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THERE ARE so many good writers in the world that the sheer numbers mean that most of us, as readers, will never get to read a single word by most of them. These authors hover well below the best-seller lists and rarely get a hit on Amazon from the "if you bought this, you might like this" selling engine. The author Stewart O'Nan appears destined to exist on this fringe.

"Last Night at the Lobster" is O'Nan's 10th and shortest novel. As the title indicates, it is the story of the final day of a Red Lobster restaurant as viewed through the eyes of its manager, Manny DeLeon. The book is set in New England, but it just as easily could've been written about the Red Lobster that sits in front of Spotsylvania Towne Centre on State Route 3.

As an introduction to O'Nan as a writer, "The Lobster" offers a glimpse of his talents, but given the necessary constrictions of a story covering a less-than-24-hour period, it does not offer the breadth that his other novels do. The writing, though, as always, sparkles.

"Scattered flakes drift down like ash, but for now the roads are dry. It's the holidays--a garbage truck stopped at the light has a big wreath wired to its grille, complete with a red velvet bow."

Anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant or eaten at a Red Lobster will find himself nodding at certain descriptions and scenarios. But ultimately it is the writing that captures whatever grace is to be found in the closing of a restaurant and the scattering of its employees. The relationships, forged over years of working side by side during all-you-can-eat shrimp nights, dissolve in the final flick of the house lights.

If you have read and enjoyed any of O'Nan's previous works, then you are likely to relish, as I did, the few hours that "The Lobster" takes to read. A better introduction to his work, though, might be to read his award-winning "A Prayer for the Dying" or his first novel, "Snow Angels."

You see, "Snow Angels" is being made into a motion picture starring Kate Beckinsale and is slated for release in March of 2008. I, for one, always prefer to read the book before I see the movie. But there is also the slimmest of possibilities that "Snow Angels" might gain some cinematic success and attract a larger audience to O'Nan's work. For his books are worthy of greater attention and, if not the best-seller list, then at least a move off the literary fringe.

Drew Gallagher is a freelance writer living in Spotsylvania.