Flashout: A Novel

In 1972, when Allison first encounters the avant-garde theater troupe Theater Negative in New York City, she’s a fresh-faced college student desperate for adventure and authentic experiences. The show she attends is unlike anything she’s ever seen, and her life changes after that evening. Even her name changes, as the leader of the group, Peter, mishears her name as “Alice.” Alice becomes embroiled with the group, living collectively and cleaving her fate to Peter’s. That fate is manipulative, difficult, and often violent, but Alice lives for the rush of performing, the glow of Peter’s ardor, and, eventually, the attention of Rosa, a volatile new group member who sets Alice’s world spinning. No one will escape these years unscathed.

In 1997, a much older Allison is a school teacher facing the unthinkable: someone from the past has found her and initiated contact. Allison prefers to keep her past sealed tightly shut–the nightmare of the group’s dissolution, her betrayal, and escape. But just as the stage on those long-ago shows with Theater Negative ended with a bright glare of light, a “flashout,” instead of fading to black, the past demands visibility. Allison finds that telling her story is the only path to closure. Dark, claustrophobic, and startlingly clear in its depiction of youthful yearning and euphoria, Flashout is an exceptional fall read.