NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE - A stunning novel about a deadly rivalry in Key West from the acclaimed author of Cloudbursts. McGuane has constructed a novel with the impetus of a thriller and the heartbroken humor that is his distinct contribution to American prose. Tiring of the company of junkies and burn-outs Thomas Skelton goes home to Key West to take up a more wholesome life. But things fester in America s utter South. And Skelton s plans to become a skiff guide in the shining blue subtropical waters place him on a collision course with Nichol Dance who has risen to the crest of the profession by dint of infallible instincts and a reputation for homicide. Thomas McGuane makes the page the paragraph the sentence itself a record of continuous imaginative activity.... He is an important as well as a brilliant novelist. --The New York Times Book Review