Synopses & Reviews
In the heat of August, Jake Terri Savage ("JT"), his little sister Danielle, and his bone-headed best friend, Nokey (nicknamed after "gnocchi"), try to steal JT's father's beloved 1965 Shelby Cobra. Their reasons are noble; the consequences,devastating.
JT's abusive dad's idea of a twelfth birthday gift is getting his son involved in a barroom brawl. Nokey's dad thinks he has potatoes for brains. Both sons live out their fathers' stunted visions in a way that brings down a terrible judgment on them all--leaving JT hauling rocks for punishment while he staves off panic attacks and nightmares about his sister and her terrible half-known secret.
A Dominican teenage girl with little hope for her own future gives JT a second chance to save someone, including himself. Throughout, David Prete's vivid sense of atmosphere, tight plotting, and crackling dialogue give the dysfunctional family story a new lease on life.
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
Review
"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." Booklist
Review
"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." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"...impeccably crafted...wit, insight and some truly lovely writing that along with a heartbreaking final act, will prick your eyes with tears." Richard Bausch
Review
"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."" Paul Connolly Edinburgh Metro
Review
"...Prete weaves a raw and tantalizing tale of revenge and repentance, played out when a Pandora's box of family secrets implodes." Catherine Taylor The Guardian (UK)
Review
"Prete's portrayal of an adolescent inexorably scarred by secrets and lies, revenge and its consequences is beautifully done." Susan Swarbick The Herald Scotland
Synopsis
Twisted bonds between a father and his children lead to revenge and a desperate hope for redemption and forgiveness.
About the Author
David Prete is the author of Say That to My Face. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.