A review by fantastic_cosmic
One Last Good Time by Michael Kardos

4.0

A Jersey Shore-centric collection of short stories that previous appeared in an array of literary publications, Michael Kardos's One Last Good Time traces the lives of a dozen or so residents from Breakwater Beach, a stand-in fictional community that mixes elements of Long Branch (including the pier, which burned in 1987) and other northern seaboard Monmouth County towns. From a coastal fairy tale to gritty, melancholy yet humorous coming of age (and closing of age) tales of diverse characters told against common shore setpieces as the aforementioned doomed pier, a local college, Sandy Hook and mid-20th century suburbs, the collection is a gratifying, engaging pleasure.