Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2011
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Martin Anderson has a racehorse, a deep-sea fishing boat, a vacation home in Tahoe, and a Caddy in the garage. But his life is in freefall. It's the 1970s, and with the arrival of the oil crisis and gas rationing, his small aircraft business is tanking, as is his extravagant suburban lifestyle. Martin keeps many secrets from his wife, such as his mounting debt and his penchant for sneaking into neighborhood homes and making off with small keepsakes. So when he's given the opportunity to clear his debt by using one of his planes to make a few drug runs between California and Mexico, Martin doesn't think twice... or at all, for that matter.
Things quickly spiral out of control when Martin's simple plan lands him in the midst of gun-toting Mexican thugs. After a narcotics agent arrives on his doorstep, he becomes increasingly paranoid, both about the police and about his associates in the drug world - a feeling that seems justified when he stumbles upon the scene of a brutal double murder. Martin wants out, but he wants his money, too.
Deeply funny and suspenseful, David Anthony's novel is a perfect snapshot of the excesses of American culture.
Paperback Original
"Starred Review. ...[H]is depiction of Martin as an antihero succeeds because his ridiculous antics are laced with a yearning to belong that's so intense it borders on deranged innocence, rendering him the most lovable drug smuggler in ages." - Publishers Weekly
"Anthony's first novel... speeds to an adrenaline-charged climax in a conflict fueled by greed. Provocative, genre-spanning fiction by an author to watch." - Booklist
"[Anthony's] achievement here is his main character's tragicomic inner life. As Martin spins out rationalizations and fantasies - he reckons himself to be on a moral par with Robin Hood or Jack the Giant Killer - readers will laugh and point fingers, but they will also see something of themselves." - ForeWord Reviews
"Funny, sly, gritty, and hugely entertaining... kind of James Lee Burke crossed with John Cheever, but utterly sharp and distinctive in its own right. This is a fantastic, big-time book." - Martin Clark, author of The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living and The Legal Limit
This information about Something for Nothing was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
David Anthony grew up in the Bay Area. He is an associate professor of early American literature in the Department of English at SIU-Carbondale. Something For Nothing is his first novel. He can be found online at http://www.davidjanthony.com/.
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