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Jul 11, 2013hellandback rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Surprised to find out that this is an Edgar-Award-winning writer. The murder mystery is the weakest aspect to this novel of a rural southern town which still holds a grudge against poor misfut Larry Ott, suspected-but-not-convicted of the disappearance/murder of a teen girl many years before and still admires the high school baseball skills of Silas '32' Jones who has returned as constable. Very slow narration, unsatisfying 'solution' to the mystery, and mostly unlikable characters make this one hard to go down. Interesting that the black/white dynamic is turned inside out here as the pariah is white and the 'hero' is black. Haunting, tragic portrait of Larry is the only thing that saves this mostly mess of a read.