December Boys

April 18, 2016
Clifford’s harsh, emotionally raw sequel to 2014’s Lamentation finds Jay Porter, now a New Hampshire insurance adjustor, suffering from the effects of his guilt and grief surrounding the “suicide by cop” of his junkie brother, Chris. Separated from his wife and son by his anger and heavy drinking, Jay is distracted from his personal problems by a court case involving a teenager who’s arrested for minor drug possession and sent to a private behavioral modification detention facility. Jay investigates and learns that this questionable practice is widespread. Portrayals of the men trapped in the sea of toxic masculinity are spot on, though those of an opportunistic female clerk and the families bullied into sending their kids up the river ring much less true. Still, the deeply affecting essence of the book is really in Jay’s struggle with managing his depression, rage, and panic attacks. Despite a bit of mental health care preachiness, Clifford has written a very human tale of redemption. Agent: Elizabeth Kracht, Kimberly Cameron & Associates.

May 1, 2016
It was Kingsley Amis who noted that the straight talk of the hard-boiled godsSpade, Marlowewas often just a form of rudeness. We don't have to wonder what Amis would make of Jay Porter, the bad-news hero of Clifford's latest. Porter rages at his wife, humiliates anyone who helps him, and takes a swing at a cop. We're pleased when the cop slams the jerk against a table. Why, then, do we keep flipping pages, wanting more? Maybe it's the story, set in a numbing New Hampshire winter. Porter is an insurance investigator who accidentally exposes a scam worked by a poor family desperate for cash. A judge sentences one fraudster to an inappropriately harsh punishment, and suddenly the judge's family is living large. Porter's startled curiosity leads him to a big-money attempt to privatize prisons. The author suggests it's the pain in Porter's life that has him acting so awfully, but whether readers buy that or not, they're still in for some fine writing, plus an interesting mix of people and a truly offbeat, if arguably rude, hero.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)