Son of Nothingness: A Novel of Appearances
Los Angeles, 1949. Attorney Andrew Martin, aka Andrés Martinez, is doing what he does best: surviving. His career is stable, he has his pick of women, and his beloved parrot, Emerson, keeps him company. True, he’s still lamenting his rejection from the military, still tormented by memories of his father, and then there’s his leg, which continually feels like an imposter. But he’s learned to live with all of that, too.
Until the arrival of Penny, a member of the Salvation Army, a stranger with a secret. Andrew’s meeting with the woman is brief, but what he learns from her upends him. Suddenly nothing makes sense. He needs to get away, and it seems the gods are listening, for he’s soon offered a job in Sacramento. And not just any job. He’s been asked to confirm a plot that the government is using ex-Nazis to spy on communists in the U.S. The timing seems perfect, and Andrew agrees. What he doesn’t know is that this quest will lead him straight into the heart of that from which he is trying to escape.
“A passionate...story about a sense of place, purpose, and revised objectives that keep readers thoroughly immersed...”
“Ona Russell’s prose in Son of Nothingness places the reader in the sounds, texture, and colors of Mexican American noir post war Los Angeles, a time when good relies on evil and the boundaries between Mexican and American are there for crossing… The novel colors in and breathes life into the era…”
Now Available
