Bent Road

Starred review from February 14, 2011
Set in the mid '60s, Roy's outstanding debut melds strong characters and an engrossing plot with an evocative sense of place. When Negro boys start phoning Elaine, Arthur Scott's teenage daughter, Arthur decides it's time to leave Detroit and return to the small Kansas town that he left 20 years earlier after his sister Eve's mysterious death. His wife, Celia, resents the move that will put her close to in-laws she barely knows and that will change her family dynamic. That Arthur's younger daughter, Eve-ee, resembles her late aunt unsettles Arthur's older sister, Ruth, and Ruth's husband, Ray, who have never seen Eve-ee before. When a neighbor's child disappears, suspicion uncomfortably settles on Ray, who was suspected in Eve's death. Roy couples a vivid view of the isolation and harshness of farm life with a perceptive look at the emotions that can rage beneath the surface. This Midwestern noir with gothic undertones is sure to make several 2011 must-read lists.

Starred review from January 15, 2011

Roy's suspenseful debut novel presents readers with a rich mix of troubled characters planted against the backdrop of a small Kansas farming town and the mysterious deaths of two young girls.

In the turbulent 1960s, Arthur and Celia Scott leave rioting Detroit behind with their three children and move back to Arthur's childhood home in Kansas. His mother, Reesa, and sister, Ruth, still live there, but things have not been going well with Ruth, long married to the drunken bully who once loved their sister, Eve. The fragile blonde Eve died violently many years ago, her body found in the shed on the Scott property. The community's consensus is that Ray murdered Eve; whether or not the charge is true, her death certainly turned his life to ruins. Soon the family settles in: Arthur and Celia's oldest daughter meets and falls for a local boy, while young Daniel, their son, struggles to become a man in a town where he has no friends and a father who doesn't believe in him. Meanwhile, the youngest child, Eve-ee, who like her namesake aunt is both small and fair, finds kinship with her long-dead relative, who left behind a closet of beautiful dresses and a sad statue of the Virgin Mary. When another local girl, also blonde, petite and Eve-ee's age, disappears and is feared murdered, the Scotts reexamine the circumstances surrounding Eve's death. Soon Ruth finds herself once again on the receiving end of one of Ray's beatings, but this time she has Arthur to shield her. Eventually, the Scott family realizes the truth about what happened to Eve, and Ruth deals with the frightening future she faces if she stays with her husband. Roy, a former tax accountant, writes sparingly of the bleakness of life and death on a farm. In her hands, the plot twists and turns, but, in the end, all the pieces fit, although the denouement is unsettling. 

This odd, dark and often creepy tale of a dysfunctional community and a family that fits right in will keep readers wondering right until the last page.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from February 1, 2011

After the Chicago riots of 1967, Arthur and Celia Scott move their family back to Arthur's boyhood home in rural Kansas in search of a calmer, safer life. His family welcomes them, but the Scotts' lives are thrust into turmoil when a neighbor's child disappears, Arthur's sister suffers spousal abuse, and the shadow of a family murder haunts his younger daughter. Arthur hopes that his son will gain maturity from his new surroundings, but young Daniel's city-coping skills fail him on the farm and in his country school. Celia misses the sophistication of the city, is perplexed by the man Arthur is becoming, and is nearly overwhelmed by the silent suffering around her. Returning to the city is not an option, but the Scotts have second thoughts about life on the plains. This rich and haunting family story reminds us that simplicity of landscape does not necessarily mean simplicity of life. VERDICT Roy's exceptional debut novel is full of tension, complex characters, and deftly gothic overtones. Readers of Tana French's In the Woods will find this dark and satisfying story a great read. Highly recommended.--Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2011
After a self-imposed exile, Arthur Scott moves his wife and children from the tumult of 1960s Detroit to the wind-swept plains of his hometown in Kansas. A secret is lurking in this small village, and it has something to do with the Scott family. Years ago, Arthurs beautiful older sister died mysteriously. Now, another young girl disappears without a trace. There are also rumors of an escaped convict on the loose. Meanwhile, Arthurs only living sister is beaten by her abusive husband and must seek refuge. Celia, Arthurs wife, watches as events unfold around her, all the time questioning whether they are somehow related. In her debut mystery, Roy excels at creating the kind of ominous mood that is unique to the novels small-town setting, in which the church holds sway, and family secrets are locked-up tight. Terrifying and touching, the novel is captivating from beginning to end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)