What do you think?
Rate this book
After Lyletown
In 1988 Alan Ripley is a successful suburban lawyer, happy at home as well as at work, with a deep sense of gratitude at having found his way to this place. Given his history, he has every reason to feel proud of what he's accomplished. Then he gets a phone call and hears a voice from twenty years ago. It's Rory Dekker, bringing with him memories of Lyletown. When he was a grad student in the 60's, Alan got caught up in a political action that got out of hand, a bungled robbery of a gun store in a place called Lyletown. When the plan unraveled, one of the Lyletown Five, as the media called them, was killed, Rory was captured, and the rest fled. Though Alan was too sick to participate, he knew very well that if anyone talked, he was in trouble. Fortunately, nobody talked. Now, out of the blue, Rory, who spent more than a dozen years in prison, is back in Alan's life, and he insists on seeing his old friend. What does Rory want from Alan? Is he just interested in talking about old times or does he think he's entitled to compensation for having kept quiet about Alan's role in the plot? What does he know about the other members of the group? How much should Alan, who's tried to put all this behind him, tell his wife about what happened two decades earlier? And what is his legitimate obligation to Rory? The Lyletown affair, it seems, just won t stay in the past.
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2011
53 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 20, 2011
Secret plots are hatched in darkened rooms by rebellious students in the 60s; by the 80s and 90s repercussions survive to haunt the future of suburban lawyer Alan Ripley. It’s not that he did anything wrong, but he didn’t stop it either. So now he rights the wrongs of families struggling to make the rent, and he keeps his secrets safely hidden in his past.
Those secrets threaten to escape when ex-con Rory contacts Alan. There’s an aura of threat, reminiscent of Ian McEwan's books, about the whole relationship. What does Rory want? What will Alan be called to give up? Is there any place truly safe to hide?
Alan’s wife hides a secret pain of her own, the imagined rejection of her father. And Julia’s father hid his own troubles in a hideaway cottage in the woods, all secret panels and tiny mysterious rooms.
Rory knows which levers to pull to bring Alan to his side, but is his purpose as innocent as another hidden staircase, or a guilty grab at payback and revenge? Seen through Alan’s eyes, it could be either, though mystery tempts him too close to the flame and he still longs to know, what if…
K.C. Frederick’s novel, After Lyletown, explores the many facets and keys of secrets, the risk of relationships, and the need to preserve and appreciate the beauty of what we already have. A house becomes a metaphor. The past becomes a piece in the puzzle of life. And a hideaway in the woods might just be a place to escape from the rain.
There are no absolutes in relationships, and no complete solutions to life’s mysteries. But After Lyletown builds something complete, something ready for the future with foundations and windows secured. It’s a satisfying journey through past and present, edged with danger, founded on history and politics, and vividly real; the sort of read you put down feeling sure you’ll need to pick it up again, just to remember the characters and spend a little more time in their company.
Disclosure: I received a bound galley of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Those secrets threaten to escape when ex-con Rory contacts Alan. There’s an aura of threat, reminiscent of Ian McEwan's books, about the whole relationship. What does Rory want? What will Alan be called to give up? Is there any place truly safe to hide?
Alan’s wife hides a secret pain of her own, the imagined rejection of her father. And Julia’s father hid his own troubles in a hideaway cottage in the woods, all secret panels and tiny mysterious rooms.
Rory knows which levers to pull to bring Alan to his side, but is his purpose as innocent as another hidden staircase, or a guilty grab at payback and revenge? Seen through Alan’s eyes, it could be either, though mystery tempts him too close to the flame and he still longs to know, what if…
K.C. Frederick’s novel, After Lyletown, explores the many facets and keys of secrets, the risk of relationships, and the need to preserve and appreciate the beauty of what we already have. A house becomes a metaphor. The past becomes a piece in the puzzle of life. And a hideaway in the woods might just be a place to escape from the rain.
