"The Paperboy" Pete Dexter

"Seemed to me," he said a little later, "if someone is foolish enough to get themself into water they don't know, they deserve what they get."

And he did not expect an answer from that, and turned back to Charlotte, almost as if he had said it to her.  She smiled at him, staring right into his eyes.  The look caught, and then changed, and grew, until I was embarrassed to be there in the room.

"The Paperboy", Pete Dexter

I can't help myself when I am in an airport.  I have to browse the bookstores.  And I'm a sucker for Southern literature.  So, when I saw that this was by the author of "Paris Trout" I had to buy it.  Fortunately, I had time in the airports and on the plane to read the entire book.  I've missed the pleasure of losing myself in the story, but Dexter reminded me.

Now I'm kicking myself for not checking to see if Dexter had written books other than "Paris Trout."  As my inconstant readers know, "Trout" is one of my top ten reads.  I would say that Dexter's works fit the definition of Southern Gothic as it is more widely described in "The South: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures" by Mark and Vaughan, but in addition to distinctively eccentric Southern characters of "The Paperboy" there is the dark and frightening side associated with such classics as "Sanctuary" or "Deliverance."

"Trout" and "Paperboy" unapologetically portray characters tortured by personal demons but with no analysis of the source of the mental illness, leading us to believe that we could fall into the same pits.  No one in the novel is exempt, and the power of the story is that we recognize our acquaintances and ourselves in the most frightening way:  we wonder which of the characters will fall into the abyss and  worry that we could fall in with them.

"The Paperboy" is told by 20-year-old Jack, and his narrative is non-stop as he relates the events surrounding the writing of a news story by his brother, Ward James.  Ward and his partner Yardley Acheman, writers for the Miami Times, travel to Moat Country, Florida, to investigate the conviction of Hillary Van Wetter.  Van Wetter supposedly murdered the long-time sheriff of Moat County in revenge for the death of one of his cousins.  Ward and Yardley are contacted by Van Wetter's death row fiancé, of course, claiming his innocence.  Jack is caught up in the perils of stirring up the secrets of his home town while he drives the reporters around the county asking questions no one wants asks.

I love Dexter's prose.  There are no idle comments or actions in his South.  Everything has a meaning, and more likely two.  I become so involved with the book I could smell the grilled onions, feel the humidity and see the blood.  I'm tempted to reread "Paris Trout" again but maybe instead I'll look for other books of Dexter's.