Lake Charles
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Narrated by Brendan Fishback, an 18-year-old printing plant worker, Lake Charles opens in 1979 with him traveling to the fictional Lake Charles located in East Tennessee. His kid sister Renee and best friend Cobb Kuzawa accompany him. After Renee disappears, the guys decide to spend the night and resume their search in the morning. They find more than they bargained for when they run into violence, murder, and deception. Meantime, Brendan is trying to beat a murder rap for a local rich man’s daughter while battling through his pot detoxification, which touches off his bizarre dream sequences. Jerry Kuzawa, a decorated Korean War veteran who lends Brendan a timely hand, spurs the fast-paced action leading to the slam-bang climax. Lake Charles, written in taut and atmospheric prose, explores how the flawed but courageous Brendan finally makes peace with his inner demons while becoming a modern day mountain man.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Lynskey's dark, casually violent tale set in 1979 rural Tennessee, Brendan Fishback is out on bail while awaiting trial for the murder of a casual pickup, Ashleigh Sizemore. Brendan is driving to Lake Charles with twin sister Edna and his brother-in-law and best friend, Cobb Kuzawa, who have "yet to exchange a civil word" since they separated on July 4. When Edna disappears at the lake, Brendan winds up getting entangled with local pot farmers, federal agents, and Ashleigh's rich, vengeful father. Cobb's father, a crusty Korean War vet, plays a key role with his take-no-prisoners attitude in a wild scramble to find Edna and the "big bug" behind the pot farms. Brendan's unusual dreams, in which Ashleigh taunts him to find her real killer, provide another spur to action. Lynskey (Troglodytes) vividly renders backwoods Tennessee, a land where life is hard, and death, sometimes hard sometimes easy, is frequent, and you do whatever is necessary to survive.
