This was a very early novel, and the first one in which I did any experimenting. There were writers I admired — Dashiell Hammett, Vladimir Nabokov, Peter Rabe — who could do something I very much envied, which was to make you feel the emotion in a scene without ever referring to it directly. It all roils below the surface while the surface remains apparently calm. In 361, I set out to learn if I could do that. I enjoyed the process and enjoyed the result, and I find I still do. I’m delighted to see it back in print. ~DEW

Read Chapter One

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