Description:
Jerry O'Shaughnessy is a heavy drinking, wise cracking restaurant owner when into his bar walks a private investigator looking for a missing girl. Jerry, who'd previously had a career as a journalist, gets involved in the search. Set over the course of a summer season in Vacationland, this wild tale is steeped in both realism and fantasy. Shark attacks, an abduction by a neo-nazi gang, espionage at the Naval Shipyard, human and drug trafficking by international mafiosos, drones, boats, surfboards and a sexy psychic neighbor, Jerry has a big summer that lands him in the hospital more than once for being nosy. In the end, he learns that his compulsion to nail the bad guys is worth any price.
From the book: "What happened on this spot sent shockwaves through the frontier and into the towns. Some say this traumatizing event caused the Salem Witch Hysteria. Those who think so reason that Salem was the town where refugees from the massacre had fled, and only a few weeks later began the witch trial of Sarah Good accused because she wasn't devout enough. People were quite scared. Life in this area was terrifying in the winter of 1692.
"Here today, we tend to feel those problems are confined to an ancient era, but in reality they were a seed that is still alive even in those with very easy means."
Brief description:
Jonathan Cook grew up in Massachusetts and has lived in Maine twice. He spent forty years in the restaurant industry and more than ten years writing for newspapers and magazines. He now writes fiction full time.