Review: Saint Nick as a Hero of Labor and Defender of the Innocent
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 1, 2014
This is an ambitious novel that ranges all over the place, and it's so full of big ideas and small pleasures that I was happy to tag along. The basic idea is that during the Depression in America a young man arose from poverty and exploitation to champion the cause of child workers. We follow "Saint Nick" from his forgotten and short lived life of privilege through all of the labor and industrial turmoil of the era.  What you get is Emma Goldman meets Jack London meets Batman meets Lemony Snicket, and it's such a sprawling and good hearted mashup you are willing to roll with the punches, even when real punches are being thrown.The first chapter of the book has a light and good humored feel, as Nick is born into a business family headed by a loving and benevolent father. Suddenly a destitute orphan, the book turns dark as Nick falls into the clutches of an evil master of child exploitation. Then we have young love. Then we are in jail on trumped up charges. Then we escape. Then we seek revenge. And so on. Each stage of the story has a different feel, sometimes gritty, sometimes tender, sometimes action oriented, sometimes philosophical. But through it all Saint Nick drives on with the triple goals of getting his true love back, exacting revenge on the entrepreneur who ruined his life,  and saving the lost children.  (Along the way there are some very clever explanations of the real reasons for Santa Claus things we take for granted, like the sleigh and the deer and so on.)In all of this Nick is surrounded by compelling supporting characters. His fellow ex-con sidekick Benny is a hoot and nice comic relief. Evil Fergus, the businessman who mastered child exploitation while ruining Nick's life is sufficiently villainous. Molly, Nick's childhood sweetheart and now Fergus's captive wife, is a model of innocence and desire, and quite a pistol in her own right. And the list goes on and on.Is this sloppy and obvious in places? Sure. It isn't John Steinbeck. But it addresses the same issues with the same sympathies, and it does so with gusto and craft and subtle humor. That's not a bad mix for an adventurous young reader.  (Everything is wrapped up at the end, but a sequel that seems a bit more action/adventure oriented is promised.)Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.