In Hugh Lessig's fantastic thriller Fadeaway Joe, a diagnosis of early-onset dementia sets bar bouncer Joe Pendergast on a path of revenge against the crime boss who fired him. Joe and Maxie were boyhood friends; Maxie taught young Joe how to box, eventually hiring him as a bouncer and bill collector when Maxie became a bar owner and expanded into illegal gambling. The boss-employee friendship goes south when money goes missing and Joe learns he has early-stage dementia. Maxie fires Joe ("because my brain is turning to oatmeal") and takes Kathy, Joe's girlfriend, as his own new squeeze. Left jobless and alone, Joe plots to kill Maxie and, using the gun he keeps under his pillow, himself before his mind fails completely. But a mysterious hooded figure and a busybody neighbor give Joe an idea: he knows how to take down Maxie and leave a more shining legacy than He Was Once Really Good with His Fists.
Lessig honed his writing skills as an award-winning journalist, and the tight pacing and witty dialogue in Fadeaway Joe make it a promising debut novel. These pages reveal a deep understanding of the senselessness of dementia and the damage it wreaks, giving readers a peek into both the scary and comedic thoughts of someone afflicted with the disease. The author invites readers to experience the regret, depression, and heart of a violent and complicated main character struggling desperately to make peace with his inevitable demise. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer