Pre-Owned Violence, Nudity, Adult Content: A Novel (Hardcover) 068485726X 9780684857268

With "Violence, Nudity, Adult Content," the celebrated essayist and story writer Vince Passaro offers a revelatory first novel of crime, sexual damage, and personal redemption -- in a tale that combines the grit of a Scott Turow courtroom thriller with an astute vision of a crumbling marriage, worthy of Russell Banks or Lorrie Moore. William Riordan is on the fast track at a New York law firm, where he's asked to defend a wealthy client accused of murdering his wife, and assigned to another harrowing case involving a rape victim who is psychologically traumatized and enraged, perhaps to the point of enacting a violent revenge. Disturbed by the details of both cases, Will bends his conscience and, eventually, his psyche to the needs of the firm. Yet as he rises to meet his greatest professional challenges, his personal life plummets -- Ellie, Will's wife and the mother of their two young sons, wants a divorce. He must find his way back into her good graces -- and shepherd his two murderous clients toward two very different realms of justice. Riordan's journey to the center of responsibility and of himself is a story alternately erotic, funny, and frightening -- a contemporary tale of awakening and return. With present-day New York City teeming darkly as a backdrop to the relentless action, "Violence, Nudity, Adult Content" fires on all cylinders as a compelling literary page-turner. Contributors: Vince Passaro and Vincent Passaro