David Goodwillie

“Goodwillie captures the rapturous soul of a bygone Brooklyn: the songs, the sex, the bars, the youth! And then the churn of relentless change, the broken hearts, the crushing realities. But it is the searing burn of discovery that makes Kings County a true and continual delight.” —Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came to the End It’s the early 2000s and like generations of ambitious young people before her, Audrey Benton arrives in New York City on a bus from nowhere. Broke but resourceful, she soon finds a home for herself amid the burgeoning music scene in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But the city’s freedom comes with risks, and Audrey makes compromises to survive. As she becomes a minor celebrity in indie rock circles, she finds an unlikely match in Theo Gorski, a shy but idealistic mill-town kid who’s struggling to establish himself in the still-patrician world of books. But then an old acquaintance of Audrey’s disappears under mysterious circumstances, sparking a series of escalating crises that force the couple to confront a dangerous secret from her past. From the raucous heights of Occupy Wall Street to the comical lows of the publishing industry, from million-dollar art auctions to Bushwick drug dens, Kings County captures New York City at a moment of cultural reckoning. Grappling with the resonant issues and themes of our time—sex and violence, art and commerce, friendship and family—it is an epic coming-of-age tale about love, consequences, bravery, and fighting for one’s place in an ever-changing world.

Kings County

Four days after a small bombing attack on a Manhattan office tower, failed journalist Aidan Cole receives an anonymous e-mail that identifies an attractive young woman as the bomber, a clue that leads Aidan from a Smoky Mountains community to a bomb factory in Vermont. By the author of Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.

A Novel

American Subversive

Recounts the experiences of David Goodwillie, who worked as a private investigator, journalist, copywriter, and sports-auction expert before being lured away by the promise of Internet millions just in time for the dot-com crash.

Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

A small bomb goes off in a Manhattan office tower. Four days later, with no arrests and a city still on edge, Aidan Cole, a failed journalist-turned-blogger, opens an anonymous email to find a photograph of a young American woman. There is a chilling message: "This is Paige Roderick. She's the one responsible…." His reporter's curiosity suddenly piqued, Aidan begins an unlikely journey into the dark soul of America - a story stretching from environmental radicals in the Smoky Mountains to a bomb factory in Vermont, from a wealthy enclave on Fishers Island to a safe house on the Lower East Side. An ominous play on recent U.S. history, AMERICAN SUBVERSIVE explores the connection between our collective apathy and the roots of insurrection. Paige and Aidan are two Americans who, like many of us, are grasping for a foothold in a culture-and a country-that's crumbling around them. Beautifully written and relentlessly suspenseful, AMERICAN SUBVERSIVE is a cautionary tale with a culturally adroit, hyper-realistic, and bitingly humorous voice.

David Goodwillie

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