Daniel Judson, The Violet Hour

The action of The Violet Hour takes place over a week, beginning on Mischief Night, October 30th, though the fact that Halloween falls within the week isn't particularly relevant. What does matter in terms of setting the tone for the book is that it is fall, and coldish, and bleak. One usually hears of the Hamptons, on the east end of Long Island, in connection with wealth—all sunshine and beaches. But the world that Cal Rakowski inhabits is dark, and he lives an ascetic life, by choice, designed to ward off surprises and loss. In late October, though, his careful world is interrupted when troubles that have been brewing around the people close to him come to a head—Carver, the man he works for; his friend Lebell; a woman he's been sheltering from her abusive husband. Cal is a natural mechanic, and events prove that he's good at figuring out more than just machines. He also discovers that without knowing it, he absorbed lessons about suspicion and survival from his late father, a criminal whose vocation meant he always carried a gun to answer the door.

It's a good thing Cal's clever, because what he's up against is a complex of interrelated troubles—bad guys and bad cops and false identities and so on. My one complaint about the book is that it's a little too complicated: when the details are revealed to us it's all a bit too much to take in. I couldn't give you a decent summary of all that was going on, having just finished the read. But apart from that, I really enjoyed this one, in particular because the author has created a tense, brooding atmosphere that keeps you constantly worried for his very likable protagonist.