Three-Fifths

Vercher’s uneven debut, a crime novel set in 1995 Pittsburgh, Pa., gets off to a fast, violent start. Bobby Saraceno, the 22-year-old son of a single white mother, at first doesn’t recognize his best friend, Aaron, an investment banker’s son who recently spent three years in prison for selling drugs. Aaron, who hooked up with the Aryan Brotherhood while behind bars, has shaved his head and beefed up. When the two friends go out to eat, Aaron’s prison tattoos catch the eye of a young black man, Marcus Anderson. After a hostile verbal exchange, the ex-con hits Marcus in the head with a brick. The panicky Bobby drives away from the scene with Aaron. Marcus is transported to the ER, where he’s treated by Robert Winston, an unhappily married black doctor, who later heads to a bar to drown his sorrows. There Winston encounters Bobby’s mom, Isabel, whom he doesn’t recognize, though they once had a fling. Isabel, who knows he’s Bobby’s father, doesn’t identify herself. More coincidences follow as this gritty tale of race in America swerves into soap opera involving Isabel’s efforts to bring Winston and Bobby together. The contrived plot might work better on the big screen than it does on the page. Agent: Michelle Richter, Fuse Literary. (Sept.)