A review by idratherbereading
The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright

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.
SpoilerThere was no neat wrap up. Andre hadn't really changed. He may even be more broken than when the novel began. And I fully expected some coyote symbolism and the book (painfully) delivered.