Dreadful Summit - Paperback

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by Stanley Ellin (Author), Andrew Klavan (Introduction by)

A teenage boy sets out to avenge his father in this noir novel from the author of Specialty of the House.

Every sports fan in New York knows Al Judge, the hard-bitten reporter whose column is the scourge of gamblers, gangsters, and corrupt players across the city. Sixteen-year-old George LaMain is Judge's biggest fan--until the night when his own father becomes the target of the journalist's attacks, taken down in a public spectacle of violent humiliation.

Reeling from a moment that upends his whole worldview, George takes his father's gun and sets out into the night on a quest for revenge. But before he can achieve the vigilante justice he seeks, the young man will make a series of discoveries that reveal an unsettling truth about the family he thought he knew.

A noir-tinged coming of age novel by the master of the mystery story, Dreadful Summit is a riveting, atmospheric revenge novel rendered with both depth and suspense. It was included in the Haycraft-Queen cornerstone list of the greatest mysteries of all time, and inspired the 1951 Joseph Losey film The Big Night.

Introduction by Andrew Klavan.

Author Biography

Stanley Bernard Ellin (1916-1986) was an American mystery writer born in Brooklyn, New York. His first short story, titled "The Specialty of the House" appeared in 1948 in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He was a three-time winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award, for his short stories "The House Party" in 1954 and "The Blessington Method" in 1956, and for his novel The Eighth Circle in 1959. His novels Dreadful Summit, House of Cards, and The Bind were each adapted into feature films. A longtime member of the Mystery Writers of America, Ellin was awarded the group's Grand Master Award in 1981.

Andrew Klavan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous crime novels including True Crime, filmed by Clint Eastwood; Don't Say A Word, filmed starring Michael Douglas;and the Cameron Winter series. He has been nominated for the Edgar Award six times and has won twice. Aside from penning bestselling fiction and nonfiction and screenplays to blockbuster films, Klavan's political satire videos have been viewed by tens of millions of people, and he currently hosts the popular podcast The Andrew Klavan Show at The Daily Wire.

Number of Pages: 288

Dimensions: 0.64 x 7.96 x 5.29 IN

Publication Date: May 26, 2026