No One Left to Come Looking for You

A Novel

By: Sam Lipsyte

Narrated by: Sam Lipsyte

A darkly comic mystery by the author of Hark and The Ask set in the vibrant music scene of early 1990s New York City.

Manhattan’s East Village, 1993. Dive bars, DIY music venues, shady weirdos, and hard drugs are plentiful. Crime is high but rent is low, luring hopeful, creative kids from sleepy suburbs around the country.

One of these is Jack S., a young New Jersey rock musician. Just a few days before his band’s biggest gig, their lead singer goes missing with Jack’s prized bass, presumably to hock it to feed his junk habit. Jack’s search for his buddy uncovers a sinister entanglement of crimes tied to local real estate barons looking to remake New York City—and who might also be connected to the recent death of Jack’s punk rock mentor. Along the way, Jack encounters a cast of colorful characters, including a bewitching, quick-witted scenester who favors dressing in a nurse’s outfit, a monstrous hired killer with a devotion to both figure skating and edged weapons, a deranged if prophetic postwar novelist, and a tough-talking cop who fancies himself a retro-cool icon of the homicide squad but is harboring a surprising secret.

No One Left to Come Looking for You is a page-turning suspense novel that also serves as a love letter to a bygone era of New York City where young artists could still afford to chase their dreams.

Critic reviews

"...an enjoyable ride made even more satisfying by the author's comprehensive knowledge of the New York music scene."

"The New York of the book is lived-in and alive; its characters crackle with personality, passion, self-doubt, and self-destructive tendencies. Lipsyte knows the tone and energy the story needs so well, and he moves along at a perfectly stirring pace, with deliberate but subtle foreshadowing such that the read feels honest and gripping." (Adam Schulmerich)

Captures the Vibe

This book took me back big time. Do you think we knew what was being lost as it evaporated from the streets around us or were we all too lost ourselves to notice. Too bad we have to get old to get perspective. Lipsyte’s narrative tone is perfect.

Well worth listening

The language is so visual and performance feels like listening to a friend telling a story. It brings to life NYC back in the day and looks at artists and musicians less from the lens of fame and more about the experience. It is a mystery. It is a snapshot. It speaks of a generation (X that is) and so it has that flow.

Yes read it. Listen to it.

Too tired to write a proper review but I heartily recommend - many beautiful nuggets of language and humor embedded in a story that holds up well.

Pure joy

This is just what I’ve been craving—a book with that Tom Wolfe wit and conversational tone, where the story is secondary to the writing. Fortunately it’s a rollicking tale. And I couldn’t imagine anyone reading it better than this author.

so fkn good!

this is a superb story with excellent narration. God damn I love sam lipsytye. this story is punk rock.