Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Roger Jackson is a grouch. He drinks too much with the wrong sorts of people. He dislikes where he livesBeaumont, Texas, a small, humid southeast Texas town caught between a marsh and an impenetrable forest, between racial and social strife, between rival versions of Jesus. He dislikes his jobtaking photos of cheating spouses. He dislikes his past. (He could have been a lawyer.) And now, he finds himself entangled in a crime.
When the police find an aging ex-hippie dead from bullet wounds to the head and torso, they find Rogers photos and want his help. Surrounded by a cast of colorful characters, Roger must do his job while maneuvering around the dangerous agendas of those around him. But the greatest obstacle is the recurring cocaine trail leading to Jewel McQueen, a small-time crook, who is guarded by his sociopathic brother, Sunshine McQueen, who hears voices from Jesus, Satan, and his mother. Jewell will stop at nothingeven murderto keep his demented brother out of prison.
Roger must leave the enclosed suburbs with their exclusive, prim, cleaned-up Jesus and cheap cocaine and liquor habits and, with his new partners, venture behind the pine curtain,” into the deep Piney Woods with its wild, unruly Pentecostal Jesus and meth-lab economy and mentality.
About the Author
JIM SANDERSON has published two collections of short stories, Semi-Private Rooms and Faded Love (Finalist for 2010 Texas Institute of Letters Jesse Jones Award); an essay collection, A West Texas Soapbox; four novelsEl Camino del Rio, Safe Delivery, La Mordida, Nevins History: A Novel of Texas, and Dolphs Team. Hill Country Property, a prequel to Nothing to Lose, and a new story collection are scheduled for publication. In addition, he has published over sixty short stories, essays, and scholarly articles. Sanderson serves as the chair of the department of English and Modern Languages at Lamar University.