Fabulous Fiction First #595 “Because the greatest part of a road trip isn’t arriving at your destination. It’s all the wild stuff that happens along the way.” ~ Emma Chase

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 11:51pm by muffy

Picked as one of the top 10 crime novels of the year by Booklist, Dodgers * * a debut by Bill Beverly (a Kalamazoo native) is "a dazzling crime novel that’s equal parts coming-of-age tale à la Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and travelogue à la Kerouac, that is sure to appeal to fans of Richard Price or The Wire."

15 year-old East(on) runs a crew of look-outs for a drug gang in LA. He is quiet, watchful and respected until an innocent by-stander is killed in a police raid. In the aftermath, he is sent, with three other young men (one of them his younger brother Ty), to kill a witness set to testify against the big boss.

Dressed in LA Dodgers' gear to better fit in with the surroundings, they head to Wisconsin where the witness is hiding. The journey takes East out of a city he has never left and into an America that is entirely alien to him, while calling on his cool resolve to handle problems and personalities both inside and outside the van. Eventually, this bloody journey becomes one of self-discovery and, ultimately, salvation for East.

"...a searing novel about crime, race, and coming-of-age, with characters who live, breathe, and bleed" that is surprisingly, utterly engaging. Check out the New York Times book review.

Daredevils * * by Shawn Vestal, the winner of 2014’s PEN Robert W. Bingham Prize is an unforgettable story of desire and escape.

Set against the backdrop of Evel Knievel's famous Snake River Canyon Jump, 15 year-old Loretta, brought up in a strict Mormon household in Short Creek (AZ), is caught on one of her nocturnal trips slipping out of her bedroom window for boys and booze. Promptly married off as a "sister wife" to Dean Harder, a feed-store owner, she catches the eye of Jason, Dean’s 17 year-old nephew, a Knievel-worshiper, who longs to leave his close-minded community.

Together, they make a break for it, with Boyd, Jason's friend tagging along. Dizzy from a burst of teenage freedom, things take a decidedly dicey turn when they meet someone that might be the Daredevil himself. But greed - Loretta's for Dean's cache of “Mormon gold” might prove to be their ultimate undoing.

"(A) fascinating, wide-angle portrait of a time and place that’s both a classic coming of age tale and a plunge into the myths of America, sacred and profane."

"Vestal's narrative is punctuated with imagined monologs from Knievel, raucous addresses that at first seem random but come by the thrilling conclusion to enrich the scope of this heartfelt and finely observed debut." For those who enjoyed The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff and The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall.

* * = 2 starred reviews