Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Darkness the Color of Snow -- Thomas Cobb

Dark is the word for this one, all right, and if you're feeling depressed, don't bother to pick it up.  Find something else until you're ready for a trip into the heart of darkness.

Rookie cop Ronny Forbert makes a traffic stop involving some of his old friends, the driver being someone Forbert has a bad history with.  Things go south, Forbert and the driver get into a tussle, and the driver is thrown into the middle of the road, where he's hit and killed by a hit-and-runner.

Forbert's not at fault.  The police chief, Gordy Hawkins, supports him, and so do the other three people in the car, although they admit that they were drunk and stoned.  So no problem, right?  Wrong.  Some people are outraged by what happened (the driver's parents, for instance), while others (local politicians) want to twist things to their advantage.  Things go downhill, especially for Forbert, about as far downhill as it's possible for things to go.   Hawkins is a good, honorable man, but there's little he can to to stop what happens.

The small town in this book is a far cry from the small towns I write about.  It's a harrowing portrait, and not an encouraging one.  There's a bit of hope in people like Hawkins, but that doesn't bring much light to the darkness.  


Jeff Meyerson said...

Maybe it's just me, but you seem to be reading quite a few dark books lately.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.


Unknown said...

They keep showing up in the mail.