The Three-Day Affair

A momentary lapse of judgment leads to dire consequences in Kardos’s excellent first novel, a crime thriller sure to please fans of Scott Smith’s A Simple Plan. Musician Will Walker has recovered, mostly, from the trauma of seeing a fellow band member killed right next to him, the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting, by the time he and his wife leave Manhattan for the New Jersey suburbs to start over. As the couple gear up for parenthood, Will notes that “violent crime was about the farthest thing from my mind, until the night when I helped one of my best friends kidnap a young woman.” That surprising crime follows the arrival in Newfield, N.J., of two college friends of Will’s, politician Nolan Albright and Internet millionaire Jeffrey Hocks, for a reunion. While the three are out for a drive, just after Will has persuaded the other two to invest in his plan to start a record label, Jeffrey emerges from a convenience store with a hostage in tow—for no good reason. Kardos (One Last Good Time, a story collection) makes the most of his intriguing setup, populated with plausible characters and enhanced by a vicious closing sting. Agent: Jody Klein, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (Sept.)