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White Crosses
From the bestselling author of Montana 1948 comes one of the most irresistible novels of the year (The (Toronto) Globe and Mail). After a mysterious car accident occurs, Sheriff Jack Nevelson is compelled to try and protect a part of his hometown that even a hero would have trouble saving--its innocence.
Library Binding
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Larry Watson
32 books443 followersLarry Watson was born in 1947 in Rugby, North Dakota. He grew up in Bismarck, North Dakota, and was educated in its public schools. Larry married his high school sweetheart, Susan Gibbons, in 1967. He received his BA and MA from the University of North Dakota, his Ph.D. from the creative writing program at the University of Utah, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Ripon College. Watson has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1987, 2004) and the Wisconsin Arts Board.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
June 30, 2019
Jack Nevelsen is the sheriff of a small county that is tucked into northeastern Montana--isolated from the larger world and very sparsely populated. Jack lives in the tiny town of Bentrock and is always very nervous on the night of the town's high school graduation. The new graduates are often tempted to drink and drive, which is always a dangerous combination, but especially so on a night like this in a county where the roads are not all that great to begin with.
Up to now, Jack's always been pretty lucky, but it's graduation night, 1957, and his luck has just run out. Jack is called to the scene of a fatal accident and is shocked to find that the victims are June Moss, a young woman who just graduated from high school that night, and Leo Bauer, the high school principal. Bauer is a married man, a pillar of the community, and his son, Rick, just graduated in the same class as June.
There are three suitcases in the trunk and it's clear that Bauer and the young woman were running away together--a scandal that would devastate the small town. Jack believes that his principal duty as sheriff is to protect the town and the citizens who elected him. Accordingly, he begins to devise an alternative explanation for why Moss and Bauer might have been killed together.
Oh, the tangled webs we weave (to coin a phrase). Once Jack starts down this path, there will be no turning back. Inevitably, the situation will get increasingly complicated as time goes on, and Jack's story will quickly get away from him and turn in directions he never anticipated, with very serious consequences for the county, for the people that Jack was trying to protect and, most of all, for Jack himself.
This is a very engaging book that offers deep insights into the human condition and which also illustrates how actions taken with the best of intentions can sometimes go dramatically wrong. Larry Watson expertly describes the time and place in which this story takes place and has created solid, believable characters to populate it. One might strongly disagree with some of the decisions that Jack Nevelsen makes through the course of the story, but the book poses some very interesting questions and will leave readers thinking for a long time after the story has ended.
Up to now, Jack's always been pretty lucky, but it's graduation night, 1957, and his luck has just run out. Jack is called to the scene of a fatal accident and is shocked to find that the victims are June Moss, a young woman who just graduated from high school that night, and Leo Bauer, the high school principal. Bauer is a married man, a pillar of the community, and his son, Rick, just graduated in the same class as June.
There are three suitcases in the trunk and it's clear that Bauer and the young woman were running away together--a scandal that would devastate the small town. Jack believes that his principal duty as sheriff is to protect the town and the citizens who elected him. Accordingly, he begins to devise an alternative explanation for why Moss and Bauer might have been killed together.
Oh, the tangled webs we weave (to coin a phrase). Once Jack starts down this path, there will be no turning back. Inevitably, the situation will get increasingly complicated as time goes on, and Jack's story will quickly get away from him and turn in directions he never anticipated, with very serious consequences for the county, for the people that Jack was trying to protect and, most of all, for Jack himself.
This is a very engaging book that offers deep insights into the human condition and which also illustrates how actions taken with the best of intentions can sometimes go dramatically wrong. Larry Watson expertly describes the time and place in which this story takes place and has created solid, believable characters to populate it. One might strongly disagree with some of the decisions that Jack Nevelsen makes through the course of the story, but the book poses some very interesting questions and will leave readers thinking for a long time after the story has ended.
September 20, 2025
No good deed goes unpunished. Lies are clearer than glass. The truth will out.
Every one of those nostrums is the god's-honest truth, and forgetting them...worse still, ignoring them...worst of all, setting out to disprove them...will cause more harm than the unpalatable truth ever could. Pain of an order that mere embarrassment, petty humiliation will be rendered positively desirable attends every effort at concealment of the ugly facts of life.
People don't fall out of love; they fall in it and, like Archimedes in his bath, discover that a large weight dropped into a limited volume of sloshable stuff results in losses over the sides of the delimiting container. The only limit to the sloshing damage is the relative size of the container to the added thing.
