Friends Helping Friends

Published by Grove Atlantic, 2025

Bunny Simpson never wanted any trouble. So how the hell did he end up at a white supremacist compound in rural Colorado? Fast-paced, suspenseful, and by turns funny and terrifying, Friends Helping Friends is an electrifying thriller that moves at a breakneck pace, examining the vulnerability of our destinies — and how friendship can survive it all.

“Gripping, raw, fast-paced, twisty, action-packed and beautifully written.”

— Harlan Coben

“Friends Helping Friends is the best crime novel I have read this year. Patrick Hoffman is the closest thing we have to Elmore Leonard.”

—Dwyer Murphy, editor-in-chief of CrimeReads and author of The Stolen Coast

"Friends Helping Friends brings compassion and understanding to the lives of naïve and desperate young people we see every day and ignore. Written with insight into the legal system and the underground economy, Hoffman has written his best book yet. I read it straight through and you will, too.”

— Chris Offutt, author of The Reluctant Sheriff

“[An] intelligent, expansive crime novel in the tradition of Richard Price or Elmore Leonard.. Friends Helping Friends has plenty of sweep, but its core is Bunny and Jerry’s funny, loyal friendship.”

— MAX READ

“Hoffman brings shades of Elmore Leonard to this charming caper, with a comedic touch that enlivens the proceedings from start to finish. It’s a rip-roaring good time.”

— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Like Dashiell Hammett, Patrick Hoffman has worked as a private investigator and actually knows what the hell he’s talking about . . . Friends Helping Friends is fast-paced, street-smart, surprising—and scaringly timely.”