Cooperative Lives
by Patrick Finegan
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Pub Date Mar 21 2019 | Archive Date Sep 18 2019
Two Skates Publishing LLC | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
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Description
The cream of New York’s corporate and performing-arts elite reside in a landmarked, 300-unit cooperative overlooking Central Park – quietly until an M7 bus side-swipes one of its tenant-shareholders. This sets in motion a series of increasingly bizarre financial and intelligence investigations that expose the residents’ largely separate and anonymous lives to unrelenting media scrutiny. Cooperative Lives is a novel about the fragility and resilience of bonds – between family members, co-workers, building staff, lovers and neighbors – when tested by illness, differences of class, race, religion and age, seemingly trivial misjudgments, and unwelcome outside attention.
The story centers on two middle-aged, multi-racial families – their professional and interpersonal misadventures and their considerably older and whiter neighbors. The events take place from 2010-13 – in a world not yet untethered by rampant nationalism and the results of the 2016 election.
This book will appeal to anyone who enjoys good-humored suspense flavored by seasoned reflections on midlife anxiety, marital discord, racial division, economic stress, and modern medicine.
A Note From the Publisher
978-1-7339025-2-6 | IngramSpark hardcover - cloth bound with jacket - 6x9" trim - 474 pages
978-1-7339025-0-2 | IngramSpark paperback - 5x8" trim - 348 pages
978-1-7339025-1-9 | IngramSpark e-book
978-1-0908936-3-5 | Kindle Press paperback - 5x8" trim - 348 pages
978-1-7339025-3-3 | Kindle e-book
Advance Praise
“Finegan's luscious novel Cooperative Lives follows characters whose lives change when they are brought into close proximity with each other through a series of coincidences, accidents, and international espionage... The story moves forward and backward in time with ease, teasing forth details and offering clues about a deeper underlying story and tangled interconnections… [It is] tempting to turn pages at a rapid speed, but masterful prose, marked by evocative phrasing and apt metaphors, encourages savoring each exquisite sentence and its imagery... Ambitious and sophisticated, Cooperative Lives is a diverse and gorgeous tapestry of character studies and is a pure delight to read.”
- Wendy Hinman, Foreword Clarion Reviews (5 stars)
“Written with all the passion and flourish of a love letter yet with all the calculation and clockwork of a crime novel, Finegan’s novel is a fascinating slice-of-life that rings true even as it attempts the fantastic.”
- Michael Radon, US Review of Books (Recommended)
“Incredibly evocative... [I]t is in his characterisations where Finegan really excels... [E]ach person is given a distinct voice and identity, making it not only easy to work out who is speaking, but also makes the reader genuinely care about these characters. The reader is able to see both sides of a situation and can empathise with the people in it, becoming impartial observers in a way... Cooperative Lives begins quite slowly but gradually builds momentum to a shocking climax... Maybe not one for those who like their novels fast-paced, but Cooperative Lives is a well-written, character-driven thriller which will keep readers hooked.”
- Lou Harrell, Reedsy Discovery (Loved it! 😍)
“A deliciously rich, intricate plot... The story has everything I look for in a fiction novel; espionage, intrigue, tension, corruption and a fantastic display of real human behavior... Overall, this is a perfect example of character interaction and development.”
- Lesley Jones for Readers' Favorite (5 stars)
“A reader expects so much more from literary fiction than from its less culturally evolved siblings. And not just in the quality of writing. One expects more depth, more complexity, more resonance, more beauty. One expects, and deserves, a novel like Cooperative Lives... [I]f you are looking for a book to savor, to appreciate the writing as much as the story line and plot, to satisfy your love for words as much as existential observations or distractions, look no further.”
- Joel R. Dennstedt, Independent Book Reviews (5 stars)
“An intricate and intriguing tale with a lot of plot twists and details hidden in plain sight... The people in this story are well-drawn, each with their own fully-developed personality – and their individual personality quirks together drive the plot, demonstrating the author’s gift for truly elegant plot design. This is the sort of book that rewards, indeed perhaps requires, reading more than once in order to catch all the little details and plot points one may miss on a casual reading... Cooperative Lives is a complicated but beautifully engineered book, with its intertwined secrets, interacting lives, and the carefully-woven story that emerges from them.”
- Catherine Langrehr, Indie Reader
“An intricately plotted, well-written tale. Finegan's style is clean and straight¬forward. His characters are imperfect and easily relatable people who experience the peaks and valleys that inform all lives... Strong on both character and plot, it’s most likely to be enjoyed by readers drawn to intelligent writing.”
- Blue Ink Review
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781733902526 |
| PRICE | $28.00 (USD) |
