Let Me Be Frank With You is the latest in Ford's series of books featuring protagonist Frank Bascombe (The Sportswriter (1986), Independence Day (1995), and The Lay of the Land (2006)). Don't worry if you haven't read any or all of the previous books as this one stands on its own.
The new book is comprised of four novellas. Ford told The New Yorker that he was inspired to write these stories after viewing the Jersey shore in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and being ". . . so affected by the storm's destruction of human life and expectancy." (Deborah Treisman, Living with Frank Bascombe: An Interview with Richard Ford, Nov. 5, 2014). It is fitting, then, that the first novella concerns the destruction of a home on the shore that Frank Bascombe had owned but sold years before Sandy occurred. The three additional novellas concern other types destruction that, like a hurricane, come out of the blue and deliver a blow.
Let Me Be Frank With You is great reading. I think you will enjoy it.
