Diamond Dogs
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Star quarterback Neil Garvin is the envy of other students in his Nevada high school – and is almost as cruel to them as his abusive father is to him. Then one night on a dark, isolated road outside of town, a random act of violence claims a life. Nothing, Neil swears, could be worse...until his father, the local sheriff, masterminds a cover-up.
Emotionally deadened and wrestling with the mystery of his mother's disappearance years ago, Neil must find his way out of his prison of fear and discover the one thing that can set him free.
"Dark, sparklingly written…the story transforms into something far more complex than how a criminal covers his tracks… subtle, deadpan humor and slyly evoked telling details… an emotionally fraught father-son relationship gives the book its depth… Watt delivers a moving, multifaceted story that sharply explores the legacy of violence, distorted forms of love and the high cost of genuine freedom."
– The New York Times Book Review
"Exquisite psychological fiction… resonating with suspense, wit and perception."
– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Highly readable, if finally unconvincing, Watt's debut novel is the story of a bitter family legacy and a traumatic reckoning, as Watt explores the reasons an abusive father might risk everything to cover up a crime committed by his damaged, equally cruel teenage son. Inebriated after a party with his high school football team, Neil Garvin, 17, first-string quarterback and "the best arm in Nevada," accidentally kills a classmate, Ian Curtis. Neil's father, the sheriff of their small town near Las Vegas, covers up for his son. Ian's parents report the boy missing, and more than 300 students join in a search led by Neil's father. Mrs. Curtis asks her brother, an FBI agent, to help, and as the FBI tightens the net, Neil and his father must face some truths about their family. Watt, who is also a stand-up comic, has a knack for deploying well-timed plot points to reveal crucial information. The book starts off with faithful characterizations of the sad, angry father and son, and the dialogue between them is appropriately savage, but there are key moments in the story that don't ring true. The most unconvincing scene occurs at the narrative's dramatic apex, when Neil finally, and improbably, discovers the dark secret of why his mother left home when he was three. At the same time, the reasons for Neil's hellish childhood become melodramatically clear. Still, there are certain pleasures in this novel, including incisive scenes that capture the petty cruelties and poignant betrayals of adolescents. The author also gives vivid voice to a character type that has become a staple in modern American fiction: a man unmoored by divorce and filled with festering anger and alienation. Watt takes the archetype a step further, delineating how the father's desperate behavior affects his son, and how this pair find an uneasy peace in breaking the chain of lies and violence. 5-city author tour.