Book Description from Amazon
Pete Johnson is a small town boy made good in Manhattan. As a happy-go-lucky advertising copywriter, Pete thinks his life is a giddy recipe for single-guy perfection. He’s got an entertaining job, good money, buddies, booze, football on the tube, bars aplenty, women to pursue, and a hell of a town to turn upside down. Good-hearted, hardworking, hard playing, instinctive, and quick of wit, Pete is well armed to make a long, successful run at big city life.
The unraveling enters on tip toes and Pete is well into it before he realizes that his life is moving too fast into a turn. As he scrambles to gain control, it becomes apparent that the rural upbringing that he left in the dust was never quite as gone, or as benign, as he believed it to be. It’s coming after him.
Propped up by his buddies, distracted by buffoons at the office, prodded by a lunatic, and soothed by the prospect of real love, Pete reluctantly bumbles into a suckhole of murder, lust, deceit and tragedy that threatens to pull him under.I got this book for free 2 weeks ago; currently it's $5.99 on Kindle. Sometimes the best books in life are free. This novel is one of the most satisfying Amazon Kindle freebies I have read, the 7th best read out of the 75 so far.
The author finished writing the book in 2003 but it was never published until April 2014 on Kindle. The book is not available in print.
The bulk of the story is set in 1995 - 1997, when "repressed memory" cases were constantly in the news. I really like the author's writing style and his brilliance in coining phrases that put a smile on my face while reading; several made me laugh out loud. The first half is full of fun and funny stuff. The rest is heartbreaking when the mystery and his family's secrets start to unfold.
It's a bit long at 419 pages but you won't notice the length because you won't be able to put it down. Highly recommended.
