The Last Firefly of Summer by Robert Ford
CreateSpace (July 2016)
64 pages; $5.95 paperback; $1.99 e-book
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia
Over the past few years, Robert Ford has become the go-to writer when it comes to emotionally-wrenching fiction. Give him a little bit of your time and eventually, without fail, he’ll have your heart on a platter. The Last Firefly of Summer is no exception. With lean prose and and a powerful voice, Ford spins a tale about summer love gone wrong, and a vengeful adoration which must be satisfied.
There’s nothing like summer love. It hits hard and fast, leaving you breathless and reeling. And of course, summer love always ends too soon; that’s what makes it so powerful—its fleeting nature. Usually summer love ends because someone moves away, however, or because feelings change when school starts, or parents get in the way, as they happen to do. For Patrick Walder, summer love ends in death and despair, destroying whatever light once burned within him.
Years later, Patrick Walder returns to the town of his summer love, to the place where Sunni slipped through his fingers. He’s picked up a whole new set of skills; and in his field of employment he’s earned the nickname “Just” because he’ll only go to “work” on those who truly deserve it. He’s carrying with him more than just a deadly skill-set, however. Something cold burns within him, and what it wants most of all is to make someone pay for that lost summer, the last time he knew love.
To speak any more about the plot would ruin its most wrenching moments. Rest assured, if you’re looking for something to squeeze that pumping muscle in your chest, to make it “hurt so good,” you’re in the right hands. Pick up The Last Firefly of Summer without delay.
