- Hardcover: 218 pages
- Publisher: Ecco Pr (May 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 088001296X
- ISBN-13: 978-0880012966
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 16.8 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Kirkus Reviews
A second novel (though first to be published in the US) from expatriot American writer Amidon combines a story of alcoholism and the family with a suspenser involving business chicanery and Native Americans. Daniel North is a young American actor living in London, preparing to see his father for the first time in 13 years. But Cal dies of a heart attack on the flight to London, leaving Daniel curious about the mysterious business deal his father wanted to tell him about. He accompanies the body back to Phoenix, where he meets two strangers--his stepmother Lindy and his half-brother James. Cal, an alcoholic, had left Daniel and his mother (since dead) out of shame, and (so Daniel now learns) moved in with Lindy, another alcoholic; only when they were about to lose little James to a foster-home did both parents come to their senses, climb on the wagon, and head West, where Cal found work selling water rights. Daniel and Lindy reach a wary accommodation; he will stay in Phoenix for a time, though their desert subdivision is uninviting and neither Lindy nor Cal's boss, Richard Sweetman, can solve the mystery of Cal's latest deal. As Lindy, scared at suddenly being a single parent, goes on a terrifying, life- threatening bender, Daniel's sleuthing leads him to a nearby Indian reservation, where he learns that Cal had planned to divert water illegally from a government irrigation project in return for a large kickback from the Indians; left unexplained is why Cal would have flown off in the midst of such tricky negotiations. Soon after Daniel's discovery, the plot collapses in melodramatic confusion. The best writing here is about alcoholism; once Amidon's plotting becomes as effective as his taut style, he may write a novel of real power. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Daniel's alcoholic father Cal walked out on his family to dry out in the parched, ravaged landscape of Phoenix, Arizona. Now, 13 years later, Daniel travels to the lunar wastelands of the American desert to unravel the mystery of his father's strange life on the margins of human existence.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed but not without merit, Dec 28 1998
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Thirst (Hardcover)
The so called plot here revolves around shady business deals in the desert perpetrated by an ex-alcoholic who dies suddenly leaving his estranged out-of-work actor son to fly in from England and unravel the mystery from only a curious list of names found in a briefcase. The novel then proceeds to fail its own hackneyed plot device, botching its attempt at conventional detective intrigue. The sense about half way through that the author has no clue where he's going is confirmed by the ludicrous events of the clumsily appended finale. Fortunately for Amidon, the book redeems itself with a precisely evoked desert atmosphere, a sensitive portrayal of human relationships fractured by alcohol abuse and some memorably surreal set pieces, including one involving a drunken widow and a killer cactus! Worth a look for its style if you can bear the absence of direction.
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