Another Edgar award nominee.I found the narrative voice a bit jarring at first, but got used to it. This book comes into its own as you reach the end, exploring family and small town dynamics ( )

I'm torn between 3 1/2 stars and 4 stars for this one. On the good side, this is well written and buzzes along with no lulls. On the downside, some of the characters, including very important ones like the coach's wife, are not as well fleshed out as they need to be. On the surface, her motivations are clear, but the more I think about it, the less it holds up. It's like there's some secret the author isn't sharing. Probably because he doesn't know it himself. The coach's religious enthusiasm also seems tacked on. It isn't clear in which foster home he picked it up, certainly not that of his future wife and her father (also a coach)--or if he did, the author hasn't made it clear. Lots of great scenes here, but the reckless daughter ends up being the most interesting character. Not sure that was intended. The football player at the center of all this mess is also a difficult, semi-literate voice to portray, and I'm not sure Cranor gets it right. But, I haven't lived in the depths of Arkansas. (Depths of Alabama to be sure, but not the same.) I've talked myself down from 4 to 3 1/2. In any case, this is still well worth reading and I will read (or listen to) the author's next book. This audiobook version was well done. ( )

This book is a mess.
The author has previously written short stories and it shows.
There isn’t enough story here to create a full length book.
The characters are one dimensional and the language and behavior is repetitive. Worse not one of them is likable or admirable.
Billy one of the two main characters talks like he is a gang member in Compton not a white trash white kid in Arkansas.
From here the book becomes ridiculous, a 5 year old can figure out who the killer is, and by the end of the book I was sad I wasted time reading it. ( )

A new coach and his family move to a small town in Arkansas where football is king and he is supposed to produce wins. His star player has a violent streak and badly injures a teammate in practice. The coach takes the offending player under his wing to guartentee his future in the progam and maybe even get a scholarship. This is a lot harder than it sounds especially after the boy's stepfather is found dead. A good book that I enjoyed. ( )

Trent is in his first year coaching the Denton Pirates and they are playing better than ever before, with a real shot at making the playoffs, a good thing given how mistrustful everyone is of this Prius-driving family from California. But the team's success isn't due to Trent's leadership, but to a volatile teenager named Billy Lowe, whose home life fuels his rage. When Billy's behavior gets him suspended from the football team, Trent is determined to save him, but what he sees when he goes to Billy's home one night is enough to plunge him into a situation he can neither understand nor control.

This may be a debut novel, but it's also a lot more assured than debut novels usually are. This is a solid noir, stark and unforgiving. Eli Cranor has conceived of his characters so thoroughly that no matter what they do, those actions are utterly in keeping with who they are. It was fun to find such a solid crime novel and I'm eager to see what Cranor writes next. ( )