Everybody's Fool

A new novel from Pulitzer Prize winner Russo is always cause for celebration, even more so when it returns readers to North Bath, NY, where Sully Sullivan (Nobody's Fool) and his cronies still inhabit the same bar stools. Ten years on, Sully's circumstances have changed considerably. Landlady Miss Beryl died, willing her home to Sully, while he and his estranged son have forged a tentative peace. He's still harassing his old buddy Rub and has drummed up sympathy for the contractor Carl Roebuck, who's struggling with the aftereffects of prostate cancer. The action turns to police chief Doug Raymer, a painfully insecure man burning with anger and grief at the betrayal and sudden death of his wife, Becka. Does everybody in town believe Raymer is the biggest fool going? Only his worldly wise office assistant, Charice, can talk him down off the ledge. Loneliness and missed connections loom large in Russo's work, but he tempers tear-inducing sentiment with laugh-out-loud moments.