Poor little June, poor old Leo: starting out and ending up at the same moment. It is heart-hurtingly obvious to me, old and battered and cynical, that desperation rode their backs. Leo, last-love lorn, couldn't accept that he was done. June, blooming in the delicious and addictive admiration of The Older Man, wouldn't even recognize the hopelessness of escape from yourself.
When I read this in 1997, I was shattered. The carnage and the mayhem that these two blinded-by-desperation souls wreaked in their passage out of town left me muttering and fulminating and all too aware of my own sins of omission and commission. "How can you not see!" when what I meant was "why did I not see?" and the list of wrongs, slights, inconsideratenesses yawned before my appalled feet. The best stories show you yourself; the best writers make you take it with good grace.
This is the best story told by the best writer.
Every one of those nostrums is the god's-honest truth, and forgetting them...worse still, ignoring them...worst of all, setting out to disprove them...will cause more harm than the unpalatable truth ever could. Pain of an order that mere embarrassment, petty humiliation will be rendered positively desirable attends every effort at concealment of the ugly facts of life.
People don't fall out of love; they fall in it and, like Archimedes in his bath, discover that a large weight dropped into a limited volume of sloshable stuff results in losses over the sides of the delimiting container. The only limit to the sloshing damage is the relative size of the container to the added thing.
Poor little June, poor old Leo: starting out and ending up at the same moment. It is heart-hurtingly obvious to me, old and battered and cynical, that desperation rode their backs. Leo, last-love lorn, couldn't accept that he was done. June, blooming in the delicious and addictive admiration of The Older Man, wouldn't even recognize the hopelessness of escape from yourself.
When I read this in 1997, I was shattered. The carnage and the mayhem that these two blinded-by-desperation souls wreaked in their passage out of town left me muttering and fulminating and all too aware of my own sins of omission and commission. "How can you not see!" when what I meant was "why did I not see?" and the list of wrongs, slights, inconsideratenesses yawned before my appalled feet. The best stories show you yourself; the best writers make you take it with good grace.
This is the best story told by the best writer.
October 23, 2022
“Whenever a fatality occurred in a highway accident, a white cross was planted at the site, one cross for each death. Cautioning other travelers was the idea, to tell them that someone had died here, because of speed or carelessness or hazardous road conditions or simply bad luck.”
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“When Sheriff Jack Nevelsen got the call from the dispatcher about the accident out on Highway 284 – single car, two fatalities – his first thought was, kids. Teenagers. Oh, sweet Jesus, somebody’s babies.”
His fear was based on the fact that it was ten o’clock on May 28, 1957, and Bentrock’s senior class had graduated that afternoon. He knew that kids were on the road that evening traveling to and from parties – and that they were apt to be drinking. And this accident had occurred on the county’s most dangerous curve.
When he arrived he discovered that 18-year old June Moss, who had in fact graduated from high school that day, was one of the victims. The other victim, however, was the married elementary school principal, Leo Bauer. Suitcases in the car left no doubt that the two were running away together.
Bentrock is normally a quiet, serene community located on the plains in northeastern Montana that doesn’t require much law enforcement from the sheriff or the town’s police officers. But the accident changes everything. It creates a potential scandal that could shatter the community’s tranquility.
The sheriff’s first impulse is damage control. Leo Bauer was one of the most respected individuals in the community, a man who took his civic duty seriously, and was involved in most of the good works that took place there.
“The people of the county needed to believe in certain things, and that belief was necessary to their – to the whole county’s – welfare…. The townspeople needed to believe in Leo Bauer and his decency. Jack was too late to stop Leo and save his life before he drove out of town, but maybe Jack could save Leo’s life after…”
Jack concocts a story that makes it appear that Leo Bauer was not running away with June Moss, but in fact was doing her a favor out of the goodness of his heart, that the only thing that he could be blamed for was bad driving. He makes up this story, not because he wants to protect Leo, because he admits to himself that although they had grown up together in Bentrock he had never really liked him. He believes that the story that he has manufactured is for the good of the community, that it will allow the town to retain the image it has of itself. He justifies his lie on the belief that he is upholding his oath to protect and to serve.
