Cruisers (2004)
By Craig Nova
Russell Boyd and Frank Kohler are haunted men. Boyd is a Vermont state trooper who patrols the highways by night, where he wrestles with literal and figurative darkness while trying to come to grips with events from his childhood. Kohler is a computer repairman living in the home of his murdered mother. Their lives, unconnected at first, converge to a point that is violent and inevitable.
Nova is a writer’s writer, which means he produces amazing work in relative (and unjust) obscurity. The structure of Cruisers is a work of art in itself. Then there are the haunting and haunted characters that move through the starkly distilled rural setting. Cruisers works as both a “literary” novel and a country noir. If you’re a fan of Wolven, Woodrell or Gay, you’ll find a lot to like here.
I have to give a shout-out to Brad Barkley and David Anthony Durham, both of whom recommended this book when I attended their workshops at Stonecoast. David took it a step further when he became my mentor and made me read Cruisers. I’m glad he did because I might have missed it otherwise.
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3 comments:
This sounds fabulous. I will definitely look for it. Just the kind of story I love most.
Patrick:
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the note about Cruisers, or I want to thank you for two things, enjoying the book and taking the time to saying something about it. So, double thanks.
Of course, this was a hard book to write, but then what book isn’t? I’ve been looking at it a little bit recently since a screen writer and a young guy in LA are trying to make a movie out of it, and the screen writer and I have been meeting.
Well, I wanted to say thanks.
Craig
Craig: My pleasure. It’s a hell of a book. Here’s hoping things work out with the Hollywood types.
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