The setting for this book is Coyote Crossing, a sleepy little town in western Oklahoma whose young people generally share a common desire: to leave as soon as possible. Toby Sawyer was one of those, but he has returned home at age twenty-five for the funeral of his mother, was bequeathed the family trailer, took a job as a part-time deputy for the police department, and married a girl who waitresses in a local diner after ‘doing the right thing’ when she became pregnant. He is given to referring to the toddler, Toby Austin Sawyer Jr., who he adores, as “the boy.” The author describes the trailer park where he lives as “a dingy collection of twenty trailers all waiting for a twister to come along and put them out of their misery.” Toby had never killed anyone, never been arrested. Never seen a dead body. But all that is about to change.
The novel is laced with humor, despite the fact that it opens on a hot August night with our hero standing guard over the dead body of a local man, one of a clan described as “a bunch of redneck hoods with a finger or two into every disreputable scheme within reach,” who had been shot nine times. Told by the Sheriff to stand guard over the body, Toby manages to lose it – not a good thing for a young man hoping to make a career in law enforcement. Matters take a decidedly grimmer turn as the tale progresses.
While penned in a mostly light-hearted vein, the book swiftly evolves into a gripping page-turner. There are cameo appearances by a Doberman named Lucifer and a 96-year-old grandmother not to be trifled with. All part of a highly entertaining, wonderfully written novel, which is highly recommended.
