On New Year's Eve of 1859, Henry David Thoreau wrote: "A man thinks as well through his legs and arms as his brain. We exaggerate the importance and exclusiveness of the headquarters." And at the start of the new millennium, a pudgy young writer, Rex Shell, engages his own legs and arms and takes up running to lose weight. When a new job takes him from Atlanta to The Pauktaug Press on Long Island's north shore, young Shell takes notice of a pair of hardly youthful local men who show promise of shattering the world record for the 10-kilometer distance.
One of these runners happens to be Shell's new editor, Lawrence Hare. Through Hare, Shell is about to learn that all is not well in the bucolic village of Pauktaug-or in its running community-where death may come from trying to make the most of life, and where the mind may be lost and murder found if one believes the "whole duty of man may be expressed in one line, -Make to yourself a perfect body."
Readers of That Iron String, the first novel in the Pauktaug Trilogy, will find another eerie adventure in the realm of philosophical-thriller via the provocative Loco-Motive.
Praise for That Iron String, the first novel in the Pauktaug Trilogy
"I know of no other recent novel that gets to grips so well with the contradictions and heartache of a professional piano career. Kohl's complex plot weaves realities with abstract philosophical discussions explaining the coming death of traditional repertoire, which he calls Music (with a capital M)."
-Michael Johnson, Facts & Arts
"That Iron String is a haunting psychogram of two young musicians that at times lets me wish I wouldn't have known anything about classical music education, the competition circus and the entire business of making music."
-Wiebke Kuester, ConcertoNet.com
"A refined and deliciously-entangled thriller, the novel addresses the risk, jubilation and uncertainty of becoming a concert pianist, a decision that author Jack Kohl-himself a professional pianist-presumably understands."
-Gordon Hamilton, Limelight Magazine
About the Author: Jack Kohl is a pianist and author living and working in the greater New York City area. He was President of The Northport Running Club from 2007 to 2009. Please visit the author's website at jacksonkohl.com
