Title: The Bible Salesman
First published: August 11, 2008
Description: Preston Clearwater has been a criminal since stealing two chain saws and 1600 pairs of aviator sunglasses from the Army during the Second World War.  Back on the road in post-war North Carolina  , a member of a car-theft ring, he picks up hitch-hiking Henry Dampier, an innocent nineteen-year-old Bible salesman.  Clearwater  immediately recognizes Henry as just the associate he needs--one who will believe Clearwater  is working as an F.B.I. spy; one who will drive the cars Clearwater  steals as Clearwater   follows along in another car at a safe distance.  Henry joyfully sees a chance to lead a dual life as Bible salesman and a G-man.During his hilarious and scary adventures we learn of Henry's fundamentalist youth, an upbringing that doesn't prepare him for his new life. As he falls in love and questions his religious training, Henry begins to see he's being used--that the fun and games are over, that he is on his own in a way he never imagined.
Subjects: Teenage boys, Literature, Fiction, Automobile thieves, History, Fiction, thrillers, general, North carolina, fiction, United states, fiction, Fiction, suspense, Criminals, fiction
Places: United States, North Carolina
Time periods: 1945-1953