Bøger af Rick Maloy

Award winner, Rick Maloy, has collected his short stories from 2007-2011. Each presents a unique snapshot of the humor, folly, and avoidable tragedies that befall humans. Haunting characters abound. A torqued-up teenage boy in possession of an unconscious girl. A lonely young woman visiting her mother's birthplace in Ireland. Parents of a model child who discover she's sold off the timber on their weekend retreat. Spouses blind-sided by betrayal. A man in his mid-fifties trapped by vanity into attending trapeze school. A young cemetery worker's brush with sacrilege. These and other fascinating players find unusual paths to understanding in this powerful example of the writing craft.

Desperate for money, and against his wife's warnings, former Marine Charlie Woods accepts an unusual five-night limo driving assignment. His wealthy passenger, eighty-year-old Vivien Granville, refuses to fly, but her son's suicide requires she travel from Georgia to the Florida Keys for the funeral. Charlie isn't the only one with a looming crisis. Vivien fears her surviving children have planned more than a burial in Key West. Capitalizing on Charlie's simple decency, the crafty woman maneuvers him and his ambitious wife, Desiree, into a devil's bargain. Their arrangement solves everyone's short-term problem, but as plots hatch back in Georgia, everyone discovers that even minor deceptions can spiral into unimaginable consequences.

Jordan Carpenter has finally achieved the life he's dreamed of since his teens. His self-conscious, seedy years as a trial lawyer have made him wealthy beyond life's pleasures, enough to buy charity accolades and a spot on the Federal bench. He has everything he wants, except the love of his wife, Diane. Eleven years ago she shut him out and turned him into a stranger in his own home, for an offense that wasn't his fault. When rapid-succession calamities devastate the family, Jordan sees the tragedies as an opportunity to resuscitate life with Diane. But he soon wonders if she's intent on preserving the family, or if she's exacting revenge for his past sins. Will his gamble end in the reconciliation he wants or will it tear down his life of accomplishment?