Safe Return Doubtful

Its clear to see that Crews was a big influence on Willy Vlautin, surely the best of today’s writers in this genre. The protagonist here, Pete, is a typical down-on-his-luck character who is just about keeping his head above water. This lack of luck dates back to childhood when he accidentally hit his 4 year old brother with a hammer, pretty much destroying his family with one blow. Not long into the novel he loses his job at the paper company in Jacksonville where he lives, and even buys a harmonica on the way home to play some blues.
Characters like Pete are synonymous with southern gothic, because the key is that weighty as the subject matter is, the best writers manage to inject amiability and wit, even though the story does get darker.. Pete’s luck appears to change when a shy woman seeking company invites him to dinner, but her mother, foul-mouthed and half-crazed Gertrude, is rushed to hospital with cancer, and her father meets an untimely demise.
Each of the souther gothic greats has there trademark though, and for Crews it is that very black hunour that shows itself at the most unexpected times; for example, Gertrude singing tenderly to her dead husband’s skull.. 

(4/5 stars)