New York: Ballantine, 1997. dj. Hardcover first edition - African American writer and film director's highly praised first novel: John Stewart has to get to Vegas to settle a gambling debt - or else - but his car breaks down in a small town in the middle of the Nevada desert. Violence, dirty double crosses, murder, plot twists and pure noir, basis for the Oliver Stone movie 'U-Turn.'. ISBN: 0-345-41345-8.