There are no absolutes in relationships, and no complete solutions to life’s mysteries. But After Lyletown builds something complete, something ready for the future with foundations and windows secured. It’s a satisfying journey through past and present, edged with danger, founded on history and politics, and vividly real; the sort of read you put down feeling sure you’ll need to pick it up again, just to remember the characters and spend a little more time in their company.
Disclosure: I received a bound galley of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
June 17, 2013
This is an average story about an average man with an average past. Writing and pacing? Both average. In other words, there's nothing particularly wrong with this novel. The problem is, there's also nothing particularly right.
As a protagonist, Alan just doesn't hold up the weight of the novel--he ponders and worries and wonders and regrets and wishes...but he doesn't do much else, and none of those wanderings are all that interesting or unique. Just as problematically, we don't see enough about his current life to care about it, or enough of his relationships to really have any feeling for him as a father or as a part of society. Similarly, a lack of focus to the narrative makes each subplot as important to the next--after all, there's no single plot to focus on in determining where the tension Should be.
And, perhaps that's the crux of the problem. What conflict exists is imagined by Alan--and, perhaps most importantly, the reader can tell that the conflict is imagined, and that little or nothing is actually at stake. Perhaps, maybe, Frederick's point is that nothing at all happens in Alan's life...but, one way or another, the nothing happening in this novel was not enough to keep me interested, and I've really no real reason to recommend this book on. I wouldn't pick up anything else by Frederick either, I'm afraid.
As a protagonist, Alan just doesn't hold up the weight of the novel--he ponders and worries and wonders and regrets and wishes...but he doesn't do much else, and none of those wanderings are all that interesting or unique. Just as problematically, we don't see enough about his current life to care about it, or enough of his relationships to really have any feeling for him as a father or as a part of society. Similarly, a lack of focus to the narrative makes each subplot as important to the next--after all, there's no single plot to focus on in determining where the tension Should be.
And, perhaps that's the crux of the problem. What conflict exists is imagined by Alan--and, perhaps most importantly, the reader can tell that the conflict is imagined, and that little or nothing is actually at stake. Perhaps, maybe, Frederick's point is that nothing at all happens in Alan's life...but, one way or another, the nothing happening in this novel was not enough to keep me interested, and I've really no real reason to recommend this book on. I wouldn't pick up anything else by Frederick either, I'm afraid.
July 17, 2011
I received “After Lyletown” by K.C. Frederick for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Alan Ripley is living a happy life as a successful lawyer with his wife and son in Boston when his past seems to catch up with him. A past that even his wife has no knowledge of. Some twenty years earlier Alan was part of a political action that turned into a bungled robbery of a gun store in Lyletown where one of the five participants was killed and another, Rory was captured. Although by luck, Alan was unable to participate due to being hospitalized with appendicitis. In the hospital Alan followed the news reports of what the media dubbed as the “Lyletown Five”. Would Rory tell the authorities about the sixth member, Alan’s involvement?
Having dodged a huge bullet Alan vowed to live a clean life and put Lyletown behind him but when Rory is released from prison and contacts Alan he fears that everything he has worked for can be taken away. Why does Rory want to meet with Alan? Is he trying to blackmail him?
“After Lyletown” by K.C. Frederick is a great story about how a person’s past sometimes catches up to them. I loved this book and was on the edge of my seat until the final page.
Alan Ripley is living a happy life as a successful lawyer with his wife and son in Boston when his past seems to catch up with him. A past that even his wife has no knowledge of. Some twenty years earlier Alan was part of a political action that turned into a bungled robbery of a gun store in Lyletown where one of the five participants was killed and another, Rory was captured. Although by luck, Alan was unable to participate due to being hospitalized with appendicitis. In the hospital Alan followed the news reports of what the media dubbed as the “Lyletown Five”. Would Rory tell the authorities about the sixth member, Alan’s involvement?
Having dodged a huge bullet Alan vowed to live a clean life and put Lyletown behind him but when Rory is released from prison and contacts Alan he fears that everything he has worked for can be taken away. Why does Rory want to meet with Alan? Is he trying to blackmail him?
