Fiction Paperback Reprint
ISBN-10: 1-932961-30-5 / ISBN-13: 978-1-932961-30-0
5½ x 8¼ / 240 pages / $14.95 / September 2006
Fiction Hardcover
ISBN: 1-932961-08-9
5½ x 8¼ / 256 pages / $23.95 / October 2005
Summary | Praise | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Widgets | Bio | Events
A taut, dramatic literary thriller that examines betrayal, trust and forgiveness.
Tom "T" Walker, a 57-year-old businessman, knows better than to pick up a beautiful young woman hitchhiking with her dangerous-looking boyfriend, but he stops for them anyway. He's been living alone, his life ruinously off course, in such utter isolation from everyone he has ever loved that he welcomes the company and the excitement. But as T finds himself pulled into the chaos of their world in a way he will barely survive, he comes to see his personal history and experiences in an altered and troubling light.
Edward Falco brings stunning emotional depth and tense action to unforgettable characters as they journey through the mundane world to places where illusions fail and they must face their hidden selves.
An October 2005 BookSense Pick!
“Hitchcockian…the story hurtles like a brakeless truck toward its bloody denouement.” —The New York Times Book Review
"[G]ripping...skillful...moves quickly and convincingly to a satisfactory and satisfying ending." —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Think of Edward Falco as William Blake with cinematic potential. As with Blake's famed paeans to the lamb and the "tyger tyger, burning bright," Falco's debut novel seeks to "shew the two contrary states of the human soul," to dissect innocence and experience down to the rumbling guts. And Falco, for one, understands that the best way to get there isn't necessarily by way of one precise incision. It's the knuckle-whitening twists along the way that reveal the human capacity for change and self-discovery: that point at which innocence becomes experience and experience is understood. … To keep his story from becoming so much made-for-TV sensationalism, Falco goes deep to explore themes of purity and corruption, beauty and decay, stupidity and wisdom.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune
"A mesmerizing thriller….[the] suspense starts on page one….I had never read Edward Falco before this book, but I will look up his other works, including a recent book of stories called "Sabbath Night in the Church of the Piranha." —The Daily Progress (VA)
“Intriguing….” —Publishers Weekly
“I recently wrote about (and interviewed him) Edward Falco's terrific new novel, Wolf Point. Whether or not you think crime fiction can [be] literary or will always remain beneath that quantified and oh-so-hallowed categorization, take it from me, this guy can write his ass off. Here is a compelling, insightful and compulsively readable crime novel that, of course, really isn't about crime, (tho Falco makes the most artful use of the genre's conventions) but instead reveals (and revels in!) one of Falco's favorite themes: how fast circumstances can change - and thus change one's life - in a flash…. this story moves in the most unexpected - and dramatic -- directions so that by the dreamy and most satisfying ending we know we've just been taken for a thoughtful, entertaining and absolutely imaginative ride -- one that, like the best fiction, period, stays in our minds for a long time after that final page is turned. Don't miss it.” —Peter Handel, Pages Magazine
"As with many of Falco’s works—his collection Sabbath Night in the Church of the Piranha is a gem—this is another masterpiece of character development...This novel is an insightful glimpse into one raucous, life-altering weekend, and it’s a wonderful examination of sexuality and taboo." —NewPages
“One of the best thrillers that I’d read in quite some time….I plan to recommend this book to my favorite bibliophiles.” —Andra Tracy, Out Word Bound Bookstore, Indianapolis, IN
“With the deft touch of a master, the author slowly reveals the reasons for Walker's seemingly cavalier attitude toward the possibility of violence that his young hitchhikers represent, and it has something to do with a certain photograph the authorities have found on Walker's home computer. This troubling, brilliant book reminds us that few people know themselves quite as well as they think they do." —Mystery Scene Magazine
"This novel comes in at a svelte 200 or so pages. Those pages contain a taut, finely tuned story that will suck you in like a great film. Falco understands people, and gives his readers credit by allowing them access to complex characters whose decisions, motivations, and judgment are not at all black and white. Long live the short novel!" —Colin Rea, University of Oregon Bookstore
"Wolf Point is beautiful, bold, heartbreaking and wise. It calls to mind the work of several contemporary masters—people like Richard Yates, Andre Dubus, Richard Bausch and Theodore Weesner—writers who never get in the way of their own stories, truth-tellers for whom the lives of their characters are the most important element of all. This is a major work by a writer who deserves legions of loving readers." —Steve Yarbrough, author of Prisoners of War
“A terrific thriller.” —Harriet Klausner
“The release of two Edward Falco books in one year is an unexpected treat. As in his book of short stories before it, Falco focuses on human dysfunctions and vulnerabilities in Wolf Point. Prose that is sometimes shocking, insightful and incisive is Falco's trademark….The tale is told suspensefully through flawed but sympathetic characters…quintessential Falco as he skillfully reveals the darker twists and frailties of human nature.” —Midwest Book Review
