First published 2025
John Gregory Dunne sits in a shabby apartment near the Vegas Strip, having left behind his wife Joan Didion and their young child. He came here during what he calls his nervous breakdown, consumed by fears about death and crushed by his sense of failure as both writer and man. He plans to write about this city he sees as a prison of old memories. In his isolation, Dunne connects with three locals who become his guides through Vegas's underworld. Artha studies cosmetology during the day and works as a sex worker at night. Buster Mano operates as a private detective specializing in tracking down cheating husbands. Jackie Kasey performs as a lounge comedian, opening for Elvis at ten thousand dollars per show while wondering why fame still eludes him. Through them, Dunne encounters the city's cast of pimps, bail bondsmen, parking lot owners, used car dealers, and women who seem to drift between Vegas, Miami Beach, and Louisville. This dark season becomes Dunne's attempt to capture both a cultural low point and his personal collapse.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, crime, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: isolation, personal-journey
Setting: Las Vegas, Miami Beach, Louisville
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
304 pages · Paperback · McNally Editions
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness