Angel's Rest by Charles Davis

I finally read a book.

Sat out on the front porch in the relative cool of the early morning with my faithful pooch, cup of coffee, and the last chapters of Angel's Rest by Charles Davis, passed along to me by Mrs Webworker.

Charlie grew up in a dying West Virginia coal town, in rustic idyll, until his father's death turned the town against his mother. Written from Charlie's point of view. Good feel for the time and place and the language. Some good characters. The wise old ethnic fellow is a stereotype (black man in this case), but he's well written. I'm glad I figured out whodunnit before the big reveal; I'm not good at mysteries, but it was pretty obvious by the time I got there. And it didn't have the horrific turn in the end that I thought it might've.

I thought I was reading a grown-up book until I got to the "discussion guide questions" at the end. Wonder how an author feels about that. You think you're writing a serious novel, and then your work is reduced to a classroom exercise students will deplore because it's forced upon them. Then again, if it means you sell more books, I guess you cry all the way to the bank.

http://bit.ly/AglRst
If I did it right, this link should take you to the search page for the book at Amazon, using Ace's code.