Only Way Out

A Novel

By: Tod Goldberg

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

A luckless thief’s wrong turn becomes a crooked cop’s fortune in a wild ride of a thriller by a New York Times bestselling author.

Failed lawyer Robert Green has such a good plan: Crack three hundred safe-deposit boxes and sail off to South America with his brilliant, morally flexible sister, Penny. If it weren’t for the damned freezing rain.

In the dying resort town of Granite Shores, cop Jack Biddle is self-appointed king—mostly of bad decisions. Between his family’s crumbling legacy, a wife who just joined the city council, and life-threatening gambling debts, Jack’s looking for a way out. Then he spots a van spinning off a mountain road into the valley below. In the wreckage, Jack finds a very dead Robert, millions in heisted loot…and opportunity.

All Jack has to do is clean up the mess, disappear Robert’s body, make off with the fortune, and not get caught. One hitch is Penny. Another is Mitch Diamond, a wild card ex-con who knows more about the missing fortune than he lets on. Jack, Penny, and Mitch each have an endgame. But there’s only one way out, and they’re crashing headlong toward it.

©2025 by Tod Goldberg. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

A Finalist of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

"Johnny Heller is brilliant performing this heist thriller set in a luckless Oregon town. Heller gives each character their distinctive voice, with emotion and inflection coming through clearly and believably. His 'no detail too small' characterizations bring an authentic aspect to this story. Heller pulls listeners into the audiobook with his focused take on a twisty, unhinged crime plot."—Kirkus Audiobook Reviews

“[Goldberg] does an uncanny job of keeping multiple plot elements in the air, shifting among unholy alliances of mobsters and do-gooders turned bad with cutting humor…Internecine noir, done just right.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“With comic flair, shocking violence, and a capacity for surprise, this recalls the noir-tinged films of the Coen brothers.”—Publishers Weekly

Smart text, super reader

Great, complex, darkly funny modern noir with original, well drawn characters. What a fun read!

off beat thriller w/ colorful characters satisfies

With a complicated plot that lands all the strands of the story with perfection in the end & a multitude of memorable characters, all flawed, but a few deeply human and endearing, Tod Goldberg gives us a great read that makes for a story that thrills from start to finish.

Tod Goldberg hits the mark again

another fun and unique, creative story.
great at writing the anti-hero. good character development and setting. honestly wish his books were a little longer

Not for me!

I just couldn't get into the story and wasn't a fan of how law enforcement is portrayed.