by Daniel Akst
First published 1996
Burl has just witnessed murders that were executed with clinical precision. The violence leaves his appetite surprisingly intact, but his dining options in town are limited. Terrell's kitchen has closed for the night. Ho Sai Gai is also shut down. The Chateau doesn't welcome him. Fast food repulses him, particularly those cramped plastic seats that remind him of everything wrong with such places. He once got trapped in a McDonald's swivel chair attached to the table. Burl enjoys cooking and has the skills for it, but his house lacks ingredients for the substantial meal he craves. The late hour makes cooking feel overwhelming. His lower back aches as it often does by this time of day. The thought of preparing food makes the pain worse. He waits behind a pregnant woman at a payphone who speaks slowly about someone named Jimmy getting arrested. When she finishes, Burl drops in a quarter and calls Sally, the woman he loves.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: McDonald's, Chateau
370 pages · Hardcover · Macmurray & Beck Communication
Content warnings: graphic-violence, murder