None of what I have written up to this point is a spoiler because the reader learns all of this in the opening pages. The real drama is what follows. It is how Jack's efforts to keep the truth hidden from the town places a heavy burden on his shoulders. He has to be constantly on guard for any cracks that might appear in the wall of lies that he has constructed.
Larry Watson is a talented storyteller whose prose is sharp and clear, with strong characterizations and vivid descriptions of the setting, but executed in an economical style that does not waste words. As a result, his books average about 250 pages or so and Montana 1948 even had fewer than 200. White Crosses, however, is a longer, more ambitious novel, checking in at 371 pages. Unfortunately, longer is not always better. It is a good novel, but it could have been an even better one had it been leaner.
The book’s weakness is that the reader is forced to spend too much time in the sheriff’s head as he deals with the almost unbearable situation that he has created. He is an extremely self-aware individual and readers are privy to a lot of inner wool-gathering that all too often slows the narrative and even brings it to a standstill. In short, too much tell and not enough show.
It is only near the end that the plot begins to take on a life of its own and the book turns into the kind of literary page-turner that made Montana 1948 a favorite of readers and critics.
But the book has strengths, too. It is a painfully honest look at life in a small-town; and this is Larry Watson, after all, so there is elegant prose and sharp characterizations. In fact, more than anything else, it is a character study of a good man who does a questionable thing for what he believes is a good reason, and who then must live with his action for the rest of his life – however long that may be.
------------------------
“When Sheriff Jack Nevelsen got the call from the dispatcher about the accident out on Highway 284 – single car, two fatalities – his first thought was, kids. Teenagers. Oh, sweet Jesus, somebody’s babies.”
His fear was based on the fact that it was ten o’clock on May 28, 1957, and Bentrock’s senior class had graduated that afternoon. He knew that kids were on the road that evening traveling to and from parties – and that they were apt to be drinking. And this accident had occurred on the county’s most dangerous curve.
When he arrived he discovered that 18-year old June Moss, who had in fact graduated from high school that day, was one of the victims. The other victim, however, was the married elementary school principal, Leo Bauer. Suitcases in the car left no doubt that the two were running away together.
Bentrock is normally a quiet, serene community located on the plains in northeastern Montana that doesn’t require much law enforcement from the sheriff or the town’s police officers. But the accident changes everything. It creates a potential scandal that could shatter the community’s tranquility.
The sheriff’s first impulse is damage control. Leo Bauer was one of the most respected individuals in the community, a man who took his civic duty seriously, and was involved in most of the good works that took place there.
“The people of the county needed to believe in certain things, and that belief was necessary to their – to the whole county’s – welfare…. The townspeople needed to believe in Leo Bauer and his decency. Jack was too late to stop Leo and save his life before he drove out of town, but maybe Jack could save Leo’s life after…”
Jack concocts a story that makes it appear that Leo Bauer was not running away with June Moss, but in fact was doing her a favor out of the goodness of his heart, that the only thing that he could be blamed for was bad driving. He makes up this story, not because he wants to protect Leo, because he admits to himself that although they had grown up together in Bentrock he had never really liked him. He believes that the story that he has manufactured is for the good of the community, that it will allow the town to retain the image it has of itself. He justifies his lie on the belief that he is upholding his oath to protect and to serve.
None of what I have written up to this point is a spoiler because the reader learns all of this in the opening pages. The real drama is what follows. It is how Jack's efforts to keep the truth hidden from the town places a heavy burden on his shoulders. He has to be constantly on guard for any cracks that might appear in the wall of lies that he has constructed.
Larry Watson is a talented storyteller whose prose is sharp and clear, with strong characterizations and vivid descriptions of the setting, but executed in an economical style that does not waste words. As a result, his books average about 250 pages or so and Montana 1948 even had fewer than 200. White Crosses, however, is a longer, more ambitious novel, checking in at 371 pages. Unfortunately, longer is not always better. It is a good novel, but it could have been an even better one had it been leaner.
The book’s weakness is that the reader is forced to spend too much time in the sheriff’s head as he deals with the almost unbearable situation that he has created. He is an extremely self-aware individual and readers are privy to a lot of inner wool-gathering that all too often slows the narrative and even brings it to a standstill. In short, too much tell and not enough show.
It is only near the end that the plot begins to take on a life of its own and the book turns into the kind of literary page-turner that made Montana 1948 a favorite of readers and critics.
