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Title: Thirst

Author: Pete Larson

Narrator: Michael Taylor

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-21-12

Publisher: Books In Motion

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Stu Carlson serves people drinks. Night after night, in the dry Texas heat, he stands behind the bar and listens to troubles and sorrows and worries and regretsnot too far off from his old position behind a pulpit. Doling out counsel and care, Stus a compassionate man. When the scotch he serves Andrew WashburnDean of Fine Arts and all-around assholeturns out to have been poisoned, Stu is shaken. A regular at Stus bar, meek and talented Daniel Lackland, is arrested for the crime. It seems he had means and opportunity to spike the drinkand the most classic of motives. Two years earlier, Washburn stole Daniels wife. But Stu knows better. He believes in Daniel, believes in the power to of a man to move on after his wife leaves him. Hell, he has toafter all, Jocelyn left him, and hes doing alright. Isnt he? Stus plight to clear Daniel and find out the truth behind Washburns murder isnt just about saving an innocent man from prison. Stu confronts his belief in himself, his loss of faith, and his realization that ministering to those in need can be done just as well with dishrag and beer tap at hand.

Members Reviews:

A wacky but witty debut

As plots go this one is no blockbuster but it serves the characters well. They're an interesting lot. After Larson's detailed descriptions you could pick them out in a crowd.

Stuart, the protagonist, is a former minister turned bartender in a small Texas college town. Harry, his bouncer, talks in song titles. Gwen is a mysterious woman with one eye. Actually, she has two eyes but one of them is glass. Chris and Daniel are local artists. Then there's the murder victim, the cops, and various peripheral characters, like Bob, who lives in the alley behind the bar. He keeps jumping from behind the dumpster to warn Stuart that the Handtoools of God are coming for him.

Art forgery and fraud are at the heart of the crime. Daniel is arrested for murder. Stuart feels it's his duty to prove Daniel's innocence. When he starts snooping around he out-Rockfords Jim Rockford.

Art forgery, fraud and murder notwithstanding, THIRST is about relationships -- especially Stuart's relationship with his ex-wife, his relationship with the one-eyed woman and his relationship with God. Larson sorts them out in the last six pages. The ending is choice.

Pete Larson writes up a storm. I hope THIRST launches a series.

Larson's well-done debut keeps you guessing all the way...

I got this book from the gang at Bleakhouse Books just for sending an e-mail.

They give away ARCs from time-to-time with the hope people will type up a small review. I chose THIRST, the debut novel from Pete Larson, because:

1. I like reading debuts.

2. It takes place in a bar and that setting intrigued me. I'm not sure why.

That said, this was a nice little pure mystery with a lot going for it... a troubled protagonist who's a former minister turned bartender, his unfaithful ex-wife (also a minister), art forgery, a couple of poisonings, single malt Scotch, and another unfaithful wife (who's husband turns up dead). And the dead guy's a shady art dealer and professor at the local college.

Our hero--who finds himself at the center of it all--is left to piece it together.