A Trout in the Sea of Cortez - Hardcover

Salter, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0026410133 ISBN 13: 9780026410137

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2006

Synopsis

In the tradition of Carl Hiaasen, this mirthful debut tracks the mid-life chaos of one man's world as he travels from the winter of North Dakota to the beaches of Mexico

Dennis Pratt doesn't want to go to Mexico. He's a guy knocking on forty, with a dead-end job, a lukewarm marriage, a distant daughter, and an incredible lack of enthusiasm for anything in his life. So little wonder that he's not very enthusiastic about the trip south of the border his wife's got planned. And as he becomes increasingly convinced that his wife is having an affair with a local alpha-male, obsessive thoughts begin to take over his life, and Pratt finds himself putting his job and his marriage at risk. He befriends a shifty father and daughter who live in a camper near the country club where Pratt is trying to learn how to play golf. He meets a mysterious artist and may or may not be falling in love with her. And his imagination runs wild about his wife and daughter. Only when en route to Mexico, and at their villa on the Sea of Cortez, do the pieces start to fall into place, with disastrous results.

A quirky cocktail of obsession, adultery, revenge, hazardous waste, golf, murder, fatherhood, and love, A Trout in the Sea of Cortez is a smart, sarcastic, and riveting mid-life crisis murder mystery.

About this title

About the Author:

John Salter's short stories have appeared in the Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Nebraska Review, and Best American Mystery Stories 2001. He is the author of the story collection Alberta Clipper, which was a finalist for the 2003 John Gardner Fiction Book Award. He lives in Moorhead, Minnesota.

From Publishers Weekly:

Dennis Pratt works part-time at a North Dakota toxic waste recycling plant; approaching 40, he has no friends and no career plan, but is a devoted father to daughter Whitney. His wife, Patricia, a successful real estate title closer, gets into shape, gets a tan and plans an anniversary trip for them to Mexico, where she expects her indolent and apathetic husband to play golf, swim and fish for marlin. Dennis complies by taking up golf, learning to swim and reading up on deep-sea fishing. But he suspects suddenly sexy Patricia is having an affair with Bruce Carver, the family dentist. As evidence compounds, Dennis falls into a depression. Encounters with a gypsylike father-and-daughter team who live in a camper near the local country club and with a beautiful widowed former therapist (with whom he begins to fall in love) complicate matters, but also spur Dennis to action. For the most part, Salter's debut breezes along with its likable but not entirely sympathetic hero bumbling through an ordinary life, but the book feels more like a set of short story–like set pieces rather than a whole work. A series of contrived revelations at the end spill out all at once, with head-shaking results for readers. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0026410133
• ISBN 13: 9780026410137
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296