“[A] study of midlife crisis and renewal, strong on psychology and packed with literary allusions…” —Library Journal
"Wolf Point, written by Virginia Tech professor Edward Falco, opens like it's going to be one of those fast-paced, consciously no-frills thrillers that have more in common with Hollywood than literary novels. You know the ones: minimal set-up, quick plot hook and nonstop action with nice twists. Think of the films "Panic Room" and "Cellular," and you're in the right ballpark…. Readers looking for a simple, fast read may be a little disappointed with Falco's philosophical turn, but the narrative never slows….It's a cunning exercise that playfully thwarts its readers' expectations, and it should measure up nicely against your best efforts to think a few pages ahead of Falco.” —The Richmond Times Dispatch
“Falco has crafted a novel equally suspenseful and thoughtful, and wonderfully tactile. . . .it has surprising staying power.” —Sarah Weinman, "Pick of the Week, Conversations of an Idiosyncratic Mind
“Wolf Point is a haunting work, a cautionary tale that by turns demonstrates that while no deed --- good or evil --- goes unpunished, absolution and redemption are possible if one is willing to pay the price. This is a work to be savored and, more importantly, reread. Highly recommended.” —Joe Hartlaub, Bookreporter.com
“Falco so beautifully manipulates his characters that their actions define the moral landscape of an indifferent world . . .” —Luan Gaines, Curled Up With A Good Book.com
“Wolf Point is billed as a "page turner," a "literary thriller," and on that level it does not disappoint. But for this reader, it's the underlying subject of seduction and betrayal, seduction and abandonment, and the damage they do that makes the book so interesting. In the guise of a psychological thriller, Ed Falco explores the landscape of exploitation, sexual and otherwise, and tells a classic tale of death and rebirth, of "transgression" and redemption.” —Kay Bonetti, Director of the American Audio Prose Library
“Categorized by the publisher as a "literary thriller," Wolf Point brings us the same quirky, sometimes menacing characters and vivid places we find in the stories. Despite the sometimes driving plot, this is a quiet book, full of contemplation by the narrator on love, regret, and redemption. It bears reading and re-reading." —Beth Wellington in The Roanoke Times
“Filled with unbearable tension, and the temptation is strong to skip ahead to see who lives. Upon reflection, the reader will experience the novel both as thriller and social commentary.” —Booklist
“[The] novel…has a thriller’s pace and a literary novel’s heart.” —The Clarion Ledger
“Falco is one of the rare writers who shines both with short fiction and in novels, and for that, his readers are grateful.” —Amy Rea, NewCenturyReading.com
Edward Falco was born in Brooklyn and teaches at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia. He's the prize-winning author of Sabbath Night in the Church
of the Piranha: New and Selected Stories, along with two previous collections,
Plato at Scratch Daniel's and Richard Sullivan Prize winner Acid, and a novel,
Winter in Florida.
Edward Falco's Website
Ed Falco on MySpace
Unbridled Aloud featuring Edward Falco
"Because—" She pulled her foot away from his thigh, tucking her feet under her again. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts as if trying to hug and fold herself into as small a space as possible. "Because," she continued. "Though the plan was to rob you, I wasn't ever really sure I'd actually let Lester go through with it."
"Just out of curiosity," T said. "What exactly was the plan?"
"I play like a hooker," she said. "Which I'm not nor have I ever been, for the record. But I come on like a country tramp or a hooker or whatever once I figure you out; then I offer to go in the back seat with you while Lester drives."
"And this is something you've done before?" T asked.
"No. It's not. Though I think Lester here might have some similar past experiences. Lester?"
Lester didn't answer. He leaned back in his seat with his arms spread out grasping the backrest to either side of him.
"Then what?" T pressed. "Once I get in the back seat with you?"
"You don't make it to the back seat. Before you get there Lester hits you over the head with a piece of pipe he's got stuck down the back of his pants."
"That's great, Jen," Lester said, breaking his silence but not moving. "Thanks for taking away the element of surprise. What am I supposed to do now, hit him over the head while he's driving?"
"Why don't we drop the whole hitting-over-the-head thing?" T said. "It won't be necessary. I already planned on taking you wherever you want to go."
"Really?" Les said. "And did you plan on giving us your car and your money?"
When T didn't answer, the Rover filled up with a silence that felt pressurized, as if it were pushing against the windows and doors. The vehicle continued rolling on, and Jennifer continued to sit with her feet folded under her, holding herself in her own arms, though she had turned to look out the front window and appeared to be quietly watching the sky as the last light faded and the somber clouds deepened toward darkness. T held the steering wheel with both hands and watched the road. Behind him, he could feel Lester's presence where he occupied the whole of the back seat as if it were his throne.