Dutch Shea, JR.

If you are familiar with John Gregory Dunne only through the novel and movie "True Confessions" you owe it to yourself to find a copy of this underrated, bleakly funny novel. Dutch Shea, Jr. is a down-on-his-luck lawyer with a bitter ex-wife, a beloved daughter murdered by terrorists, and a few secrets he would rather keep private. Over the course of a few days his existence is turned inside out when the true facts of his life are unburied (quite litterally, in the case of his dead father.) You will come to feel for Dutch as he struggles to keep from going under. Dunne makes despair comic, and when you finish this dark story, perversely, you will feel much better.