Quiet Desperation

by Alfred C. Martino

Imagine for a moment, you’re Marcus Cooper. A slick stranger meets you in a bar. You're drunk. You talk a lot. Without you realizing it, he’s learning about you. Your desire for money and women. By night’s end, he makes you a million-dollar proposition to cause a drunk-driving accident.

Sounds crazy to you? Maybe, maybe not.

You’re out of work. Bills are piling up. You owe your bookie six grand. But mostly, you're twenty years removed from being the high school football hero you once were, doubting how much longer life is worth living.

Do you take the chance?

30 pages, ebook

First published October 26, 2012

About the author

Alfred C. Martino is a novelist and singer/songwriter. He is the author of three highly-acclaimed novels, Pinned, Over the End Line, and Perfected by Girls, as well as the stage play, Waiting For A Friend, performed at the New York New Works Theatre Festival, and a catalog of published short stories and music.

Mr. Martino was born and raised in Short Hills, NJ. He is a graduate of Duke University and The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He currently lives in Jersey City, NJ.

Information on his writing can be found at www.AlfredMartino.com. His music is available on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Deezer, Pandora, YouTube, Rumble, and other music outlets.

Reviews

[LisaMarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled across this little oddity on Hoopla. Not bad but I think I missed the punchline?

[Zoey 💫🛋️📚☕️🫖💫 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually entertaining. It ended abruptly though, but it’s a very short story (maybe 45 minutes). It kind of reminded me of The Twilight Zone in the way it’s mysterious, (not scary) and you know things aren’t going to go as planned, but you don’t know what’s going to happen. It kept my attention, especially since I was picturing it being a Twilight Zone episode lol ... so I’d recommend it.

[Hanna Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this audiobook but it felt unfinished. It's a little under an hour long so it's a great choice if you don't drive a lot. The stranger is really enticing and I love the intuitive nature he is given. Mark is a loser and at the end of risking his life he gets the loser prize of Stone memorabilia. He also gets some pretty major injuries from his car wreck and no more money than he started off with.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually, I listened to it on audio, so maybe that makes a difference....I seem to get distracted easily when listening to books. I did listen to it twice, since it is a short story, to see if I missed something....but it didn't seem to make a difference in my rating.

[Bernadette B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Este libro promete mucho más de lo que cumple. Es aburrido aunque el escucharlo tarda menos de una hora, y el final es completamente insatisfactorio.