After Lyletown
By K.C. Frederick
(The Permanent Press, Hardcover, 9781579622190, 176pp.)
Publication Date: May 1, 2011
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Description
In 1988 Alan Ripley is a successful suburban lawyer, happy at home as well as at work, with a deep sense of gratitude at having found his way to this place. Given his history, he has every reason to feel proud of what he’s accomplished. Then he gets a phone call and hears a voice from twenty years ago. It’s Rory Dekker, bringing with him memories of Lyletown.
When he was a grad student in the 60’s, Alan got caught up in a political “action” that got out of hand, a bungled robbery of a gun store in a place called Lyletown. When the plan unraveled, one of the Lyletown Five, as the media called them, was killed, Rory was captured, and the rest fled. Though Alan was too sick to participate, he knew very well that if anyone talked, he was in trouble. Fortunately, nobody talked.
Now, out of the blue, Rory, who spent more than a dozen years in prison, is back in Alan’s life, and he insists on seeing his old friend.
What does Rory want from Alan? Is he just interested in talking about old times or does he think he’s entitled to compensation for having kept quiet about Alan’s role in the plot? What does he know about the other members of the group? How much should Alan, who’s tried to put all this behind him, tell his wife about what happened two decades earlier? And what is his legitimate obligation to Rory? The Lyletown affair, it seems, just won’t stay in the past.
When he was a grad student in the 60’s, Alan got caught up in a political “action” that got out of hand, a bungled robbery of a gun store in a place called Lyletown. When the plan unraveled, one of the Lyletown Five, as the media called them, was killed, Rory was captured, and the rest fled. Though Alan was too sick to participate, he knew very well that if anyone talked, he was in trouble. Fortunately, nobody talked.
Now, out of the blue, Rory, who spent more than a dozen years in prison, is back in Alan’s life, and he insists on seeing his old friend.
What does Rory want from Alan? Is he just interested in talking about old times or does he think he’s entitled to compensation for having kept quiet about Alan’s role in the plot? What does he know about the other members of the group? How much should Alan, who’s tried to put all this behind him, tell his wife about what happened two decades earlier? And what is his legitimate obligation to Rory? The Lyletown affair, it seems, just won’t stay in the past.
About the Author
K.C. FREDERICK lives in the Boston area. His most recent novel, Inland, published by The Permanent Press, won the 2007 PEN/L.L. Winship Award for Fiction. Praise For After Lyletown …
"Frederick frames his novel around intriguing crime fiction tropes, but his pacing is deliberate and the contemplation much deeper than is usually found in the genre, resulting in an absorbing examination of how violence can alter lives for years, no matter what the ideology fueling it." --Publishers Weekly"Frederick reminds us of the tenebrous atmosphere of the ‘60s." --Kirkus Reviews
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