Simon & Schuster · January 19, 2027 · Hardcover, ebook and audiobook
Goodfellas meets Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer in RIDE OR DIE GIRL, a darkly absurdist crime novel that tracks Beatrix through Dante's nine circles alongside British Columbia's most notorious gangster, transforming from prey to predator. The Bacchae would have been a fan.
← All worksSynopsis
Ride or Die Girl is a standalone crime novel by Alexander Boldizar, author of the Locus Award-winning The Man Who Saw Seconds, about Beatrix, the girlfriend of British Columbia's most notorious gangster, who must transform from prey to predator to survive. It is published by Simon & Schuster on January 19, 2027.
In a world run by gangsters, the only way to survive is to learn what it means to ride or die.
Beatrix is the ultimate gangster's girlfriend, living through cycles of violence and devotion with Jason, British Columbia's most notorious gangster. Jason hunts her when she runs. Rival gangs smash down her doors. Assassins shoot over her in parking lots.
Beatrix knows she needs to run if she wants to live, but escape means transformation from prey to predator. Guided by a constellation of seers, a dominatrix, and her cat, Cora, she descends through her own circles of hell—her raw, unsentimental voice threading through the criminal underworld as a Greek chorus gathers beneath it, creating a darkly absurdist rhythm that examines the strange loops of our self-perception.
Ride or Die Girl is a crime story, an exploration of how predators nest inside their prey, and a practical primer on how to run a criminal enterprise. Most of all, it's a self-help manual for the next generation of ride or die girls.
Details
For Readers
A crime novel told in the raw, unsentimental first-person voice of Beatrix, the girlfriend of British Columbia's most notorious gangster, structured as a descent through her own nine circles of hell, while a Greek chorus gathers beneath the narrative. Darkly comic and violent, it is a story about how prey becomes predator, and, as the jacket copy puts it, "a practical primer on how to run a criminal enterprise."
Readers of literary crime and dark comedy; readers who liked voice-driven, morally unreliable narrators; readers of The Man Who Saw Seconds who want the satire without the science fiction; readers familiar with Dante’s Inferno or Greek myth who enjoy finding Easter eggs in contemporary stories; readers who like dark stories with complex female protagonists; readers who appreciate stories told on multiple levels without ever sacrificing plot. It is not a romance, despite the title, and it is not a sequel.
Read an excerpt
He could tell I was miserable, so he got me a kitten. That’s how I got Cora. He took me to Surrey Place Mall and we got her together, so I’d be okay at home in his containment. My gift. That’s what Cora means, according to Jason. I was so happy with that. I’d always wanted a kitten. And it showed he’d noticed at the Hamms, that he’d seen me playing with the Hamms’ cat. It showed that I wasn’t completely invisible.
One night, shortly after I’d gotten Cora, Jason decided to hit the gym alone, leaving me at home. It felt odd, because we always went to the gym…
Ride or Die Girl by Alexander Boldizar is a darkly absurdist crime novel about Beatrix, the girlfriend of British Columbia's most notorious gangster, who learns that escaping him means transforming from prey to predator. It is told in her own raw, unsentimental voice, structured as a descent through nine circles, with a Greek chorus gathering beneath the story.
Readers of literary crime and dark comedy; readers who like voice-driven, morally unreliable narrators and complex female protagonists; readers of The Man Who Saw Seconds who want the dark satire without the science fiction; and readers who know Dante's Inferno or Greek tragedy and enjoy finding them under a contemporary story. If you liked Goodfellas, My Sister, the Serial Killer, Olga Tokarczuk's Flights or Ottessa Moshfegh's Eileen, Ride or Die Girl is for you.
No. Despite the title, Ride or Die Girl is a crime novel with elements of very dark comedy, not a romance. Its comparison titles are Goodfellas (as told from Karen Hill’s eyes) and Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer.
No. Ride or Die Girl is a standalone novel with new characters, a complex first-person female protagonist and no science fiction. It is Boldizar's first crime fiction, written in a very different voice, connected only by his lightly absurdist worldview.
Ride or Die Girl will be published by Simon Maverick, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, on January 19, 2027, in hardcover, ebook and audiobook at the same time. A paperback edition will follow later.
The unabridged audiobook of Ride or Die Girl is narrated by Alex Sarrigeorgiou and published by Simon Maverick, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
In Inferno, Dante goes through the underworld to reach his love, Beatrice. In Ride or Die Girl, the story is told by Beatrix (the -trix ending has a reason) as she finds her way through the criminal underworld of Canada’s West Coast. The architecture of the book draws from Inferno but its psychology and narrative structure are closer to Greek tragedy. Readers familiar with Dante or Greek myth will find fun Easter eggs, but the story doesn’t require familiarity with either literary tradition.
Ride or Die Girl is set in British Columbia, Canada, in the criminal world of the Lower Mainland. Much of it is set in Surrey, BC, which Numbeo's crime index has consistently placed among the 50 highest-crime cities in the world, alongside Chicago, Manila, Atlanta and Santiago. There is a very wide gap between public perceptions of Canadian cities and the reality of Surrey.
Ride or Die Girl contains violence and an abusive relationship. It includes a deep dive into the psychological profile of abuse and avoids easy redemption arcs.
Fast science-fiction thriller with a father-and-son core: The Man Who Saw Seconds. Absurdist literary satire of law school: The Ugly. Dark literary crime with a complex female narrator, set in British Columbia: Ride or Die Girl. All three stand alone; none is a sequel. A side-by-side comparison of the three novels is on the Works page, at boldizar.com/works.
Gangster stories from the inside — Goodfellas, from Karen Hill's vantage point
Complex, morally compromised women narrating — Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer; Ottessa Moshfegh's Eileen; Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl
Prey becoming predator — Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels
Structure and myth — Dante's Inferno; Euripides' The Bacchae
Constellation novels, told in fragments — Olga Tokarczuk's Flights
Not for readers who want: a romance, a cozy mystery, a police procedural, or a redemption arc.
Pre-order Now
PRE-ORDER · JANUARY 19, 2027