I-5: A Novel

Available for preorder.

I-5 tells the brutal story of Anya and her journey north from Los Angeles to Oakland on the interstate that bisects the Central Valley of California.

Someone has lied to Anya, and because of these lies she is kept under lock and key, used to service men, and indebted for the privilege. In exchange, she lives in America. "Would she rather be fucking a dog...or living like a dog?" In Anya’s world, it’s a reasonable question.

It’s a macabre journey up the interstate: a drop-off at Denny’s, a patch of tule fog, a visit to a “correctional facility,” a rendezvous with an organ grinder, and a fiery entry into Oakland. Only one last task stands between Anya and the freedom promised when she was lured away from Russia.

Praise

“Summer Brenner’s I-5 aims a poet’s acuity at the real lives of the trafficked with compassion and verve and lands a classic Noir, like a 21st-century Black Lizard or Gold Medal Original.”
—Jonathan Lethem

“A brilliant, hard-boiled California novel about a woman climbing out of hell one step at a time. A sleek and significant story of survival by one of the 21st century's most underrated voices in fiction.”
—Molly Young, New York Times Magazine

“I-5 has a quality very rare in literature: a subtle dark humor that’s only perceivable when one goes deep into the heart of this world’s absurd tragedy or tragic absurdity. . . And, too, personally, the book made me feel so contemptuous of my own male sexual appetites that I never want to express them again in my life, so you’ve cured at least one male pig over here.”
—R. Crumb

“In I-5, Summer Brenner deals with the onerous and gruesome subject of sex trafficking calmly and forcefully, making the reader feel the pain of its victims. The trick to forging a successful narrative is always in the details, and I-5 provides them in abundance. This book bleeds truth—after you finish it, the blood will be on your hands.”
—Barry Gifford, poet, screenwriter, novelist, author of Wild at Heart

“...hard-boiled feminist thriller...without a superfluous word, it’s a big chase, practically a movie on the page.”
—Ned Sublette, author of Cuba and Its Music and The Year Before the Flood: A Story of New Orleans

“Anya is a wonderful, believable heroine, her tragic tale told from the inside out, without a shred of sentimental pity, which makes it all the stronger.”
—Denise Hamilton, editor of Los Angeles Noir and author of The Last Embrace

“Summer Brenner provides an insider’s look at the seedy world of sexual slavery... Nothing gets sugar-coated, yet Brenner shows sincere sympathy and warmth for her characters. I found it hard to stop turning the pages.”
—David Batstone, author of Not for Sale, founder of the Not for Sale campaign

“We learn Anya’s story in layers, and we learn her character in actions that are never quite what we expect them to be. She kept me guessing all the way through this hallucinatory shadow-world tour.”
—Jedidiah Ayre, Ransom Notes: The BN Mystery Blog

“I'm in awe. I-5 moves so fast you can barely catch your breath. It's as tough as tires, as real and nasty as road rage, and best of all, it careens at breakneck speed over as many twists and turns as you'll find on The Grapevine. What a ride! I-5's a hard-boiled standout.”
—Julie Smith, editor of New Orleans Noir and author of the Skip Langdon and Talba Wallis crime novel series

“I still think Summer Brenner is a poet, but one with notable narrative skills and a deep commitment both to her characters and to justice...I-5 is in this sense a political novel, though Brenner never lets this obstruct our view of her character. Anya is someone you will never forget.”
—Ron Silliman, ronsilliman.blogspot.com

“A novel that will beat you up—chances are you deserve it. I-5 cuts through layers of flesh to reveal the true heart of noir: that for every American dream there are a thousand nightmares. I have read no better novel in the genre. Roll over Willeford, tell Goodis the news.”
—Owen Hill, author of The Giveaway

“I-5 is a very smart and conscientious book. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t also an immensely enjoyable book. Brenner is an elegant writer, with an ear for the kind of startling turn of phrase that catches the reader off-guard and reawakens them to the force of her story.”
—Benjamin Whitmer, author of Pike

“I-5 offers an unflinching and unsentimental examination of the emotional wreckage created by sex trafficking. When Anya, a survivor of this brutal industry, is enlisted to help her tormentors 'break' a difficult new girl, the trip she takes to another city offers her an exhilarating glimpse of freedom... Steeped in tension and biting black humor, this noir road-novel-cum-character-study is an impressive debut by a promising new voice.”
—Garrett Kenyon, Literary Kicks blog

About the Contributors

Summer Brenner was raised in Georgia and migrated west, first to New Mexico and eventually to northern California where she has been a longtime resident. She has published books of poetry, fiction, and novels for youth. Her works include the noir thrillers from PM Press, I-5 and Nearly Nowhere; from PM Press/Reach and Teach, Ivy, Homeless in San Francisco, winner of the Moonbeam award; and Richmond Tales, Lost Secrets of the Iron Triangle, winner of the Historic Preservation award from the City of Richmond. She lives in Berkeley.

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