One of my all time favorite books is “To Kill a Mockingbird” and this book was very reminiscent of that classic tale. Junior Ransom is a typical 11 year old boy being raised by his widowed father, Roscoe. Roscoe was wounded in WWI and came home a damaged man. When his wife and unborn child die, Roscoe falls into a whiskey bottle every night and Junior doesn’t really know how to cope.
When a black man is brutally murdered in their small town, Roscoe, as Sheriff, tries to find out who killed him. However, people in town have a different idea. Hints of KKK involvement, infidelity, hatred and poverty all figure into this story. Junior is determined to help his father find the murderer.
The book is full of racial tensions, poverty, former soldiers with PTSD, friendship and love. Will love be able to bring Roscoe and Junior back together or will Roscoe’s demons drive them further apart? This book was very poignant as it explores the atmosphere surrounding the murder as well as Roscoe’s personal battles. I laughed, I cried and finally, I cheered as I listened to the book.
The author does a great job in character development and the story progresses at a slow pace while still keeping the reader’s interest. The narrator, Gary Bennett, was perfect and added a lot to my enjoyment of the book. I know that this book will stick with me for a long, long time. I was given the chance to listen to the audiobook version of this book by the author/narrator/publisher and chose to review it.