Pirata

Former California car salesman Nick Lutz, the narrator of this thoughtful thriller from Hasburgh (Aspen Pulp), is called Pirata by the locals of Sabinita, Mexico, for the patch he wears over the eye he lost in a carjacking—the first in a series of misfortunes that led to the loss of his job, a lasting break from his wife and son, and his move to Mexico. In Sabinita, Nick uses his one passion, surfing, to cover up his emotional pain. When Meagan, the girlfriend of his surfing buddy, Winsor, puts a claw hammer in Winsor’s skull to protect her son Jade from being molested by Winsor, Lutz reluctantly agrees to get rid of the body. As he becomes more involved with Meagan, Jade, and her other son, Obsidian, their menage looks to be turning into a family. But Meagan leaves with Jade’s father, and the federales and the FBI enter to further complicate his life after an unidentified body washes ashore. Hasburgh tells a moving human story, but the surfeit of surfing lingo may bewilder readers unfamiliar with the sport. [em]Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Agency. (July) [/em]