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book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
Book on CD performed by Glenn Davis
Andre Ross has made a mistake. And it may end his career as a hotshot political consultant. But, his mentor agrees to give him one more chance. Sent to a backwater community in South Carolina, he’s tasked with passing an initiative that no one has even considered. He has an assistant (who is the partner’s grandson, and completely green) and a limited budget. But he KNOWS how to do this.
Dre is something of an enigma. He’s clearly intelligent and well-informed. He is a professional whose middle name may as well be “cutthroat,” and will take whichever side is paying his salary. He’s also deeply troubled. The fact that he’s a black man in a blue-collar white community in the deep south doesn’t deter him, though that does pose some challenges. As the novel progresses the reader begins to see signs that Dre isn’t so sure this is the right path for him. He seems to be falling apart. Will his conscience, long silenced, win out? Will he win this election? Will he keep his job? Does he want to?
I found this riveting and informative. I could not help but think of our current political climate and the way the populace is manipulated by the message. A tweak here, a slightly different phrasing there, a negative connotation “accidentally” floated onto the local gossip mill, a charismatic young woman whom everyone knows is a “good person” … and you have everyone ready to vote against their own best interest and in favor of the candidate or position least likely to actually benefit them.
Glenn Davis does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. He sets a good pace and differentiated the characters sufficiently that it was always clear who was speaking.
Andre Ross has made a mistake. And it may end his career as a hotshot political consultant. But, his mentor agrees to give him one more chance. Sent to a backwater community in South Carolina, he’s tasked with passing an initiative that no one has even considered. He has an assistant (who is the partner’s grandson, and completely green) and a limited budget. But he KNOWS how to do this.
Dre is something of an enigma. He’s clearly intelligent and well-informed. He is a professional whose middle name may as well be “cutthroat,” and will take whichever side is paying his salary. He’s also deeply troubled. The fact that he’s a black man in a blue-collar white community in the deep south doesn’t deter him, though that does pose some challenges. As the novel progresses the reader begins to see signs that Dre isn’t so sure this is the right path for him. He seems to be falling apart. Will his conscience, long silenced, win out? Will he win this election? Will he keep his job? Does he want to?
I found this riveting and informative. I could not help but think of our current political climate and the way the populace is manipulated by the message. A tweak here, a slightly different phrasing there, a negative connotation “accidentally” floated onto the local gossip mill, a charismatic young woman whom everyone knows is a “good person” … and you have everyone ready to vote against their own best interest and in favor of the candidate or position least likely to actually benefit them.
Glenn Davis does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. He sets a good pace and differentiated the characters sufficiently that it was always clear who was speaking.
bmlowry8's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lhbrandes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
macfiar's review against another edition
2.0
I ended up DNFing this book. It got 2 stars because it is well written and the tone is very similar to John Grisham's thrillers. However, I am just sick of reading books about alcoholics feeling sorry for themselves. I got halfway through and had to stop. I don't find miserable, angry, alcoholics interesting. And each one of the books that contain these characters are essentially the same. Drinking, anger, drinking, more anger, whining and feeling for themselves, drinking, anger, drinking, do something stupid while drinking, deal with the aftermath. Boring.
waffel113's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Coyotes of Carthage is literary political fiction where Andre, a Black political consultant, is sent to small town in South Carolina to run a dark money campaign, one that would see pristine public land sold to the highest bidder which would obviously be the mining company secretly funding the campaign.
I feel like this novel did a great job capturing the social and political reality that is small town southern America. The people and the places really came to life and the impacts of race, class and religion were all teased out so that I was able to understand the motivations of various characters - even if I didn’t agree with them. The portrayal of political corruption, and the ability of dark money to influence political outcomes was eye-opening and depressing, and it reeked of truth, something which can be attributed to the author’s background in criminal justice and electoral law. That this book highlighted a local election was a bonus since those can be critically important yet don’t seem to get the same attention as national elections. This book seems to have flown under the radar somewhat. It certainly deserves more attention than I’ve seen it getting. It shares certain similarities with books by Attica Locke and I would definitely recommend it to readers who have enjoyed her novels.
I feel like this novel did a great job capturing the social and political reality that is small town southern America. The people and the places really came to life and the impacts of race, class and religion were all teased out so that I was able to understand the motivations of various characters - even if I didn’t agree with them. The portrayal of political corruption, and the ability of dark money to influence political outcomes was eye-opening and depressing, and it reeked of truth, something which can be attributed to the author’s background in criminal justice and electoral law. That this book highlighted a local election was a bonus since those can be critically important yet don’t seem to get the same attention as national elections. This book seems to have flown under the radar somewhat. It certainly deserves more attention than I’ve seen it getting. It shares certain similarities with books by Attica Locke and I would definitely recommend it to readers who have enjoyed her novels.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Murder, and Alcoholism
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Why is it so hard to write decent political fiction? Can someone answer that question for me, please? There’s a glut of mystery, romance and science fiction novels. Why is it so hard to write about politics? Is it just because we often read for escapism, and politics is part of what we are trying to escape? Perhaps. But given the drama, high stakes, and many opinions contained in stories about politics, I don’t understand why it isn’t a more fertile ground for fiction.
Steven Wright’s debut novel is so good that it’s incredible to think this is his first book. He has a great sense of characters, place, and plot. His book, which I have to assume drew heavily from his own experiences, is a nuanced take on how dark money influences local politics. Yes, it’s cynical but it’s honest about its cynicism. Gaming elections is just another service to offer in a capitalist society.
I think what makes this book special is that it’s satire with focus. On some level, it’s critiquing the 2016 election but it functions best as a send up of the whole system that Americans decry but don’t want to do anything about. And the ones that do are distracted by money, power, and privilege.
It would be easy for the main character Andre to be taken in wholly by his cynicism but he, and the story, find humanity in the people around him. Wright is a smart enough author to keep Andre, who is Black, at a distance from the characters who are white and conservative in a revanchist sense. But there is enough interaction to show how the levers of the system work and how communication and solidarity are stifled by America’s white supremacist system.
The book isn’t perfect, particularly with the cloying ex-girlfriend love angle that’s supposed to make Andre seem like more of a sad sack (he already is). But that’s a minor detail. This is a great book from a fresh voice. I hope Steven Wright writes more of these.
Steven Wright’s debut novel is so good that it’s incredible to think this is his first book. He has a great sense of characters, place, and plot. His book, which I have to assume drew heavily from his own experiences, is a nuanced take on how dark money influences local politics. Yes, it’s cynical but it’s honest about its cynicism. Gaming elections is just another service to offer in a capitalist society.
I think what makes this book special is that it’s satire with focus. On some level, it’s critiquing the 2016 election but it functions best as a send up of the whole system that Americans decry but don’t want to do anything about. And the ones that do are distracted by money, power, and privilege.
It would be easy for the main character Andre to be taken in wholly by his cynicism but he, and the story, find humanity in the people around him. Wright is a smart enough author to keep Andre, who is Black, at a distance from the characters who are white and conservative in a revanchist sense. But there is enough interaction to show how the levers of the system work and how communication and solidarity are stifled by America’s white supremacist system.
The book isn’t perfect, particularly with the cloying ex-girlfriend love angle that’s supposed to make Andre seem like more of a sad sack (he already is). But that’s a minor detail. This is a great book from a fresh voice. I hope Steven Wright writes more of these.
geneva_reads's review against another edition
5.0
The Coyotes of Carthage is a fast, gripping novel about a political consultant from DC who's sent to a small, mostly white, very conservative town in South Carolina to run a dark money campaign. It's about what a smart Black man will do when he's faced with getting Trump's America to vote.
Feeling pretty hopeless about the future of America's democratic system? This is really not the book for you. But curious about how a dark money campaign actually works? You'll learn a lot. This is Steven Wright's first novel and I can't wait for his second.
Feeling pretty hopeless about the future of America's democratic system? This is really not the book for you. But curious about how a dark money campaign actually works? You'll learn a lot. This is Steven Wright's first novel and I can't wait for his second.
idratherbereading's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good debut novel. About 3.5 stars, but rounding up.
Marketing was off - this was billed as a thriller, but it isn't. The story/plot reads more like literary fiction but the prose isn't quite literary either. So it's a bit of an in-between book genre-wise. Maybe it was more of a character study than anything else. Andre was a really compelling character. Wright constructed Andre in such a way that he was deeply flawed, made poor choices, but still wasn't obnoxiously unlikeable.
There was some on-point social commentary about elections in America. The fact that none of it was really surprising is more a state of our world than a comment on the story. However, when it comes to imparting this commentary on American politics, the book did more telling than showing.
The ending was exactly what I wanted it to be.
Marketing was off - this was billed as a thriller, but it isn't. The story/plot reads more like literary fiction but the prose isn't quite literary either. So it's a bit of an in-between book genre-wise. Maybe it was more of a character study than anything else. Andre was a really compelling character. Wright constructed Andre in such a way that he was deeply flawed, made poor choices, but still wasn't obnoxiously unlikeable.
There was some on-point social commentary about elections in America. The fact that none of it was really surprising is more a state of our world than a comment on the story. However, when it comes to imparting this commentary on American politics, the book did more telling than showing.
The ending was exactly what I wanted it to be.