Last Acts

October 30, 2023
Sammartino’s acerbic debut revolves around a troubled father and son in a desolate part of Phoenix, Ariz. David Rizzo’s 30-year-old son, Nick, who’s on the rebound from a heroin overdose, agrees to help his father turn around his latest failing business, a gun shop in an industrial wasteland. They devise a marketing scheme involving a pledge to donate a percentage of the store’s proceeds to a drug rehab center, with Nick acting as the campaign’s poster boy. It works, until a school shooting dampens interest in gun sales. Sammartino spices up the shaggy dog narrative with a transcript of the Rizzos’ various failed attempts to make a TV commercial (“NICK remains in front of wall, but his smile fades, replaced by a glazed stare. He fidgets”) and social media posts Nick writes for a hospice in an effort to raise more cash (“Dying is hard. We make it easy”; “never die alone again #unity”). Sammartino takes aim at some broad and predictable targets as he traces the Rizzos’ downward slide through a collapsing America. Still, his characters’ mutual affection feels genuine. This satisfies on multiple levels. Agent: Michael Mungiello, InkWell Management.

November 1, 2023
David Rizzo had largely failed at life. He failed in his career, losing countless sales jobs. He failed at marriage after his wife left him for his boss at a car dealership. He failed as a parent and has been estranged from his son, Nicholas, for more than a year. Just when David is about to sign over his failing business, Rizzo's Firearms, he learns that Nick was revived after a near-fatal overdose. If Nick can come back from the dead, perhaps David, too, can resurrect his life and business. Soon, father and son hit upon a unique promotional angle: a portion of all firearm sales will help support addiction resources. Business skyrockets until tragedy strikes. The underaged perpetrator of a school shooting purchased the weapon from Rizzo's. Though no one was injured, David is sent to prison. Sammartino's promising debut offers keen insights into gun violence, drug addiction, and capitalism along with a skewering satire of social media. His attention to craft is evident on every page (he studied under George Saunders). A sobering tale full of heart.

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December 15, 2023
This darkly comic debut tells of how a father and son try to cope with misfortune. David Rizzo is almost 60 when his 30-year-old son, Nick, ODs, flatlines, and then is revived. Driving to the hospital makes the father miss an appointment to sell his struggling gun store, which is located in a low-traffic "commercial wasteland" in Phoenix, Arizona. His car is towed because he parked in a space reserved for medical staff. His credit card is declined at the rehab where he planned to leave Nick. Such is life for the hapless Rizzo, whose chief pleasure is TV, especially the ads. But wait! There's more! Business actually improves at the gun shop after Nick makes an ad offering to donate a portion of every sale to a local rehab center. Then Rizzo sells an assault rifle to a young man who subsequently fires 200 rounds in a local high school. He doesn't kill or injure anyone, but since he was underage, Rizzo goes to prison. He also largely disappears from the book. Nick shows he's his father's son through a string of bad business and personal decisions, such as partnering with a local entrepreneur who mixes poor judgment and fraud and leaving a former junkie pal in charge of the gun store. Sammartino takes clever shots at marketing, philanthropy, business ethics, and gun violence--although it's risky to exploit school shootings, even in black comedy. It's also questionable to sideline Rizzo after he's been the narrative's focus and most developed character for 100 pages. But in this ode to losers, one could do worse than relying on Nick, whose main traits are inadequacy and remorse. Sammartino does have a knack for edgy writing, and occasionally he pauses to observe the world in well-crafted patches of staccato, propulsive prose. An uneven first outing but brimming with promise.

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