Men in Black
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A man struggles to mend his fractured family in the wake of his sudden success as a bestselling author in this masterful novel from Scott Spencer
Sam Holland is a pen-for-hire, with nonfiction titles such as Traveling with Your Pet and An Intelligent Woman's Guide to Pro Football to his name—or rather his pseudonym, John Retcliffe. But when his latest project, Visitors from Above, takes off, Sam is ill-equipped to handle this sudden fame: His marriage is in trouble and, as a result, his teenage son runs away. As he tours the country in support of his book, he must endeavor to put back the pieces of his broken life.
At turns funny and moving, Men in Black is Spencer's insightful take on the pitfalls of fame, and a poignant story of familial love.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Scott Spencer, including rare photos from the author's personal collection.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Family politics, marital discord, personal integrity, extraterrestrials, the publishing game and the vagaries of the American public find wise and witty treatment in this perceptive, highly readable novel from the author of Endless Love and Waking the Dead. Novelist Sam Holland has moved with his wife and two children to tiny Leyden, N.J., because his writing--despite favorable notices--can no longer pay the rent in Manhattan. To make ends meet, Sam has taken to penning pseudonymous volumes of popular nonfiction--An Intelligent Woman's Guide to Pro Football, Crystal Death (about the hazards of table salt) and, most recently, Visitors from Above, a UFO primer. Now, as his family fabric is seriously fraying (he's at constant battle with his wife, and his adolescent son runs away from home and into serious trouble), and as he is just beginning to realize how he has failed them and others, his UFO book is about to make him rich. Wrenching ironies abound, along with some keen insights into the subtleties of husband-wife and parent-child relationships. There are some awkward shifts between first- and third-person narration, but Spencer's prose is engaging, his characters are etched with tender intensity and the story proves compelling and hard to forget.
