Border Songs

A gentle giant, Brandon Vanderkool empathizes with the placid cows on his father's dairy farm more than the humans, who never cease to mystify him. Author Jim Lynch has created a rich character in this childlike rookie border patrol agent, and narrator Richard Poe voices Brandon with respect for his unique perspective on the world. Poe makes sense of Brandon's immersion in the swamps near the Washington-Canada border, where he has a tendency to stumble upon smugglers. But Poe's strongest contribution is the color he adds to the secondary characters, including a dope-addled retired professor who is dying of cancer and Brandon's taciturn but soft-hearted father, who is struggling to keep the dairy farm. Poe misses opportunities to enhance Lynch's delicately inspired phrasing, but he compensates with a collection of virtuoso birdcalls. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

March 30, 2009
Lynch digs into the strange culture of a U.S.-Canada border town in his lush second novel (after The Highest Tide
). Brandon Vanderkool, the town freak people talk about “the way they discuss earthquakes, eclipses and other phenomena,†is pushed into joining the Border Patrol by his dairy-farmer father. Though the dyslexic, six-foot-eight Brandon prefers to bird-watch and tend to the cows on his father's farm, he proves to be surprisingly adept at spotting drug smugglers and illegal immigrants, which brings a wave of attention to both him and the town. The illegal goings-on provide excellent plot fodder, though the novel is equally concerned with smalltown life: Brandon's mother is noticing the first sign of Alzheimer's; his father's struggling dairy farm hits a low point when his herd becomes diseased; a local masseuse records the town's activities with her camera; and the beautiful, enigmatic Madeline provides an object of affection for Brandon. Lynch's depiction of the natural world and his deep sympathy for his characters carry the book, and while it's a bit quiet, there are majestic moments.