Disconnection — Noble Nolcox

We first met Pete Downey as a teenager in A Misplaced Person. This sequel occurs fourteen years later in Indianapolis. The narrative opens with Jim and Lucy Owens who knew Pete years earlier. Their lives become entangled in ways that are dangerous to all of them. Key problems arise when the Owens' son, Johnny, involves Pete in a tragic situation. Pete's problems are further complicated by a relationship with an attractive, ambitious married woman, Barbara Rogers. As in earlier years, Pete is distracted by involvement with shady characters who cause him to wonder about attaining his goals. No one seems capable of coping with the stresses of city life.