The Paperboy

Starred review from January 2, 1995
Moat County, Fla., is located where the St. John's River flows north-a geographical rarity and, in literature, a signal that we've entered the strange and violent world of National Book Award-winner Dexter (Paris Trout). Narrator Jack James is the son of the Moat County Tribune's editor and publisher. While Jack's older brother, Ward, reports for the Miami Times, Jack has settled for a job delivering papers for the Tribune. But when Ward and his partner, evil dandy Yardley Acheman, come to Moat County to investigate the four-year-old murder of the local sheriff, Jack assists them in the inquiry. After a vicious beating by two sailors lands Ward in the intensive care unit, Yardley finishes the story without Ward and Jack, fabricating evidence to do so. Accompanying his traumatized brother Ward back to Miami, Jack takes a job as a copyboy at the Times. It isn't long, however, before Yardley's wrongdoing comes to light, generating more trouble for the Jameses. Dexter's writing is rock-solid, he offers acute observations about the nature of reporting and his grip on the Southern male psyche is unquestionable. The powerful thematic drive of Paris Trout is missing here, however, and the story line is so complicated that it loses focus and then almost peters out. But if this isn't Dexter's best, it's still a provocative offering from one of the most exciting novelists around. Major ad/promo.

Miami Times journalist Ward James, along with his unscrupulous partner, Yardley Acheman, returns home to a Florida backwater to reopen the case of death-row murderer Hillary Van Wetter. But, as Ward's brother tells the tale, their investigation opens up strange truths and ambiguities. Campbell Scott's reading is outstanding. He differentiates a score of characters, from Hillary's redneck Uncle Tyree, to his seductive intended, Charlotte Bless, and maintains the undercurrent of mystery and violence throughout. But, perhaps because of the abridgment, the listener never really says, "Aha, I get it." J.H.L. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine