Do you really have to see it - to call it? | The Shotgun Rule: A Novel

I love you, Charlie, but... | The Shotgun Rule: A Novel | Charlie Huston

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	• The Shotgun Rule: A Novel Charlie Huston Ballantine Books, 2007 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 24 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Brilliant!

First, I must say Charlie Huston is one of the most provocative, creating, and brilliant and thought provoking authors of our time. He doesn't scare away from difficult topics like racism, drugs, alcoholism, violence, sexual abuse and parental relationships.

The latest Huston novel examines the lives of four troubled and rebellious teens who are struggling to find themselves during the summer of 1983. Reminiscent of "Pulp Fiction" meets "Stand By Me", this novel was a pleasure to read. Like one character said in the beginning and I am paraphrasing "if we were smart, we would have never gone into the house". Those words catapult the reader and we are riveted as we see a chain of events unfold that we know will be devastating. Immediately you love the teens (who smoke joints, drink liquor and design video games) and want to protect them from what you know is sure to come. George (the ring leader and older brother to Andy), Andy (the genius, game designer and little brother), Hector (outlaw, rebel and lover of music) and Paul (maybe sexually abused, migraine challenged, bad boy) all leave the world dominated by smoking cigarettes, calling "shotgun" and cutting class, and enter a world filled with drug dealers and violence. While attempting to retrieve Andy's stolen bike from some neighborhood bad boys (the Arroyo brothers), they realize that the world is a little uglier than they initially thought. Reclaiming a bike soon catapults into another stealing some "crank" with the hopes of selling it for some quick cash for booze, drugs and arcade games. As things become more complicated, and the kids realize that they may lose their lives, things really spiral out of control.

I won't tell you any more about the story you just have to read it. It was a wonderful read and if you like gritty and thought provoking stories, you will enjoy it.

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Do you really have to see it - to call it?

Hector, Paul, George and his younger brother Andy are four teen-aged friends, free from school for the summer in this coming of age novel set in the 1980's in a California suburb. The four boys - likeable enough as fictional characters - are not exactly the type of kids that you'd want living on your street. They spend their days smoking, drinking, scoring drugs and robbing their neighbor's houses. While attempting to retrieve a stolen bike from a rival, the foursome discover a meth lab and the temptation to leave empty handed is too much for one of the boys to resist.

This is the second book I have read written by Charlie Huston; I like his writing, a lot. (This surprises me since I'm not usually a fan of overt and extreme violence.) He is a talented writer and pulls off coarse language and violence very well.

The Shotgun Rule kept me turning pages; I only awarded it four stars instead of five because, for me, it was a little too much teen-aged angst for an adult novel.

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I love you, Charlie, but...

Huston's Caught Stealing trilogy was an amazing series of work, and I get a big kick out of his vampire series. I was so excited to read his standalone, and I was a bit let down. As ever, the writing is sharp, and Huston pulls no punches. There are thrilling moments here, but this feels a mite bit familiar in a way that Huston's other books haven't, and the characters seem a touch underdeveloped. This is worth a read, for sure, but if readers are looking for someplace to start, I'd go back and meet Hank in CAUGHT STEALING, then go from there.

The first stand-alone thriller by critically acclaimed author Charlie Huston, The Shotgun Rule is a raw tale of four teenage friends who go looking for a little trouble?and find it.

Blood spilled on the asphalt of this town long years gone has left a stain, and it?s spreading.

Not that a thing like that matters to teenagers like George, Hector, Paul, and Andy. It?s summer 1983 in a northern California suburb, and these working-class kids have been killing time the usual ways: ducking their parents, tinkering with their bikes, and racing around town getting high and boosting their neighbors? meds. Just another typical summer break in the burbs. Till Andy?s bike is stolen by the town?s legendary petty hoods, the Arroyo brothers. When the boys break into the Arroyos? place in search of the bike, they stumble across the brothers? private industry: a crank lab. Being the kind of kids who rarely know better, they do what comes naturally: they take a stash of crank to sell for quick cash. But doing so they unleash hidden rivalries and crimes, and the dark and secret past of their town and their families.

The spreading stain is drawing local drug lords, crooked cops, hard-riding bikers, and the brutal history of the boys? fathers in its wake.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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