". . . extraordinary exploration of human nature . . ."
"A total reexamination of the mystery genre . . . Stonesifer demonstrates that the mystery's key elements--guilt, uncertainty and the need to eliminate the latter by establishing the former--are really the building blocks of our inner lives. The book forces us to address difficult questions: are the most heinous crimes of our times physical ones, or the withholding of recognition, affection and intimacy? To call Stonesifer Dostoyevskian captures only part of its atmosphere; it is an original and startling piece of work that at its deepest level deals with human beings' incurable separation from each other." - George Blecher, author and editor, Survival Prose
"David Nemec's protagonist in Stonesifer has the texture of exposed bone. Wrenchingly real, Keith Stonesifer is both an extraordinary exploration of human nature and a horrifyingly honest voice on how too many American males are driven to think and feel today. Nemec somehow manages in one and the same book to give us mirror images of ourselves as fa floundering writer, a loving parent, a philandering mate and a serial killer. Stonesifer makes us question whether we even dare enter into an intimate relationship in these times. Its answer is yes, but not the yes that most of us want to hear." - Carol Stack, chair of Women's Sudies, University of California, Bereley, and author of Call to Home and All Our Kin
Providential, terrifying, perfectly pitched, this extraordinary novel gives us the inelegant truths of how it feels to be a middle-aged male writer, husband and father who is adrift in a world indifferent to everything he stands for. Telling his own story is Keith Stonesifer, a former college English teacher who is determined after years of professional frustration to carve a new career as a mystery writer. When Stonesifer picks up a young woman at the tennis courts in Golden Gate Park, he is slowly but inescapably caught in a nightmare descent into brutally casual sex and murder that he finds both abhorrent and alarmingly cathartic.
San Francisco singles bars, Bay Area nude beaches--even the New York literary scene--all draw Stonesifer as he searches for new meaning in his life.
In his most wide-ranging novel to date, David Nemec artfully blends a dangerously seductive mix: the tortured intimacy of Cornell Woolrich and the spellbinding amorality of Patricia Highsmith.
READERS' PRAISE FOR STONESIFER:
Whew!,Reviewer: A reader
Stonesifer is a voice we really have to heed. He seems so much your average disappointed middle-aged guy at first. But after being in his head awhile I really started to get very tense. This might have been what Ted Bundy would have sounded like if he had ever told his own true story. The thing is Stonesifer makes such a powerful case for why he's become what he has. Thankfully this isn't a true story, but you certainly get the feeling it could be.
Best "Mystery" Mystery Book I've Ever Read, Reviewer: A reader I have to admit I get suspicious when I read so many great reviews online about a book I've never heard of or seen reviewed in major publications. But in this case the reader reviewers are really right. Stonesifer is a wonderful book of its type. I guess I wouldn't really call it a mystery, but it certainly is a mystery why it doesn't have tons of readers. I would think this author would have a huge audience if people just knew about his book. It really has some amazing insights about the present state of affairs in the battle between the sexes. Plus, a lot of fascinating takes on San Francisco and the New York publishing scene.
Terrific Summer Read, Reviewer: A reader
I happened to buy this book in San Francisco while I was there this July. Whee!!! Does it ever capture what it's like to be in SF in the summer. It also captures what it feels like a lot of the time now if you're a man approaching middle age without nearly as much as you'd hoped for to show for your years. This author really knows San Francisco and his character. I actually read part of this book on Ocean Beach on a day so cold it was nearly empty. Just about every day while I was there was like that, but I hardly noticed what it was like around me while I was reading. The author really pulls you right inside his character from the get-go and keeps you there the whole way. A great read.
Crime thriller for the thinking reader, Reviewer: A reader
One of the things that makes this book very unique is how the author puts the reader inside of the mind of a very intelligent, even sensitive killer. We are able to view not only Stonesifer's sordid actions, but all the intimate thought processes...the motivations, rationale, and even the self-criticism with which he flogs himself. This is a thriller for the thinking reader. We are able to look at murder from the standpoint of the perpetrator and understand--if not condone--the act. This is the best introspective story I've ever read on this subject. I believe it is a must-read for anyone interested in the psychology of violent crime.
PRAISE FOR HIS OTHER WORKS:
Bright Lights, Dark Rooms "I loved it . . . I read it in one afternoon. Couldn't put it down, as they say." -Ken Follett
Mad Blood "Nemec, a former New York State parole officer, gives depth to his story by incorporating his knowledge of the inner workings of the police department and the Soho art world . . . He has woven plot, characters, action and wry humor into a first-rate whodunit." - Library Journal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: In addition to Stonesifer, David Nemec (see photo below) is the author of five other novels: Remember Me To My Father, Mad Blood, Early Dreams, The Systems of M.R. Shurnas, and Bright Lights, Dark Rooms. A superlative storyteller, he has brought to these works an intense candor and a wry eye for sexual nuances as well as deep insight into the nature of the human condition. David Nemec is also an award-winning baseball historian and has written over twenty books on the National Pastime, including such best-sellers as Great Baseball Feats, Facts & Firsts, and The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Major League Baseball.
Hard cover; 6 x 9, ISBN 1-885003-19-6; $25.00 plus $3.50 S&H.
