The Night of the Dance
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Sissy Fletcher, the preacher's daughter, disappeared on the night of the Rodeo Dance ten years ago and has been missing ever since. Until now, that is—a team drilling an oil well has made a grisly discovery in an isolated pasture. Seeing as how it's an election year, finding her killer is a bigger priority than it might usually be in sleepy Washington County, Texas, where not much ever happens anyway.
Though it's becoming clear that the town isn't quite as sleepy as it seems. Martin Fletcher, Sissy's brother, seems to believe he's on a mission from God to raise hell in Washington County. He and his partner, Dud Hughes, aim to start small, with armed robbery, and work their way up to bigger things, but an inquiry into his sister's death threatens to draw a little more attention his way than he wants just now.
As the mood begins to the shift in the town, three men put their heads together to work the case: ex-Texas Ranger Jeremiah Spur, who is retired but can't get the thrill of the chase out of his blood; the current sheriff, Dewey Sharpe, who just may not be as dumb as he looks; and Deputy Clyde Thomas, an African-American ex-Dallas cop who is probably the savviest of the bunch. All in all, James Hime's The Night of the Dance, is a terrifically original, jaunty, and action-packed debut from a writer to watch.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hime's remarkable debut is a disturbing and richly textured tale of a young woman's murder that takes 10 years to unearth (literally). An incorruptible Texas Ranger teams with a local big-bellied sheriff and a prickly black deputy from the city in a crusade against evil in a dusty small town; the author, however, reworks such staples from central casting in surprising and thoroughly satisfying ways. He cuts between the viewpoints of these and other characters like a master film editor. Each cut ratchets up the suspense. Each character shows distinctive diction, foibles and personal morality (or lack thereof). Each viewpoint offers a different lens on the novel's complex, rapidly unfolding events. No less assured is Hime's use of the present tense, which grips the reader throughout with you-are-there immediacy. Add to the mix an up-and-coming female lawyer, a preacher's son who hears the Lord's voice urging him to be the next Timothy McVeigh and a county D.A. who seems to pull the strings on just about everyone. Then sprinkle generously with illicit sex, blackmail, political corruption, racism, religious hypocrisy and a few pinches of down-home humor (including delightful local idioms and a hilarious fart scene). Hime stokes the embers of Lone Star crime to white hot intensity, while ladling the grill with his distinctive home-brewed dressing. He's a first novelist to bet the ranch on. (May 19)
