Nothing More Dangerous

September 2, 2019
Set in Jessup, Mo., in 1976, this tepid coming-of-age story, with a mystery element, from Edgar-finalist Eskens (The Life We Bury) centers on the relationship between Boady Sanden, an unhappy 15-year-old white boy, and Thomas Elgin, a black boy his own age who moves in with his family next door. Boady and Thomas hit it off after some initial awkwardness when Boady thoughtlessly uses the N-word. The boys’ unremarkable escapades include encounters with the opposite sex. Meanwhile, Lida Poe, an African-American woman who worked in the purchasing department of Jessup’s largest employer, a plastics producer, goes missing. Rumors circulate that Lida was involved in some financial chicanery and Thomas’s father was brought in from Minnesota to try to straighten the business out. Eventually, Boady and Thomas run across a corpse and start playing detectives themselves. The action builds to a climax heavy on clichés. This is no To Kill a Mockingbird. Hopefully, Eskens will return to form next time. Agent: Amy Cloughley, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc.

September 1, 2019
Eskens' latest novel is a warmhearted story of a white teenager's awakening to the racial tensions that run through his Missouri town in 1976. Years before he'll become a successful attorney (The Shadows We Hide, 2018, etc.), Boady Sanden struggles to navigate all the usual high school ordeals in small-town Jessup, including boring subjects and bullying by the likes of all-state wrestler and prom king Jarvis Halcomb. In Boady's case, these everyday problems are aggravated by his outsider status as a non-Catholic freshman at St. Ignatius High School, his home life with his widowed, introverted mother, Emma, and, most recently, the arrival of some new neighbors, the Elgins. Charles Elgin is definitely an improvement on indolent Cecil Halcomb, Jarvis' father, whom he replaces as manager of the local manufacturing plant after bookkeeper Lida Poe disappears with more than $100,000 of the plant's money. Jenna Elgin is excellent company for Emma Sanden, whom she helps draw out of her shell. And after a comically unfortunate first encounter, Boady quickly takes to their son, Thomas, who's exactly his age. But the Elgins, like Lida Poe, are African American, and the combination of an unsolved embezzlement, good old boy Cecil's displacement by an outsider, and the town's incipient racism works slowly but inexorably to put Boady, recruited by the Crusaders of Racial Purity and Strength, under pressure to betray his new friendship. Declining to join the racists but repeatedly running away rather than refusing their demands point blank, Boady must navigate a perilous route to supporting his community and claiming his own adult identity. Perfect for readers who wish To Kill a Mockingbird had been presented from a slightly older, male point of view.

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September 15, 2019
For 15-year-old Boady, it begins when Lida Poe absconds with $168,000 in embezzled cash. No one knows where she has gone until Boady discovers her body with a bullet hole in its forehead. One mystery solved, but another looms: Who killed her? Meanwhile, an African American family, the Elgins, moves in across the road. Mr. Elgin has been sent to manage the local plastics plant, dislodging the former manager, an incompetent good old boy. It being 1976 in a small Ozarks town, the shadow of Jim Crow still looms, and the Elgins are less than welcome. Nevertheless, their son, Thomas, becomes Boady's best friend. Other mysteries soon present themselves, some endangering Boady and Thomas, who land in the thick of the various intrigues. Eskens does an excellent job of weaving these disparate threads together into a fine blend of mystery and coming-of-age novel. The setting is spot-on, the characters are empathetic and well realized, and the plot is clever and compelling, building suspense until a harrowing denouement reveals all.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2019

Since the 2014 publication of his light-up-the-sky debut, The Life We Bury, Eskens has won two Barry awards and Edgar, Thriller, and Anthony finalist nods. His new work features white high school boy Boady Sanden, ready to break out of his constricted Ozarks life, whose worldview is changed when African American Thomas Elgin moves in across the street and an African American woman who works at the local plastic factory vanishes. A story of a race and class-splintered community in rural America that's more than a mystery and feels like a breakout.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2019

In 1976, Boady Sanden is 15 when African American bookkeeper Lida Poe goes missing from Jessup, MO. Lida worked at Ryke Manufacturing, the largest employer in Jessup. When she disappeared, so did a large sum of money. White teen Boady is more concerned with surviving his first year of high school. A trio of seniors, led by Jarvis Halcomb, plan to pick on the only black girl in school, but Boady trips them up. The Halcombs don't forget, so when Boady befriends Thomas, the son of his new black neighbors, both boys become targets. In a summer of terror, a small group of men from the CORPS (Crusaders of Racial Purity and Strength), led by the Halcombs, set their sights on the families on Boady's country road. VERDICT This powerful, unforgettable crime novel is a coming-of-age book to rival some of the best, such as William Kent Krueger's Ordinary Grace or Larry Watson's Montana 1948. While Eskens's books are not part of a series, his readers will recognize Boady as an adult character in two of his earlier books, including the award-winning The Life We Bury. This timely stand-alone is a must-read for followers of the best in crime fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 4/22/19.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2019

Since the 2014 publication of his light-up-the-sky debut, The Life We Bury, Eskens has won two Barry awards and Edgar, Thriller, and Anthony finalist nods. His new work features white high school boy Boady Sanden, ready to break out of his constricted Ozarks life, whose worldview is changed when African American Thomas Elgin moves in across the street and an African American woman who works at the local plastic factory vanishes. A story of a race and class-splintered community in rural America that's more than a mystery and feels like a breakout.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.