To Have and to Hold

Against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, this bare-knuckled, dark-humored crime noir is set in an intricate web of lust, jealousy, and the perfect crime gone wrong. Chaffee (Big Wheels, Good Dog) has done a bang-up job populating this grimy world with sleazy characters ready to cheat and stab each other in the back to get ahead. More than a few of them won’t survive. Ex-cop Lonnie, now a down-on-his-luck security guard, plots to take fiery revenge on his cheating wife by robbing a bank and pinning the crime on her lover, but his obsessions—and the retributive hand of fate—send his plan careening off the rails. The trifecta of a gripping story and starkly amoral characters is completed by moody and atmospheric art that mirrors its film noir inspiration. Chaffee seamlessly depicts haggard, world-weary figures and heavy black ink shadows against stark whites, and his storytelling has a sinewy strength. It’s a first-rate drama. (May)