Patrick Hoffman Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Patrick Hoffman
Author Patrick Hoffman has worked for more than a decade as an investigator for the San Francisco public defenders office and as a private investigator. While he worked in the public defenders office he worked in the homicide unit, where he was the investigator in many murder trials that resulted in verdicts of not guilty.

Hoffman, before he worked as an investigator, drove a taxi in San Francisco. Even though he was born in San Francisco, he was raised in Colorado. Patrick graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor’s degree in film studies.

Patrick moved to Brooklyn, and is a New York State licensed private investigator with his own private investigation firm that specializes in civil rights and criminal defense cases.

“The White Van” was listed as one of the ten best mysteries of the year 2014 by the Wall Street Journal, shortlisted for a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award, and one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. It was also listed as a one of the 22 best literary debut novels by Buzzfeed. “Every Man A Menace” was listed by the Wall Street Journal as a top ten thriller of the year in 2016.

Patrick’s debut novel, called “The White Van”, was released in the year 2012. His work is from the mystery genre.

“The White Van” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2012. At this dive bar in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, Emily Rosario (a drug hustler) is drinking whiskey and trying to find a way out of her desperate lifestyle. She is approached by this Russian businessman, she believes she just may have found her exit.

At this hotel close to the airport, the businessman and his partner, who is an older Russian lady, make Emily a proposition. They want her to take part in a tiny identity theft. The plan is rather vague, however, they offer up cash and a rather steady supply of drugs. One week later, wanted for robbery and disoriented, she finds she is on the run for her life.

Leo Elias, a veteran cop, learns of an unsolved bank robbery, the missing money ends up being too strong a temptation. A sequence of bad investments has left Elias an alcoholic, broke, and desperate to find an easy way out of this debt. Elias decides to take this case into his own hands, hoping he can find both the money and Emily before anybody else is able to. But the case spins way out of control and quickly Leo Elias has crossed lines that can’t ever be undone.

Readers found this to be an exhilarating and gritty debut read, and with it’s scary and quick turns, provides one hell of a ride. The novel is filled with savage turns and epic twists, the pacing is relentlessly fast, and Patrick’s drive sets the pages on fire while he crawls across the sinister black underbelly of the California dream. He looks into the heart of the sleaziest inhabitants of the underworld unflinchingly, yet is still able to manage to bring each one of them alive in a distinctive yet hypnotic detail.

“Every Man a Menace” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2016. San Francisco is just about to get the largest shipment of MDMA to hit the West Coast in many years. Raymond Gaspar, who has just gotten out of prison, is sent to the city to check on the increasingly erratic dealer who is expected to take care of distribution.

In Miami, the guy responsible for getting these drugs across the Pacific recently met the girl of his dreams. She is a woman that can’t quite keep her story straight.

Thousands of miles away in the city of Bangkok, somebody much higher up on the supply chain will make a phone call that is going to put everyone’s lives at risk.

Stretching from the Golden Gate of San Francisco to the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia, this is an unflinching account of the moving, making, and selling of Molly, pure happiness sold by the brick. Then brought to market by betrayal and bloodshed.

This is a mind-bending and attention-demanding narrative. It is everything you could ever want in a thriller novel: dead-on dialogue, lightning pace, and a high-torque and twisting plot. Patrick delivers an authentic and smart novel, and is quite a welcome jolt. This frightening and deeply unique novel to be terrifying, fast, and, at times, beautiful. Patrick gives readers an entire masterclass in detail, plotting, and consequences.

“Clean Hands” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. Elizabeth Carlyle, a corporate lawyer, is under a bunch of pressure. Her prestigious New York law firm works on their most high-stakes case in their history, defending this prominent bank that has been accused of fraud. Elizabeth learns that one of her junior associates has lost his phone, which includes some secret documents that were on it. She needs help. Badly.

That’s where Valencia Walker, an ex-CIA officer and high priced fixer that gets called in when rich corporations, governments, and people need problems solved discreetly. Things get more complex when the missing phone is recovered: someone has already copied the documents and is now blackmailing the firm. Things get even murkier when stories about these documents begin showing up in the press and one tragic suicide seems staged, hinting that some darker forces could be churning under the surface.

With billions of dollars on the line, Valencia and Elizabeth have to maneuver and outmaneuver whomever is behind all of this, and, most important of all, make sure their hands stay clean. This is a world of private diplomacy, private security, and private justice.

Once again, Patrick delivers a fast-paced, and its twists ever deeper into government espionage and corporate intrigue. He writes with a sure hand, a good ear, and a fine eye; he even has a spectacular ability to render the thoughts of his morally and socially diverse cast.