Odditorium

A delirious noir carousel, Odditorium plunges the reader into a feverish world where every scheme collapses sideways and nothing lands where it's aimed. Broun's precise prose ricochets between grit and slapstick, stitching together crooked side-hustles and warped ambitions, amidst a gallery of grifters, washed-up boozers, and accidental accomplices. A pulpy feverish dream wheelin' and dealin' in women's softball and drug deals gone bad, from Tangier to Cartagena to the seedy underbelly of 1980s America, propelled by Broun's smart dialogue and unerring instinct for derailment.

Odditorium was Broun's first novel, originally published in 1983 by Harper & Row but out of print ever since (except for an ebook release by Open Road Media). After releasing Odditorium, Broun underwent spinal surgery that saved his life but left him paralyzed from the neck down.

"The heroine of Odditorium is Tildy Soileau, a professional softball player stuck in a down-and-out marriage in South Florida. Leaving her husband to his own boozy inertia, she jumps at the chance to travel to New York with Jimmy Christo, only recently released from a mental institution, and make some much-needed cash on a drug deal. Adventure is just as much a motivating force, though, and Tildy quickly gets involved with a charismatic drug dealer; meanwhile, in carrying out business, Jimmy is dangerously sidetracked in Tangier. By the time the two are back in Florida, a financial boon greets them, but here, too, trouble is in the wings. Formally daring and full of jolts of the unexpected, Odditorium is an addictive romp through shady realms."-Kirkus Reviews