Set in a busted Massachusetts mill town circa 1986, The Castaway Lounge is the story of Jackson "Applejack" Woods. Cocaine peddler, womanizer, and tough-guy-for-hire, Applejack is weary of the wrong life and trying to put it in his rearview mirror. But all bets are off when a young pole dancer ends up dead during an after-hours party with a local businessman and politician. Applejack finds himself inextricably linked to the murder and must risk going to prison (or worse) by setting in motion a plan to bring the killers to justice.
Along the way, Applejack's fiancé is abducted by a flying saucer, a bible-thumping arsonist burns down the titty bar, and a disturbing love triangle forms when a washed-up guitar player seduces his teenage son's girlfriend. To further complicate matters, upon learning of her demise, the dead stripper's father and twin brothers thunder down from the high hills bent on revenge.
Told in the clipped, har-as-nails language of Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy, The Castaway Lounge explores one man's struggle to choose between right and wrong, and his growing sense that sometimes the right choice requires the ultimate sacrifice.