David Klein, Stash

David Klein, a Williamsville native, has penned his first novel, Stash, and he is coming back to Buffalo on Thursday, September 16 to read from it and autograph copies, at 7 pm at Talking Leaves…Books on Main Street. Copies of the book, a paperback original from Broadway Books, will be available for purchase at this free event, which is open to the public.

Gwen Raine has it all: She’s an attractive, thirtyish stay-at-home mom living in a tranquil community where everything seems right—yet so much can go wrong.

It’s a typical Friday morning in late summer, and Gwen is anticipating a long-awaited weekend away at the lake with her overworked husband, Brian, and their two young children. After dropping off her daughter at swim class, Gwen drives across town to purchase a small bag of marijuana from Jude, an old boyfriend. On the way home, she gets into a car accident that leaves her bruised but the other driver dead. The local police can see the accident isn’t her fault, but when they find the pot in Gwen’s car, they throw the book at her. There have been problems with drugs in the schools, and the police are determined to crack down.

Meanwhile, Brian, a pharmaceutical company executive, is embroiled in an ethical dilemma over the marketing of a drug for "off-label" use. Jude has gotten in way over his head with his little side business. And Jude's daughter, Dana—a talented college athlete—collides head-on with a damaged ex-soldier addicted to painkillers.

Told from multiple perspectives and driven by psychological suspense and an escalating plot, this ambitious and deeply satisfying novel examines the moral complications that arise when one’s determination to do the right thing collides head-on with human fallibility and desire.

Novelist James Landis says “ Stash is a novel so intimate in its revelations of desire that sometimes you just want to close it up but you can’t because you want even more to know what happens next…Satisfying on so many levels, not least in its moral ambiguity that lends complexity to a story well told.”

David Klein spent his early years in Williamsville, attended Catholic schools, earned an MA in Writing and English from UB and an MS in Communications from RPI. He lives and works in the Albany area with his wife and pre-teen children, operating a marketing consulting firm. Stash is his first novel; he is working on a second.