From Publishers Weekly
A strong narrative voice, a sure sense of storytelling and a bedeviling dash of surprise invigorate Simpson's (Full Moon Over America) tale of a man on the run. Mike Standish, a self-described "dirty old Polack" from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., narrates this novel belly-up to a bar in remote Devil's Cay in the Bahamas. After a few failed romances, we learn, Mike fell in love with and married Sarah Browne, a New Jersey blueblood of the purest stock. The couple's marriage became a sticking point when they were forced to move in with Iron Kate, Sarah's rigid, caste-obsessed mother, who developed an unholy distaste for Mike and what she saw as his gold-digging charm. Goaded by Kate's insinuations, Mike decided to establish his new family in a home of their own. To do so, he secretly hocked Kate's collection of antiques, fleeing the country when his fingerprints on the goods threatened to disclose his involvement. As Mike ruminates on the past, he reveals his yearning for his wife, whom he hopes will come searching for him, and reflects on the role his lust for sex and money played in his turn to crime. Stuck in a hurricane, plagued by loneliness and self-doubt, Mike tells a pungent tale that deftly caricatures how a man can be freewheeling, wily and noble all at the same time. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Simpson, who is making a name for himself in contemporary fiction (e.g., The Gypsy Storyteller, LJ 2/15/93), takes us inside the head of Michael Standish (born Standowski), and it is not a particularly pleasant place to be. Standish is a man who uses people and discards them, a photographer of some talent who never bothers actually to earn any money, a man who lives off other people. Nonetheless, he sincerely loves his wife, Sarah, and their son, Tim. So why does he steal his despised mother-in-law's valuable antiques? Why is he dumb enough to leave his fingerprints all over the goods? Why can't he stay around to take the consequences like a man? Even Standish can't tell you that, but he is trying to figure it out. The characters are strongly drawn, and the narrative is oddly compelling in spite of the narrator's loutishness. Recommended for fiction collections.?Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
