"Sweet Sunday"

New from Grove/Atlantic: Sweet Sunday by John Lawton.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Sweet Sunday, John Lawton turns his talents to the United States in a standalone thriller that Lawton’s American fans will be intrigued by and that is an ideal book for readers new to Lawton’s work.

Turner Raines is in his thirties, but he’s already a has-been—among the things he has been are a broken civil rights worker, a law school dropout, and a tenth-rate journalist. But as a private eye, he’s found his niche. In the hot summer of 1969, the Vietnam War is ripping the country to pieces. If your kid dodges the draft, hooks up with a hippie commune, makes a dash for Canada, Raines is the man to find him. That turbulent May of 1969, as Norman Mailer stands for mayor of New York, Raines leaves the city, chasing a draft-dodging punk all the way to Toronto. Nothing goes as planned. By the time Raines gets back to NYC, his oldest friend, a reporter for the Village Voice, is dead, and Raines’s life has changed forever. Following the trail of his friend’s death, he finds himself blasted back to the Texas of his childhood, confronted anew with his divided family and blown into the path of people who know about secret goings-on in Vietnam, stories they may now be willing to tell. Lucky for Raines, he’s a good listener.

Learn more about the book and author at John Lawton's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Then We Take Berlin.

Writers Read: John Lawton (October 2013).

--Marshal Zeringue