The Loose Meat Sandwich King of Hamtramck

Terry Starko is hoping for a change in his luck by heading to, of all places, Detroit. This middle-aged, unemployed engineer is returning to the town where he grew up for a job interview. All his life he'd prospered, thanks to a series of fortunate misunderstandings. Now he's split from his wife, and this trip might give him a break from the bill collectors. Nailing the job interview turns out to be the least of his worries. As soon as he sets foot in the town he'd fled twenty years before, everybody is looking for him as if he'd never left: his hot new step-mother, the crack dealer from the old neighborhood, and even the Greek Restaurant Owners Association. It all seems to be connected to the best friend Terry didn't know he had, a guy who'd introduced Harlem Globetrotters trick plays to the Hamtramck Catholic High School Basketball League, and started a street gang war over bootleg beer from Colorado. From one minute to the next Terry doesn't know if he'll end up in a coffin next to his best friend, or end up the new Loose Meat Sandwich King of Hamtramck. Terry's story is a fun, nostalgic adventure in a town where high school garage bands compose songs about Richard Nixon and the Ukrainian national anthem. In the end, it answers the long-pondered question, "What is a loose meat sandwich, anyway?"