Synopses & Reviews
Latham, Idaho, March, 17, 2010. Ashley and Ned Pine have spoken perhaps six words over yet another dispirited evening meal when black-booted attackers kick in their kitchen door wielding aluminum bats and no explanations. The blows rain down. When Ned revives in a hospital bed with a throbbing concussion, his father-in-law, Isaac Tucker, is waiting to divulge that Ashley is broken and in a deep coma. The two men now find themselves reluctant confederates vying over Ashley's care.
With this startling beginning, George Byron Wright sets the stage for a captivating story launched by evil intent and driven by traumatic loss. From his suddenly misfired life, Ned struggles to rediscover who he is, has been, and perhaps will be. When an old hippie uncle offers Ned a bunk above his thrift shop in the blue-collar neighborhood of St. Johns in Portland, Oregon, he balks before taking refuge among objects still of some use.
In St. Johns, people accept him; one may even love him. But the question remains: Who is behind the heinous attack and why were Ashley and he singled out? The answer lies in the convoluted layers of Ned Pine's ordinary life. He has written it all down--the worst six months of his life.
About the Author
George Byron Wright was born in The Dalles, Oregon where he lived until he migrated to three other small Oregon towns as his father pursued the life of a mortician. Living in Baker City, Tillamook and Roseburg endowed him with a lifelong fondness for small places. Following a lengthy career in the not–for–profit sector, during which time he wrote professionally, publishing books on management and board development, George returned to his love of fiction.
His first novel, Baker City 1948, was followed by Tillamook 1952, and Roseburg 1959. George then moved on to contemporary fiction with his fourth novel, Driving to Vernonia before writing Newport Blues, A Salesman’s Lament and In the Wake of Our Misdeed.
I Am Ned Pine is his seventh novel. He and his wife Betsy live in Portland.