“After Lyletown” by K.C. Frederick is a great story about how a person’s past sometimes catches up to them. I loved this book and was on the edge of my seat until the final page.
July 25, 2011
I received After Lyletown through the Goodreads First Reads Program.
After Lyletown By K. C. Frederick starts in 1968 with some idealistic college professors and students who are trying to "change the world". They plan to rob a gun store in Lyletown and give the guns to repressed people to defend themselves against police brutality. The caper goes terribly wrong. Alan had gotten sick and was in the hospital when the caper was planned to take place so he was not there. Twenty years later Alan has become a lawyer in real estate law, has a partership in a small law firm. He is also married with a young son. One day he gets a call from Rory who was the only one of the Lyletown Five to serve time for this crime. This shakes his world. He feels that he owes Rory something but does not know what Rory will demand of him. A really good book about the past coming back to haunt you.
After Lyletown By K. C. Frederick starts in 1968 with some idealistic college professors and students who are trying to "change the world". They plan to rob a gun store in Lyletown and give the guns to repressed people to defend themselves against police brutality. The caper goes terribly wrong. Alan had gotten sick and was in the hospital when the caper was planned to take place so he was not there. Twenty years later Alan has become a lawyer in real estate law, has a partership in a small law firm. He is also married with a young son. One day he gets a call from Rory who was the only one of the Lyletown Five to serve time for this crime. This shakes his world. He feels that he owes Rory something but does not know what Rory will demand of him. A really good book about the past coming back to haunt you.
September 6, 2011
This was a good story and an easy read. My attention was grabbed from the beginning, there was atmosphere, instant action, and I found it compelling. I liked the jumps in time periods as marked by the years in section headings. I felt like the author conveyed a good feel of the sentiments surrounding the 1960s. There was a part in the middle that talked a lot about death and contemplating mortality that I found sort of unsettling, and for me, not necessarily essential to the story. Also, while I enjoyed the description of the fairy-tale cabin in the woods, the details got a bit long/much considered in the body of the story as a whole. But it was good, thought-provoking, exciting, and very human. I applaud the author.
September 18, 2011
I thought that After Lyletown was an interesting story that kept me coming back for more. The book is about how the decisions you make when you are younger can come back and effect your life in the future.
I thought Alan was a deep character who really showed us what it was like to grow up in Vietnam era, and how as time goes on his views and methods of accomplishing what he thinks is right changes.
**I received this book free from GoodReads First Reads giveaway**
I thought Alan was a deep character who really showed us what it was like to grow up in Vietnam era, and how as time goes on his views and methods of accomplishing what he thinks is right changes.
**I received this book free from GoodReads First Reads giveaway**
July 20, 2011
WOW, what a good read! First time reading this author's work, and if the other novels are as good, I have a new favorite author. I could not put this book down, and with 5 pages left, I quickly read to the end "knowing" that there was to be another twist. I recommend this novel to whomever loves a good thriller; you'll be very satisfied.
August 5, 2011
I enjoyed this book. I appreciated the description of the cabin and could imagine myself there.
February 2, 2012
Minor plot...great story. I'm pleasantly surprised at a novel that has a sub-plot but nothing really tangible and it still works, Alan's dealings with the meaning of life are wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
September 3, 2012
I really didn't like this book, mostly for technical reasons. Part of the book was written in present tense and part of it was written in the past tense, which just drove me nuts. It also had missing commas and words that broke across lines, both of which drive me nuts.
July 4, 2011
WOW. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE BOOKS THAT IS HARD TO PUT DOWN. I WAS REALLY IMPRESSED WITH THIS BOOK. IT REALLY SHOWS HOW THINGS FROM THE PAST CAN COME BACK AND HAUNT YOU AND NOT ALWAYS FOR THE BAD.
July 14, 2011
I GOT THIS BOUND GALLEY FROM GOODREADS.
I tried several times to get to this book, but it just did hold my attention.
I tried several times to get to this book, but it just did hold my attention.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews