Two siblings, one an AWOL marine working off the grid for Evel Knievel and the other a star reporter, deal with the culturally weird events of 1977, including the Summer of Sam and the death of Elvis. 150,000 first printing.
From the bestselling author of The Devil May Dance and The Hellfire Club comes a breathtaking thriller that explores the chaotic underworlds of the 1970's after an AWOL US Marine returns home to a strange and dangerous country.
It's 1977. Ike and Lucy, Senator Charlie and Margaret Marder's kids, are grown upand in trouble. US Marine Ike has gone somewhat off the grid, working on Evel Knievel's pit crew in Montana, whenafter a bar fighthe has to flee a neo-Nazi gang and seek refuge in the woods with a group of Vietnam veterans. Lucy, a reporter, has become the star of the brand new Washington DC tabloid, the Sentinel, and is breaking all sorts of stories about a serial killer and falling in with the Lyons, the wealthy family that owns the newspaper, British immigrants with quite a different view of journalism than Lucy's heroes Woodward and Bernstein.
As their lives spiral out of control, Ike goes on the road with Evel Knievel, the Vietnam veterans, and other societal outcasts, first heading to Graceland to mourn Elvis Presley, then going to confront politiciansfor grievances real and perceivedon an island in Georgia. Lucy, too, is at that retreat with both her parents and the Lyon family, attendees at this retreat where the future of the post-Nixon Republican party will be decided. The confrontation turns violent and both Ike and Lucy have to make decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives.