It is rare to find a literary talent so perfectly formed the first time out of the gate. This brings us to Jason Allen, whose debut novel is wondrous in every way. By turns, it reminded me of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s THE GREAT GATSBY, Evan Hunter’s LAST SUMMER, and my shelf full of Jason Starr’s wonderful urban and suburban noir thrillers.

That Allen grew up in the Hamptons, where THE EAST END is set, doesn’t just lend an additional air of authority to his story. From the beginning of the book to its fateful conclusion, readers are likely to feel that the events described by Allen have actually taken place. When we meet Corey Halpern, he is a troubled young man on the cusp of change. The story opens on the Thursday night before Memorial Day weekend, which is a momentous one for Corey. He is a week or so away from his high school graduation ceremony and a couple of weeks away from a deadline to sign an acceptance letter for a local college. It is his ticket out of his dead-end, have-not life, where he is earning pocket money by helping his mother, Gina, at her job as a housekeeper for billionaire CEO Leo Sheffield and Leo’s wife, Sheila.

"THE EAST END is a terrific novel with which to begin summer. It visits any number of themes --- illicit passions, class differences, social issues --- and integrates them into a story that is impossible to stop reading."

Corey and Gina are supposed to work at a weekend party that the Sheffields are hosting, but they are not without major troubles in their personal lives. Gina is an alcoholic whose husband, Ray, qualifies for the title of “biggest loser”; while she loathes him, she is seemingly unable to resist him. It is Corey, though, whose unease is causing him to wander dangerously toward a mental and social precipice. Corey has gotten into the habit of breaking into the occupied homes of the wealthy Hampton residents and creepy-crawling, violating their smugness and the security that they take as their rightful due. He decides to start the holiday weekend and precede his tedious three-day employment gig by breaking into the Sheffield estate and perhaps committing a bit of larceny.

Two things occur. The first is that Tiffany, the Sheffields’ college-age daughter, appears with her friend, Angelique. Corey has seen Angelique there before and has worshipped her from afar. The second is that Leo, unbeknownst to his daughter, shows up with a very unexpected guest. Corey also witnesses Leo’s arrival and sees the terrible accident that subsequently occurs. Its aftermath throws Corey and Angelique together, making them co-conspirators and blackmailers while drawing them to each other in a manner that Corey had always hoped for and that Angelique had never anticipated.

Meanwhile, Gina is struggling to maintain her newly found but tenuous sobriety, a goal that is all but doomed to fail between the stressors of her job and the threatening, volcanic presence of Ray. These elements inexorably converge over the course of the long weekend before leading to a cataclysmic collision that is as far-reaching as it is unexpected.

THE EAST END is a terrific novel with which to begin summer. It visits any number of themes --- illicit passions, class differences, social issues --- and integrates them into a story that is impossible to stop reading. However, the best part is Allen’s writing, which is literary without getting in its own way. Put this one at the top of your reading stack.