But the book has strengths, too. It is a painfully honest look at life in a small-town; and this is Larry Watson, after all, so there is elegant prose and sharp characterizations. In fact, more than anything else, it is a character study of a good man who does a questionable thing for what he believes is a good reason, and who then must live with his action for the rest of his life – however long that may be.
August 9, 2023
(3.5) I've been a Larry Watson fan for a few years now, but haven't revisited him in quite some time. I was introduced to his writing through the amazing 'Montana 1948' and then with 'Let Him Go' which was another great read. He tends to write about bad circumstances with your normal run-of-the-mill types from the 1940's and 1950's. These people aren't completely miserable, but many have had hard lives.
This book didn't quite grab me like his other previous books, perhaps that could be because it was his 2nd true novel after 'Montana 1948', which had a lot to live up to or it could be me reading it at this particular time in life. I've found that if I have a good experience reading an author and that author doesn't deviate from their usual style, I get a little impatient. This could be said about the author of this review; I tend to not deviate too much from my style either.
There's really not much suspense here. All the drama and plot are more or less given to you in the first few pages. The main character Jack Nevelson devolves as you turn the pages, but never into a maniac, but into the sad creature he is. I had to round this up to a 4 because yes, I'm partial to Watson and also the ending was unexpected and I enjoyed it more than the first half altogether.
This book didn't quite grab me like his other previous books, perhaps that could be because it was his 2nd true novel after 'Montana 1948', which had a lot to live up to or it could be me reading it at this particular time in life. I've found that if I have a good experience reading an author and that author doesn't deviate from their usual style, I get a little impatient. This could be said about the author of this review; I tend to not deviate too much from my style either.
There's really not much suspense here. All the drama and plot are more or less given to you in the first few pages. The main character Jack Nevelson devolves as you turn the pages, but never into a maniac, but into the sad creature he is. I had to round this up to a 4 because yes, I'm partial to Watson and also the ending was unexpected and I enjoyed it more than the first half altogether.
August 14, 2019
Larry Watson is a new favorite!!!
May 8, 2021
4.5 stars. I enjoy Larry Watson’s writing though this novel is pretty dark. It moves a little too slowly for a 5 star review but his writing and composition are so good.
November 16, 2013
I like the story this book has to tell- but overall was disappointed. The main character spent entirely too much time thinking about things that really had nothing to do with anything. I had to force myself to keep reading. It got better towards the end but I was just ready for it to be over. It's a shame- because I think it could have been a really good book.
September 24, 2011
The first 45 chapters are actually pretty good for a book that i never heard of and picked up from the free shelf at the library. The author does a great job looking at what happens to the lives of people affected by a deadly car accident, and how the main character's life begins to unravel because of a single bad decision to try to change the true story of this accident. I would have given it 4+ stars except for the end. Completely silly. I closed the book and felt cheated by an ending that made no sense and didn't seem consistent with the characters as they'd been developed through the first 300 pages. It's unfortunate because if the author would have consulted me, which he did not, I could have saved him from the train wreck.
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December 27, 2020I am a big fan of Larry Watson's work, but this is not one of my favorites.
February 15, 2021
Less than 5 hours on Hoopla and read by Beau Bridges, who did a great job. Love this author, and working my way through all I can find of him.
November 10, 2021
Though I really like his writing style, I just couldn't finish this. For some reason it irritated me.
When I decided to discontinue with it, I read the ending because I wanted to see what happened (even tho I thought I knew already). The first time I have EVER done that when reading a book.
When I decided to discontinue with it, I read the ending because I wanted to see what happened (even tho I thought I knew already). The first time I have EVER done that when reading a book.
September 9, 2015
(Actual Rating = 1.75 stars)
White Crosses is the story of two deaths and the sheriff who decides to cover them up. Leo Bauer, principal at Bentrock High School, dies in a car accident on the night of graduation. With him is June, a high school graduate. Sheriff Jack Nevelsen puts two and two together, then decides that the knowledge will destroy the town. So, he concocts a tale to prevent the townspeople from figuring it out.
This book spends an awful lot of time in Jack Nevelsen's head. And it's a pretty annoying place to be. He overanalyzes everything. I was glad the book was over.
White Crosses is the story of two deaths and the sheriff who decides to cover them up. Leo Bauer, principal at Bentrock High School, dies in a car accident on the night of graduation. With him is June, a high school graduate. Sheriff Jack Nevelsen puts two and two together, then decides that the knowledge will destroy the town. So, he concocts a tale to prevent the townspeople from figuring it out.
