This is a gritty, compelling collection of 13 short stories by veteran writer Falco, who is also the author of a previous collection, "Plato at Scratch Daniel's" (1990), and the novel "Winter in Florida" (1990). In the title story, Jerome, the owner of a Christian bookstore, nurses young Alice through her first acid trip, drawing unlikely parallels between playing jazz, dropping acid, and praying; he concludes that, although he is settled and sober while Alice is drugged and alone, "They were different and they were the same . . . everybody, wrapped in urging bodies under the dead light of the stars." This tension between domesticity and life on the edge is a recurring theme throughout these stories, in which Matt, an all-American midwestern boy, agrees to smuggle cocaine into Paris, and successful family man Jim Renkowski engages in a dangerous confrontation when his past as a small-time drug dealer comes back to haunt him in a big way. Well crafted and engaging, these stories offer both high drama and deep emotion.
Author of a previous collection (Plato at Scratch Daniel's, 1990) and a novel (Winter in Florida, 1990), Falco writes tense, gritty fiction that portrays ordinary people caught between the claims of "normal" life and the lure of the forbidden and untasted. His characters include an aimless teenaged burglar (in "Radon"), a college student radically transformed by his friendship with a troubled married couple (in "Ax"), and (in the title story) a reformed drug addict whose old life won't leave him alone. Battling or grieving families, unstable and endangered relationships, assume haunting accusatory shape in 13 pellucid stories that are stylistically akin to the plays of David Mamet or Sam Shepard.
Falco's voice, though, is his own, and his work keeps getting better and better.
I almost never admire the characters in Acid, but I care about them. Edward Falco’s characterization is complex and believable, so that his parents are easy to sympathize with, however wrong they are, and the children are pitiable as we watch them prepare to self-destruct. . . Falco is at his best when he is walking a tightrope between satire and empathy, and the ways he maintains his balance are very pleasurable to behold.” —Studies in Short Fiction
“Falco sees how people are dangerous, both to themselves and to others. He is clearly a writer to be reckoned with.” —The Hudson Review
“Falco does manage to go far into conveying a sense of character and of feeling that is often elided in contemporary literature. These are interesting stories and reveal a writer who shows at once talent and promise.” —Review of Contemporary Fiction
“Acid remains a commanding collection from a writer who attends to craft and content with equal vigilance. Falco writes a sure-handed, unflinching prose that uncovers the day-to-day edginess and emotional uncertainty so pervasive in contemporary America. Like another of our best realist writers, Andre Dubus, Falco writes about people, who are all too painfully real and recognizable—and shows us that their lives matter, for better or worse.” —Cimarron Review
“Well crafted and engaging, these stories offer both high drama and deep emotion.” —Booklist
“There is in Mr. Falco’s fiction a little of Raymond Carver’s sensitivity to the menace of the everyday, and a lot of Andre Dubus’s sturdy empathy with his characters’ failings and regrets.” —The New York Times Book Review
Falco writes tense, gritty fiction that portrays ordinary people caught between the claims of ‘normal’ life and the lure of the forbidden and untasted. . . Battling or grieving families, unstable and endangered relationships, assume haunting accusatory shape in 13 pellucid stories that are stylistically akin to the plays of David Mamet or Sam Shepard. Falco’s voice, though, is his own, and his work keeps getting better and better.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Falco creates nearly perfect short stories filled with interesting characters and wonderfully dramatic situations. The characterizations are so crisp that it’s impossible not to care about these people. Falco proves himself to be a sterling practitioner of the short story form.” —Publishers Weekly
“It is Falco’s storied sharing of those times of revelation that makes his collection memorable. Difficult and painful as they may be, Falco’s stories always tell the truth and leave the reader wanting to do the same.” —The Roanoke Times
“Falco writes hard and pointed fiction which examines issues of love, commitment, and family ties alike. . . this author’s ability to capture and hold the modern reader’s attention makes for a collection which is packed with contemporary concerns.” —Midwest Book Review
