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gadrake 's review for:
Pickard County Atlas
by Chris Harding Thornton
A question I often ask myself before picking up a book is "What is this book about?" It took 100 pages in before landing on the disturbing, utterly thought-provoking theme within. Thought this was going to be in the suspense-thriller genre, and it is indeed dark and gritty, but no, this all about the inherent capability all people have for psychological darkness.
People in urban and suburban locations may not be able to relate as well to the setting, but it is superbly depicted. Nebraska is wide open spaces and then some. Lots of farms; towns are mostly old buildings. Exceptions of course. A small-town cop, Harley, traverses the country roads constantly looking for teens misbehaving to brush fires. Divorced, he is alone and lonely, living with a dark shadow within his own nuclear family. And he is convinced the Reddick son Paul is the cause of just about everything wrong in the area.
Pam and Rick Reddick are young parents, living in a broken down trailer park. Never enough money. Rick works for his controlling father repairing trailers along with Paul who never does his share. Their mentally ill mother is missing. Their brother died at 6 yrs old and the family has never recovered, in part because the kid's body was never recovered. Everybody in town knows everybody's business.
So two tragedies of about 18-20 years previous intermingle with the current stressors building to a very taut crescendo. There is a big conclusion, but no spoilers here.
Final thoughts, as the story suggests for consideration:
-maybe suicide is okay if the person is truly miserable in this world and nothing will make it ok.
-when terrible things happen within families, the children absorb the pain too which can create dysfunction in their own adult lives.
-when awful things happen to adults, they may exhibit some scary, hard to understand behavior.
-Survivors, the ones who forge a decent life, are still damaged.
Well written, great setting, perfect book cover, title is just a touch offputting (who wants to read an atlas?) but it makes sense as the police officer continuously navigates the endless square miles. People will not likely love this book, but certainly should respect it. For fans of Willy Vlautin.
People in urban and suburban locations may not be able to relate as well to the setting, but it is superbly depicted. Nebraska is wide open spaces and then some. Lots of farms; towns are mostly old buildings. Exceptions of course. A small-town cop, Harley, traverses the country roads constantly looking for teens misbehaving to brush fires. Divorced, he is alone and lonely, living with a dark shadow within his own nuclear family. And he is convinced the Reddick son Paul is the cause of just about everything wrong in the area.
Pam and Rick Reddick are young parents, living in a broken down trailer park. Never enough money. Rick works for his controlling father repairing trailers along with Paul who never does his share. Their mentally ill mother is missing. Their brother died at 6 yrs old and the family has never recovered, in part because the kid's body was never recovered. Everybody in town knows everybody's business.
So two tragedies of about 18-20 years previous intermingle with the current stressors building to a very taut crescendo. There is a big conclusion, but no spoilers here.
Final thoughts, as the story suggests for consideration:
-maybe suicide is okay if the person is truly miserable in this world and nothing will make it ok.
-when terrible things happen within families, the children absorb the pain too which can create dysfunction in their own adult lives.
-when awful things happen to adults, they may exhibit some scary, hard to understand behavior.
-Survivors, the ones who forge a decent life, are still damaged.
Well written, great setting, perfect book cover, title is just a touch offputting (who wants to read an atlas?) but it makes sense as the police officer continuously navigates the endless square miles. People will not likely love this book, but certainly should respect it. For fans of Willy Vlautin.