After you’re gone, what will they say about you? Alton Carver is going to find out.See, Alton’s got a problem: he’s under federal investigation for embezzling and securities fraud. Instead of spending the next three to five years behind bars, he’s got a plan: stage his own death, take the money he stole and light out for Central America, leaving behind wife Nicole and daughter Clara. But when he … But when he sticks around town long enough to watch his own funeral, he makes the unpleasant discovery that the life he’s leaving behind isn’t the life he thought he had.
The shock of seeing Nicole in the arms of another man leads Alton to postpone his plan to run for the border and forces him to reconsider his self-image as a respected and admired pillar of the legal community. What comes next is a slow-burn train wreck, a tale of self-deception, revenge, and bad decisions.
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Alton Carver lives in a nice house and lives with his wife Nicole and his beloved 4 year old daughter Clara. He appears to have a good life and be a real respected lawyer at his firm. In truth, he has embezzled millions of dollars from his clients and knows that he is under federal investigation. So he decides to fake his death. That way he can eliminate the chance of prosecution and jail plus his wife and daughter will be able to live well on the insurance payout. He has thought through all angles of faking his death and decides to go out in his boat, start a fire and disappear to shore on a kayak. All goes well until he realizes that it’s difficult to row a kayak, that he no longer has transportation and that he really misses his daughter. He decides to stay in town a bit longer and alters his appearance by shaving his head. When he should have left for Central America, he begins making stupid decisions all of which could lead to his discovery. He watches his daughter on the playground, he sneaks into his home and he attends his memorial service. While listening to the people at the service, he realizes that he wasn’t as well thought of by his colleagues and friends and was barely even liked. He also finds out that his wife has a boyfriend. This enrages him an decides to stay in town even longer to get revenge and begins to make even dumber decisions. What comes next is a train wreck, a tale of self-deception, revenge, and bad decisions.
The story is told in alternating chapters by Alton and Nicole and what we find out is that they are both very selfish and unlikable characters. Alton has a very high opinion of himself as a lawyer and a husband and Nicole has really been fed up with him for years and has a long term boyfriend. The only likeable person in the novel is Clara, their daughter. Even though I didn’t like the characters, I just had to keep reading to find out how it all ended.
Despite the fact that parts of this book are unbelievable and that the characters are so selfish and unlikable, I found this to be a very quirky and interesting book. This is a debut book for this author and I look forward to reading future books by him.
Favorite Quotes:
Chas and his light-beer-commercial friends were still tossing beanbags around. One of the girls squealed for some reason. She probably felt a thought forming. It can hurt if you’re not used to it.
My Review:
This was exceedingly clever and deftly paced – I never would have guessed it was the author’s first novel. I had trouble putting my Kindle down today and was prone to hiss or moan when my avid perusal was interrupted, as I didn’t want to miss a moment of the snarky observations and inner musings of this rather vile couple. Not one of the characters featured was an upstanding citizen or the type of person I would choose to share air with, yet I was riveted to their tale and deathly curious to know how it would resolve. I keenly followed each surprising twist and crafty revelation with fervent interest and waffled in my opinions as the layers were cunningly peeled back ever so shrewdly. Spencer Fleury is a wily storyteller with strong word voodoo. He is definitely one to watch.