Halfway through David Anthony’s refreshing first novel, “Something for Nothing,” Martin Anderson is buzzing along the California coast in a plane full of heroin from Mexico, and he’s about to cry. The misty-eyed drug mule was left out of negotiations by his partner, and now it’s killing him. “Just wait here, Martin. Eventually you’ll belong, but not right now,” mocks a voice inside him.
Martin is a sensitive American dreamer gone bad. A small-aircraft dealer and family man, he lives in an affluent Oakland suburb thirsting for fuel during the Arab oil embargo of the mid-1970s. While Anthony peppers the narrative with pop references that place it firmly in the past, his protagonist’s problems are all too familiar in our energy-conscious, financially challenged times. In an effort to dull an acute case of suburban malaise, Martin has filled the gap between his funds and his aspirations with toys he can’t afford, such as a boat and a racehorse. But the oil embargo is terrible for business, so he falls into smuggling as a way to climb out of debt. Although that plan starts out fine, before long there’s a pesky cop poking around. And a double murder.
Martin is sympathetic and complex — and full of contradictions. His smuggling is not so much an egotistical move toward bad-boy glam as a desperate attempt to escape mounting bills. This is apparent during a weekend getaway to Tahoe when he and his family visit a pretend Virginia City, the setting of “Bonanza,” where faux outlaws swagger around replica saloons and whorehouses. His kids get a kick out the place, but it’s unsettling for Martin, who by now has real guns pointed at him. His fantasyland would look a little different: “In his camp, he and Linda would be debt free, and they’d host a regular neighborhood cocktail party.”
Anthony, an English professor at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, grew up in the San Francisco area and vividly brings places in the novel to life. When Martin and his son go fishing around the mothball fleet in Suisun Bay, he’s spooked by the ships’ “combination of immensity and silence.” Playing the ponies at Golden Gate Fields, Martin is greeted by “the familiar smell of cigarettes and spilled beer.”
“Something for Nothing” is a character-driven comic thriller, and readers will hammer along as much to find out what happens next as to see Martin absorb life’s punches. Because he’s so much fun to watch, here’s hoping Anthony brings him back for a second round.
Wilwol is a writer and teacher living in Washington.
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