A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • Winner of the 2025 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award • National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree • Shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction • “The rarest of things, an authentically tender portrait of father and son...Magnificently humane.” — The Irish Times • “Hilarious, exceptional.” — The New York Times Book Review A riotous, irreverent yet big-hearted debut novel about a broke father-son duo who go all-in on some of America’s deadliest obsessions. Even though his firearms store is failing, things are looking up for David Rizzo. His son, Nick, has just recovered after a near-fatal overdose, which means one thing: Rizzo can use Nick’s resurrection to create the most compelling television commercial for a gun emporium the world has ever seen. After all, this is America, Rizzo tells himself. Surely anything is possible. But the relationship between father and son is fragile, mired in mutual disappointment. And when the pair embarks on their scheme to avoid bankruptcy, a high-stakes crash of hijinks, hope, and disaster ensues. Featuring a cast of unforgettable characters and “honest, high-wire virtuosic writing” (George Saunders) this razor-sharp social satire “pays tribute to gallows humorists like Sam Lipsyte, Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan Tropper, and Jonathan Franzen” ( Chicago Review of Books ). "Sammartino is extraordinarily good at balancing the farcical nature of contemporary America with the complex humanity of his characters. He’s also a magnificent sentence writer, with a gift for pulling poetry out of an American vernacular that recalls the early work of George Saunders… While many novelists are struggling to figure out how best to address the state of the nation — centerless, ridiculous and terrifying, doomed yet trivial, dire yet unheroic — Sammartino seems to have cracked the code.” —Dan Chaon, The New York Times Book Review "The novel manoeuvres through opioids, the working class and masculinity, topics twitchy enough to make anyone ignite. Exhilaratingly, it elicits belly laughs and pathos, and is astute in a manner that, while cynical, is never cruel... The rarest of things, an authentically tender portrait of father and son... Last Acts has echoes of American cinema and stage – Arthur Miller meets the Coen Brothers and James Gandolfini – but it tweaks you with the preciseness that only the written word can achieve... Rizzo and Nick are like any other sad sacks, longing for the cliches that comprise the national dream. In this magnificently humane book, they are made extraordinary, old-fashioned heroes riding their spluttering Eldorado Cadillac like Don Quixote’s donkey, with hopes and chivalry as expansive as their hearts." — Irish Times “A wholly American novel about salvation.” —Matthew Minicucci, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Raucous, irreverent... Last Acts pays tribute to gallows humorists like Sam Lipsyte, Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan Tropper, and Jonathan Franzen." —Max Gray, Chicago Review of Books "The events of this satirical début novel are catalyzed by a nearly fatal opioid overdose suffered by the estranged son of a gun-store proprietor. Together, the father and son embark on a journey across the Arizona desert.” —The New Yorker "There is so much grim humor in Sammartino's debut novel, such a keen eye for the details of rage and heartbreak, such empathy for humiliation, that we enjoy the ride, wincing and laughing along the way. The slings and arrows of his hero's outrageous fortune unfold always with a fine satirist's eye and ear. In Rizzo, we have a uniquely contemporary loser for the ages." —Claude Peck, Minneapolis Star Tribune "What a taut, energetic, tender, and wholly original debut novel Alexander Sammartino has written. He knows something deep about the dark heart of America that somehow doesn’t stop him from writing about it with genuine, goofy love." —George Saunders, author of Liberation Day "Sammartino’s promising debut offers keen insights into gun violence, drug addiction, and capitalism along with a skewering satire of social media... A sobering tale full of heart.” —Booklist "Acerbic... [Last Acts] satisfies on multiple levels." —Publisher's Weekly "Last Acts announces a brilliant new voice. Sammartino is precise, funny and will break your heart all at once. Not to be missed." —Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars "It's hard to believe Last Acts is a first novel. Sammartino's brilliance and originality shine out from every page of this masterful debut." —Jenny Offill, author of Weather "An astonishing baller of a book so pitch perfect in voice (Tony Soprano meets Samuel Beckett) I predict it'll be the sleeper hit of the year... Yes it's a send up of American masculinity circling the drain. Or is it? This funny as hell tale moved me to the core. Unputdownable." —Mary Karr, author of Lit and Tropic