Description
Book SynopsisTwisted bonds between a father and his children lead to revenge and a desperate hope for redemption and forgiveness.
Trade Review"…Prete writes electrifying dialogue, and his galvanizing descriptions are poetic and mettlesome. Subtly mythic, grimly funny, and profoundly dramatic, Prete’s tale of young survivors blazes." -- Donna Seaman - Booklist
"An intense, tragic story about a young man’s struggle to take control of his life… As JT might put it if he were prone to self-pity, he has a big f*ing challenge ahead…. But the dialogue crackles like a plastic bottle underfoot while the pace never slows. A disturbing novel offering a mixture of hope and despair, vileness and nobility." -- Kirkus Reviews
"It's no accident that when a novelist comes out with a good book, people talk about it as a performance. David Prete is a richly talented actor and in this novel he shows himself to be every bit as talented as a novelist. This is a brilliant performance, that feels like it ought to be said aloud. It has the music of something one hears in the best plays — its damaged young narrator is gritty and brave and carries a terrible burden of knowledge that leaks to us through scenes we experience in our nerves, like the stone and clamor of the city itself where he lives, palpable as a touch on the skin. August is the sad month, and this is August and then some." -- Richard Bausch
"Prete’s portrayal of an adolescent inexorably scarred by secrets and lies, revenge and its consequences is beautifully done." -- Harper Collins, Independent Thinking
"…Prete weaves a raw and tantalizing tale of revenge and repentance, played out when a Pandora’s box of family secrets implodes." -- Susan Swarbick - The Herald Scotland
"…impeccably crafted…wit, insight and some truly lovely writing that along with a heartbreaking final act, will prick your eyes with tears." -- Paul Connolly - Edinburgh Metro
"In Prete's writing dialogue and metaphor are energetically engaged, mixing sparring wit, sombre sorrow and recollection so ephemeral it has "the life expectancy of a flame in a bottle."" -- Catherine Taylor - The Guardian (UK)
