could remember the gun in his hand, the man in front of him, the shock of the explosion, and then the blood. He could remember the flight though the woods, and the satchel with the money, and now the gang of killers, closing in. But what he couldn't figure was the woman. She had been there, once, when the killers caught him, and beat him half to death. And he had found her one night with one of them in her room. She said she loved him. And he wanted her. But could he trust her?