by Sam Lipsyte
First published 2022
Jack S. came to Manhattan from New Jersey with rock and roll dreams. Now it's 1993, and his band finally scored their biggest show yet. Then their lead singer vanishes, taking Jack's prized bass guitar with him. The singer probably sold it for heroin money, but Jack needs that bass back. He starts searching through the dive bars and music venues of the East Village, where rent stays cheap and crime runs high. What Jack discovers goes deeper than one junkie's theft. His missing bandmate got tangled up with real estate moguls who want to transform the city. These same people might have killed Jack's punk rock mentor. Jack meets a sharp scenester who dresses like a nurse, a killer obsessed with figure skating and knives, a mad novelist, and a detective hiding secrets. His search becomes a race through a neighborhood where young artists can still afford to chase their dreams, even as powerful forces work to destroy that world.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, missing-person
Setting: Manhattan, New Jersey, East Village
Period: 1993
5 pages · Audio CD · Blackstone Pub
Content warnings: drug-use, violence