Citrus County
John Brandon, McSweeney's, $22 (215p) ISBN 978-1-934781-53-1
Brandon (Arkansas) finds shards of redemption in the swampy backwaters of Florida in his funny and horrifying latest. When Shelby Register moves to Citrus County, Fla., with her single father and little sister, she's expecting "surfers instead of rednecks," but the precocious teen makes the best of it. Things get screwy when Toby, a neglected, loveless boy living with his abusive uncle, becomes her twisted love interest. Toby finds trouble far more elaborate than ordinary delinquency when he enacts a strange, cruel plot on the Register clan. Presiding over it all in his own confused state is Mr. Hibma, a young teacher draped in irony and disaffection who lectures on the evils of capitalism, avoids his colleagues, and wants to do good but isn't sure how. As the Register family's misery deepens, Shelby begins to test boundaries, Toby realizes that he can't reverse the effects of his "prank," and his and Shelby's braided fates hurtle toward either tragedy or a narrow miss. Brandon's dry wit, dark imagination, and surprisingly big heart combine to reveal a Florida that, despite (or because of) being more Ted Bundy than Disney World, is absolutely worth visiting. (July)
Details
Reviewed on: 05/10/2010
Release date: 07/01/2010
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 215 pages - 9781934781531
Paperback - 288 pages - 9781408703298
Paperback - 199 pages - 9781936365098
Paperback - 326 pages - 9780349123776
Open Ebook - 311 pages - 9781936365678
Hardcover - 312 pages - 9782253175995
Hardcover - 320 pages - 9782702436974