The King Is Dead
by Jim Lewis
Haunted Men
A review by Adrienne Miller
Everybody, in Jim Lewis's elegant and enigmatic third novel, has a secret. Walter Selby is a good man, an unangry man, an aide to the governor of Tennessee and a former WWII hero. He adores his wife beyond measure. Walter's secret: he's one-sixteenth "black." His wife Nicole has a secret, too: She's had an affair, and her heart has been impure — she's never been able to shake the ghost of her first love, a musician who left her for New York. When Walter discovers his wife's secret, he asks her to get in the car, drives down to the river, and aims his old war gun at Nicole's head. He fires, thus rendering their two children, Gail and Frank, orphans. For decades Walter festers in prison. And the sure-footed second half of The King Is Dead is Frank Cartwright's story. (He's taken the name of his adopted parents.) He's a movie star of sorts, and is, like his father, a haunted man. The richly imagined Selby family achieves a mythic quality here. Infused with Lewis's intelligence and empathy, The King Is Dead is a sweeping tale of the century.
 Subscribe
to Esquire and Save 75%
Get 12 fantastic issues of Esquire magazine
for only $8. The best culture, entertainment, style, financial advice, women
and more delivered right to your door every month ? at an incredible 81% savings
off the newsstand price! What could be better... or easier?
Click
here to subscribe now!
|
|
Don't Miss
