Review: Tour de Force Novel Tells Story Twice--in Both Real and Historical Time
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 6, 2013
This tour de force novel describes a series of violent events (including lynchings and murders) that are triggered by the infamous gangster's mysterious week-long visit (presumably fictional) to a small North Florida hotel in the summer of 1930.  The story is twice-told:  first, as the events unfold in real time, as experienced by the main characters; and second, as the events are uncovered and pieced together by a history professor/researcher using 1930s newspaper articles and present-day interviews with the real-life characters and their descendants.  The two stories are told simultaneously, in beautifully paced alternating chapters, and both stories hold the reader's interest.This book immediately grabbed my attention, and held onto it because it made me care about the characters:  the dedicated Florida university professor (a specialist in historical crime, especially Al Capone) who always seems to choose the wrong men for her romantic relationships; the young engaged couple from the 1930s who are deeply in love; the two eleven-year-old boys (best friends, one black, one white) who inadvertently witness a body disposal and endanger their lives; the small-town sheriff who looks the other way when organized crime takes an interest in local vice operations; the grandfather who does a little moonshining on the side; and the kindly hoboes who look after each other and others as needed.All of the background--both historical and present day--rings true.  The book has exactly the right amount of historical detail, and the character development is well done.  The writing itself is polished and excellent--especially the dialogue, which is virtually invisible to the reader, a rarity in novels written by new authors.  This is a gem of a first novel, and I highly recommend it.