Noah's Turn

Noah’s Turn is the darkly humorous story of Noah Douglas, a failed television writer who is intensely jealous of a more successful friend. Jobless, wifeless, Noah drifts through the cold winter, alternately drinking, visiting an elderly aunt whom he hopes will die and leave him money, and sleeping with whomever will have him. But it isn’t until Noah finds himself at a pivotal moment of envy that he crosses the line between humanity and depravity and murders his successful friend with a machete. Noah must deal with the mental anguish and moral dilemmas—and surprising lack of remorse—over the murder, for which he seems not to be a suspect.

Well-paced, funny, with Finkleman’s trademark sharp observations on vanity and hubris, Noah’s Turn is a short masterpiece.