Motor City Blues by Peter Ohren Fiction · Paperback · 164 pages ISBN 1-934081-05-1 · Out of Print Click on cover image to see full-size version

Who Says Life Is Fair?

Meet Todd Foster, a second-year law student at Wayne State University.

Living in the crumbling core of the city of Detroit, Todd tries to reconcile the world he inhabits with that championed by his Harvard-educated academic advisor and the affluent parents of his girlfriend, Sarah Lane. Under the unsteady influence of larger-than-life Tartarian, a cocaine-snorting, pot-smoking social work major at Wayne State on the ten-year plan, Todd locks horns with his uptight roommates, the junkies who live next door, and Boyd Crane, the Lanes' beau-of-choice for their naive daughter.

Todd Foster is a young man we all know. He is a twentieth-century pilgrim struggling with life's big questions. But he is increasingly tripped up by the unpleasant realities that rain down upon him, ultimately precipitating a foolish act of symbolic rebellion with near-tragic consequences.

A darkly funny parable, Motor City Blues explores a Detroit both familiar and strange, one filtered through Todd's drug-fueled confusion and frustration. Combining scathing social commentary with a classic search for identity, Peter Ohren's third novel is an entertaining and provocative story of despair and redemption.

Click here to read a review of Motor City Blues on the Reader Views website.

Click here to read the first chapter of Motor City Blues.

Peter Ohren is an attorney and author living in Lansing, Michigan. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the National Law Journal, Detroit Free Press, Timber Creek Review, Arizona Literary Magazine, and Lansing City Limits. Several of his short stories have won national awards. His first novel, Catch of the Day, was published in 2003; his second novel, How It Is With Miracles, was released in 2005.