The Last Afternoon: Crime, Mayhem and Murder on the San Francisco Peninsula

No plans, no future. Just killing time... California, 1973: Along the San Francisco Peninsula, the California dreams of the Greatest Generation are fading into hard liquor, gas lines and climbing interest rates while the golden age of the Silicon Valley is yet to come. For the generation coming of age in their parents’ lengthening shadows, being a teenager without prospects was like living through the end of the world, a decade of joy-riding, drugs, parties and mayhem. It was a simple plan. Lost in suburbia, Mike Kyle, Wade Weakland, Dave Simmons and their friends are in a headlong race to stay high and happy. Their girls didn't want them to do it, but now they’ve set their eyes on a resurrection: bringing Mike’s dream of a muscle car to life. To get it right, they just need to steal another car to strip for all the parts they need, and Mike knows just the one. A fast-paced, tense thriller that stays burned into your mind, The Last Afternoon tears through San Mateo County’s Pacific coast side with brutal consequences. Henry Ambrose draws from his years of experience in juvenile probation to tell this tightly plotted story as no one else can: at times humorous at other times graphic, with gleaming chrome details, fully rounded characters, and an eye on the darkness just beneath the surface of 1970’s America.