From the author of The Last Detail and Last Flag Flying, an irreverent and slightly surreal comic novel about love, loss, and the tribulations of small-town life.
Following a high-pressure rewrite in New York City, veteran screenwriter, curmudgeon, and expert on the Romantic poets D. K. Kecskeméti finds himself not in his home in the Hollywood Hills but in an unfamiliar house in a strange town where he is greeted not by his wife but by an obsequious houseman who informs that his wife, Hope, is gone. The note she left reveals that she’s on a retreat to deal with a personal crisis of which DK was unaware. She reaffirms her love for him and promises to return, insisting he wait.
Exhausted and bewildered, he cannot sleep that first night and goes out to wander the deserted streets. Lost, he comes upon three cops, guns drawn, about to enter the open doorway of a residence. The doorway fills with a blinding light and the cops open fire. DK dives under a police SUV. The victim falls right next to him. He is eye to eye with a beautiful black woman, who happens to be naked. And an angel. She folds her wings as she utters her last words, “Hope is alive.”
In the days that follow, seeking answers about the shooting as he looks for ways to rejoin his wife, DK learns the unsettling truths about the new hometown his fellow residents call a little slice of heaven but that may well be his own small corner of hell.
Industry Reviews
Praise for Last Flag Flying:
"Darryl has once again captured the camaraderie and complexity of male bonding, as he did so brilliantly in The Last Detail. Three familiar characters, now some thirty years later, with a dubious history and an undesirable task ahead of them are what dominate the fascinating and satisfying story in Last Flag Flying."-Bryan Cranston
"Ponicsan delivers an irreverent, acerbic, but nonetheless poignant look at the true nature of loyalty. Recommend both novels and the movie."-Booklist
Praise for The Last Detail:
"Remarkably good... The writing is superb, the pace headlong, the irony tempered with a curious gentleness."-Cosmopolitan
"A salty, bawdy, hilarious, and very touching story."-Variety
"The first underground triumph of the `70s."-San Francisco Sun-Reporter
"One of the ten best novels of the year."-Philadelphia Inquirer
"Honest, heart-wrenching."-The New York Times
"One of the really excellent novels we will draw this year, and Ponicsan... proves himself not only a master but a model of dialogue."-San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle
"A lean, funny, bitter book."-Boston Globe
"[A] gem of a first novel... fast-paced... [The] dialogue often is hilarious.."-Fort Worth Star
"An accomplished writer with a sure storyteller's touch."-St. Louis Post Dispatch
"Will make any serviceman say: `Sure, that's the way it was.'"-Newsday
