A gripping mystery and an unforgettable tale of a young boy's coming- of-age in an Italian American community, Paradise Salvage is 'that rare thing - a genuine thriller that also warms the heart' [Val McDermid]; Twelve-year-old Nunzio's innocence is lost forever in the summer of 1979. When he opens the boot of a wrecked Pontiac Bonneville in his father's junkyard, his vivid imagination meets a story it couldn't invent. But who will believe he's found a dead body when all the evidence is lost to the Paradise Salvage crusher? In his large, loud Italian-American family, only his brother, De Niro-obsessive Danny Boy, and his father's estranged cousin, quadriplegic ex-cop Angelo, are persuaded. Together with Angelo's trained monkey, they start a search through the darkest, strangest secrets of their small community, and to the core of their own family's loyalty. A gripping mystery, Paradise Salvage is also a wonderfully colourful portrait of a boy's coming-of-age in an Italian-American community. Award-winning screenwriter John Fusco's first novel is a gripping elegy for an age when the evil eye was as real as the local hard men.

Author Biography

Prior to becoming an award-winning screenwriter, John Fusco left high school early to work variously as a factory machinist, sawmill hand, motorcycle seat upholsterer and travelling blues musician. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he went on to write and produce seven major motion pictures, including the DreamWorks upcoming animated epic Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmeron due for release in 2001. He lives with his wife and son on their stud farm in Vermont.