Finale : A Novel in Trade Paperback by Paul A. Toth

When Jonathan Thomas receives a threatening letter apparently sent by an ex-girlfriend, he pursues the sender but finds himself unraveling another mystery he would have better left unsolved. FINALE tells the story of this wanderer's journey to a faultline deep within himself. The chapters descend from eight to zero as Jonathan travels from his most recent lover to first, finally reaching zero when he leaps into the fissure that divides him. Between lovers, internal "earthquake" chapters rise in magnitude from 1.0 to 8.0. The lovers include: Mary Whitcomb, a Zelda Fitzgerald double now selling endangered turtle eggs; Azal, who forces Jonathan to visit her father's grave wearing the dead man's clothes; Kerrie, ex-speedfreak and comic book junky; Marnie, a future soccer mom whose seductive and very white mother has deemed herself an honorary African; Chartrise, a psychic waiting with bad tidings; Caitlin, on the way to nunhood; and Holly, who invites Jonathan and the other lovers to his "funeral." Will the funeral startle Jonathan out of self-deception, or lead to knowledge he never should have gained?