The Cold Hard Light

By: Christopher Amenta

Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla

The Cold Hard Light is a spare and bracing literary debut that tells the story of a new father who falls into the grip of obsession.

The novel begins when the man who assaulted Andrew Harrison’s sister is released from prison. Benjamin Williams was barely more than a kid when he was sentenced to 11 years, but it is impossible to know what he has become since. Andrew, nicknamed H, is compelled to learn for himself when his uncle Billy hands him a gun and says to go find the man. As H’s interest in Williams grows, he struggles to keep his world in balance. His hockey career has stalled, his girlfriend suffers from postpartum depression that is neither understood nor diagnosed, and the allure of vengeance threatens to erase his moral self.

Set in present-day Boston, The Cold Hard Light explores the drama of modern American urban life, where the poor work gig jobs that cater to the rich, where race can be weaponized, guns are treated like toys, and the desire to blame others trumps the need to understand them. These forces and more weigh upon the characters in this crystalline novel, hurtling them toward an irrevocable conclusion.

©2022 Christopher Amenta (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Terrific

I started listening to the cold hard light because I know the author’s father in law. Once I started, I could not stop listening. A tight emotionally challenging story, great dialogue, unexpected social commentary. If you like hockey and/or Boston or just want to read a compelling story about life, babies, the consequences of mistakes we make when we are young, well this has it all.