Point Dume

Katie Arnoldi's critically acclaimed debut novel Chemical Pink launched her onto the bestseller lists and so established itself into the public's consciousness that its title was the answer to a Double Jeopardy question.

Two years ago Overlook published her sophomore effort, The Wentworths, a searing portrait of a wealthy Westside, Los Angeles, family. This too was a fixture on bestseller lists and earned her a wider audience.

With Point Dume she has produced her most remarkable novel to date — bringing to life subjects she knows well — the death of surf culture, human trafficking, the Mexican drug cartel, illegal pot farms on public lands, environmental devastation, and obsessive love.

A fast moving page-turner, with insights that Arnoldi has gleaned from years of on-the-ground research, this is a timely novel that seems timeless.

"Arnoldi (The Wentworths) relies on one red-blooded character to conceal that the rest are archetypes in this ripped-from-the-headlines drama. Ellis Gardner is the surfing queen of Point Dume, Calif., feared, lusted after, and envied by the yuppie moms who filter down from the mansions overlooking the ocean to take surfing lessons. Ellis's childhood friend Pablo is the hunky surfing instructor, but he's also been amassing a small fortune finding and robbing small marijuana crops planted by Mexican cartels on the slopes of unsuspecting property owners, then selling his harvest. His current rival for Ellis's affections is one of those absentee owners, Frank, a rich midlife surfing convert who's unaware that his wife is one of Pablo's best customers. Meanwhile, Felix Duarte crosses the Mexican border for the dangerous but lucrative job of guarding one of the secret patches from which Pablo steals. Arnoldi hothouses the concerns of all equally, so Frank's existential crisis ranks as highly as Felix's hunger- and isolation-induced hallucinations up on the ridge and Ellis's unexpected pregnancy. The prose style is spare and powerful and the pages turn effortlessly." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Crisp pacing, caustic characterizations, and acerbic satire inform this darkly comic fable." Booklist

"Arnoldi knows how to make readers care about her protagonists. Her well-researched, well-written novel will appeal to fans of T.C. Boyle and Cormac McCarthy as well as to readers who mourn the destruction of the environment." Library Journal

By the bestselling author of Chemical Pink, a timely tale of pot farms, surf culture, and fire

Katie Arnoldi's literary debut Chemical Pink, set in the competitive world of female bodybuilding, became a surprise bestseller, winning Arnoldi praise from critics and readers alike. Her second novel, The Wentworths, also graced bestseller lists. She lives in Venice, California, with her husband, the painter Charles Arnoldi, and their two children.