Harper Perennial
June 1998
On Sale: June 10, 1998
Featuring: Nelson Fairchild Jr.
448 pages ISBN: 006092909X EAN: 9780060929091 Paperback Add to Wish List
A contemporary noir, Already Dead is the tangled
story of Nelson Fairchild Jr., disenfranchised scion to a
northern California land fortune. A relentless failure,
Nelson has botched nearly every scheme he's attempted to
pull off. Now his future lies in a potentially profitable
marijuana patch hidden in the lush old-growth redwoods on
the family land.
Nelson has some serious problems. His
marriage has fallen apart, and he may lose his land, cash
and crop in the divorce. What's more, in need of some quick
cash, he had foolishly agreed to smuggle $90,000 worth of
cocaine through customs for Harry Lally, a major player in a
drug syndicate. Chickening out just before bringing the
drugs through, he flushed the powder. Now Lally wants him
dead, and two goons are hot on his trail. Desperate,
terrified and alone, for Nelson, there may be only one way
out.
This is Denis Johnson's biggest and most complex
book to date, and it perfectly showcases his signature
themes of fate, redemption and the unraveling of the fabric
of today's society. Already Dead, with its masterful
narrative of overlapping and entwined stories, will further
fuel the acclaim that surrounds one of today's most
fascinating writers.