cover image How Fire Runs

How Fire Runs

Charles Dodd White. Swallow, $22.95 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-8040-1228-7

At the start of this spellbinding tale of violence and political conflict from White (In the House of Wilderness), Gavin Noon, the leader of a white supremacist group, flies a Nazi flag in front of an abandoned asylum the group is renovating in rural Elizabethton, Tenn. One morning, Gerald Pickins, a Vietnam War vet and county commissioner, sees the swastika and proceeds to fire his gun at a car backing out of the asylum’s driveway. This is the opening skirmish in a battle between the county’s progressives and the neo-Nazis. When a potential scandal leads Kyle, another country commissioner, to resign his seat, a battle for the vacant position ensues. The contest pits Black former football player Frank Farmer, a candidate supported by Gerald, Kyle, and their liberal friends, against Gavin, who’s running to gain influence in the community. To steer the election in his favor, Gavin leaks a disparaging story concerning Frank’s past. Tensions mount as the campaign intensifies, and events come to a bloody climax on election night. Well-drawn characters are matched by evocative prose. Socially conscious readers will want to check this out. (Oct.)