The Comedown

Henry Holt & Company (2018)

A blistering dark comedy, Rafael Frumkin's The Comedown is a romp across America, from the Kent State shootings to protest marches in Chicago to the Florida Everglades, that explores delineating lines of race, class, religion, and time.

  • Scrappy, street smart drug dealer Reggie Marshall has never liked the simpering addict Leland Bloom-Mittwoch, which doesn't stop Leland from looking up to Reggie with puppy-esque devotion. But when a drug deal goes dramatically, tragically wrong and a suitcase (which may or may not contain a quarter of a million dollars) disappears, the two men and their families become hopelessly entangled. It's a mistake that sets in motion a series of events that are odd, captivating, suspenseful, and ultimately inevitable.

    Both incendiary and earnest, The Comedown steadfastly catalogs the tangled messes the characters make of their lives, never losing sight of the beauty and power of each family member's capacity for love, be it for money, drugs, or each other.

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Praise for

The Comedown

  • "[T]hen I read the chapter, and it made me cry (twice), and if there’s ever a stand-alone novel about Tarzan/Tweety/New Person, I’ll be buying it on publication day for sure. [Rafael] Frumkin can write."

    Nathan Hill, The New York Times

  • "Frumkin is whip-smart and funny. The writing is compulsively readable without being pedestrian. Sentences seem to vibrate."

    Andrew Ridker,  The Millions

  • “Frumkin has talent to burn, and this very good novel suggests the potential for a truly great one."

  • "At its core, the book is about relationships and the joy and pain they bring. In that realm, and others, it’s a resounding success.

    Bradley Babendir, LA Review of Books