Title THE LAST SHOT
Author Brett Wallach
Genre Mystery/Noir
Publisher The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb
“It is the beginning of the fourth quarter for me, actuarially. Time is running out, I'm way behind, and I've got to score. Now." Middle-aged Philadelphia Private Investigator Phil Allman is writing a detective novel. And he is determined to have it published by a major house. No matter what it takes. Rachel Arison is Senior Vice President of Fiction at Bryce Douglas. And was a high school classmate of Phil's. When he compels her to publish his book by taking her hostage, she acquiesces in part because she has an agenda of her own. Their uneasy arrangement takes several surprising turns along the way. The Last Shot is a suspenseful and often funny elegy about the challenges of getting older while trying to make a dream come true before it is too late. It is also a book within a book; Phil's novel is a chronicle of his abduction of Rachel and its aftermath. The Last Shot is the ninth in the series of Phil Allman mysteries; unlike the protagonists of many mystery novels, Phil is certainly no hero, but you can't help but root for him.
Excerpt
It is the beginning of the fourth quarter for me, actuarially. Time is running out, I’m way
behind, and I’ve got to score. Now. I don’t have time to dink and dunk; I need a long Hail Mary pass to the end zone. The question is: Do I still have the strength to chuck the ball downfield?
Thoughts of getting older resonate, especially when I access social media. Everybody’s
happy and everybody’s getting laid. Open any of the popular social media apps. Your
prospective romantic partner or kid you knew back in middle school is always having the best time ever and seemingly always fucking, and if you want to get on that train, it’s supposedly never been easier to jump on board.
I have no kick against happiness or sex. This is a rough world, baby, and you do what you
need to. The dating app girls say they want to fuck away their pain and get all nice and 420-friendly. I hold no ill will toward them. It’s just that the omnipresent message of everyone attaining ecstasy all the time is grating after a while. Especially if you’re not. Twenty-first century literature, especially the mystery genre, my heretofore go-to get-away from incessant Internet hedonism? No escape there.
The only shades of gray in modern fiction come in blocks of fifty.
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Author Biography
My name is Brett Wallach, and I'm a father of two daughters from the Philadelphia area. The protagonist in my Phil Allman, P.I. series of mysteries is a misanthropic, sentimental, bitter, funny, romantic, lustful, tough, sometimes amoral, slightly (?) insane divorced father of two daughters from Philadelphia. Any resemblance to myself is highly coincidental. I've tried to create a character who often says and does the wrong things, after reading so many books in this genre where the main character, despite quirks, is usually unrealistically virtuous. Think Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, only funnier. My favorite authors are John Steinbeck, Graham Greene, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, Gillian Flynn, and many others. I have no delusions that my novels are on their level, but as my reviews (please see them as well on Goodreads) show, most people seem to find them entertaining. After my former publisher recently went out of business, I decided to self-publish, and my nine books (so far) in the series (Jesse Garon, And I Love Her, Young Blood, Freeze Out, Susceptible,Torment, Man Out Of Time, The One You Never Seen Before, The Last Shot) are all available on Amazon, and candid, objective reviews are always welcome. My most recent noir novel, The Last Shot, has been published by The Wild Rose Press. My tenth book, and the only one not in the Phil Allman series is The Last MAN On Earth, a sci-fi/social and sexual satire, and I hope that you like that as well. My email address is brettswallach1@gmail.com, and feedback is welcome.
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