I, Lloyd Stollman

Lloyd Stollman is retired from the Department of Motor Vehicles. He ives in almost total social isolation in a bungalow on the northern edge of South Central Los Angeles. His isolation and his sense of being contained by forces beyond his control are so relentless that one day he outfits himself as a cowboy, a real one, but also presents himself to the world as a bit player in famous movies. His success in passing himself off as someone he isn't, the freedom of being someone else, is liberating. The release from his sense of repression encourages Lloyd to explore new personas he can inhabit. But there is a downside t this exploration, which Lloyd realizes when one of his characters, as charming as he appears to others, turns out to be a killer. Rather than Lloyd's portraying a character of his own creation, Lloyd is being inhabited by his characters, one after another. If he thought he had control of them, that they represented his liberation from social repression, he is ultimately disabused—he is no more in control of them than he was of himself, the anonymous, middle-aged white man known as Lloyd Stollman. The "character" of Lloyd Stollman is often sympathetic, even likable, sometimes funny in his surprise as things go wrong. Lloyd's journey through the streets of L.A., led by the creations of his psyche, allow the reader to confront the tensions between warranted and unwarranted actions that live within all of us, whether we are isolated or gathered in a fold. Rob Sullivan, the author, "can draw you in very quickly and then you see that he's taking you places that you didn't expect," said Tony Abatemarco, an early reviewer of Mr. Sullivan's work. This is a sinister book, but one laced with humor, a thoroughly enjoyable read.