A Fine Dark Line
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Hardcover
Helpful Score: 2
Another excellent novel from Lansdale. I'm a big fan of Lansdale and have read most of his Hap and Leonard novels as well as several of his stand alones and I'm never disappointed in them. This is one of his stand alone novels taking place in the summer of 1958. The narrator and protagonist of the novel is 13-year old Stanley Mitchel Jr. who at the start of the story moves with his family to Dewmont, Texas to run a drive-in movie theater on the outskirts of town. They hire Buster Lighthouse Smith, a half black-half Indian, to operate the projector and a black woman named Rosy to help Mrs. Mitchell with the cooking and the cleaning. Stanley Jr. becomes very close to both Buster and Rosy who are easy to talk to and who listen to his dreams and concerns.
Stanley discovers an old burnt up house in the trees behind the drive-in and among the ruins he finds a half-buried chest containing some old letters and journal entries written in 1942. There are no signatures on the letters only initials and Stanley along with his sister becomes obsessed with finding out who wrote them and what happened to them. He discusses the letters with Buster who was a former Seminole police officer and with his help figures out who wrote the letters. But as he and Buster investigate, they are drawn into danger and his family is put at risk.
This was really a great coming of age tale reminiscent of Twain's Tom Sawyer and my own childhood growing up in the 1950s. Lansdale mentions that Stanley likes to read the Hardy Boys, Tarzan novels, and comic books--some of my favorites growing up. The novel is set in a place and time when money can atone for murder. That summer is also a very dynamic time for Stanley as he learns more about life than he expected including racial prejudice, sex, incest, homosexuality, child abuse, and wife beating. Another high recommendation for Lansdale!
Stanley discovers an old burnt up house in the trees behind the drive-in and among the ruins he finds a half-buried chest containing some old letters and journal entries written in 1942. There are no signatures on the letters only initials and Stanley along with his sister becomes obsessed with finding out who wrote them and what happened to them. He discusses the letters with Buster who was a former Seminole police officer and with his help figures out who wrote the letters. But as he and Buster investigate, they are drawn into danger and his family is put at risk.
This was really a great coming of age tale reminiscent of Twain's Tom Sawyer and my own childhood growing up in the 1950s. Lansdale mentions that Stanley likes to read the Hardy Boys, Tarzan novels, and comic books--some of my favorites growing up. The novel is set in a place and time when money can atone for murder. That summer is also a very dynamic time for Stanley as he learns more about life than he expected including racial prejudice, sex, incest, homosexuality, child abuse, and wife beating. Another high recommendation for Lansdale!
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