This book spends an awful lot of time in Jack Nevelsen's head. And it's a pretty annoying place to be. He overanalyzes everything. I was glad the book was over.
January 30, 2017
An extremely well-written book. Watson's command of his prose is top-notch. The biggest appeal for me was the many smaller characters who populate the world of Bentrock, Montana in 1957. Through the lens of their quirky, sometimes lovable, sometimes maddening, eccentricities and nuances, we learn all the more about Sherriff Jack Nevelson and his flawed if well-meaning approach to solving a simple case that needed no solving. His attempts to hide a plain truth end the way most such endeavors do, but with one particular consequence no one could have predicted.
If I have a complaint about the book, it's that the pace tends to drag. Slow pacing, even when done for artistic reasons such as to reflect the protagonist's over-analysis of life or the slow pace of 1950's Montana, is still a slow pace. 60 pages lopped off of this book would have made for a real page turner. That said, read it as it is. It's worth it in the end.
If I have a complaint about the book, it's that the pace tends to drag. Slow pacing, even when done for artistic reasons such as to reflect the protagonist's over-analysis of life or the slow pace of 1950's Montana, is still a slow pace. 60 pages lopped off of this book would have made for a real page turner. That said, read it as it is. It's worth it in the end.
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May 24, 2017Another Watson novel set in Montana in the 50s and depicts perfectly the struggle between acting like a member of the community and being one. The characters draw you in and you can almost hear the voices inside Jack's head as he struggles to fit in.
Great read.
Great read.
February 22, 2012
White Crosses by Larry Watson is a slow moving book about a good and well-meaning but misguided man, insecure, self-critical, and ultimately a failure. Jack Nevelsen is the sheriff of a remote county in Montana near the Canadian border, a man with a lot of responsibility but not a great deal to do. Serious crime is not a problem in his county and he and his deputy are easily able to handle the complaints about barking dogs, a drunken man wandering in the street, and the occasional invented problems of lonely people.
But then one night he gets a call that there has been an auto accident with two fatalities. Since it's the night of the local high school graduation he fears it is two teenagers. But it turns out to be the principal of the local elementary school and a young girl who graduated that day. Suitcases in the trunk seem to indicate they were running off together.
For reasons even he doesn't really understand, the sheriff concocts a story to explain away what he thinks is a scandal that would tear the town apart. And once having spread his story he has to ride herd on the people who might let the truth slip out. After a short while two white crosses appear near where the accident occurred.
I wish I could tell you the ending because the irony is so sharp and bitter it is almost unbearable.
Although the book is set only about 700 miles from where I live, I read about it in an excellent review by dovegreyreader, who is 5,000 miles away in England. She read about it in another fine review by Kevin from Canada, who is at least 3,500 miles from Devon. This is Globalization I can really appreciate.
I have posted a large picture of the cover of the book because the photograph fits so well the story within and is so starkly beautiful.
2012 No 29
But then one night he gets a call that there has been an auto accident with two fatalities. Since it's the night of the local high school graduation he fears it is two teenagers. But it turns out to be the principal of the local elementary school and a young girl who graduated that day. Suitcases in the trunk seem to indicate they were running off together.
For reasons even he doesn't really understand, the sheriff concocts a story to explain away what he thinks is a scandal that would tear the town apart. And once having spread his story he has to ride herd on the people who might let the truth slip out. After a short while two white crosses appear near where the accident occurred.
I wish I could tell you the ending because the irony is so sharp and bitter it is almost unbearable.
Although the book is set only about 700 miles from where I live, I read about it in an excellent review by dovegreyreader, who is 5,000 miles away in England. She read about it in another fine review by Kevin from Canada, who is at least 3,500 miles from Devon. This is Globalization I can really appreciate.
I have posted a large picture of the cover of the book because the photograph fits so well the story within and is so starkly beautiful.
2012 No 29
May 12, 2021
I found this novel of mid-century small-town life and its character study hard to put down. Written with elements of crime fiction, it is an ironic account of how a well-meaning county sheriff's cover-up attempt leads to a series of worrisome complications and finally to a devastating resolution. Everyone has their secrets and is guilt of something, the sheriff has come to believe, and he is no exception. As author Watson probes deeper into his character, we find the weaknesses and moral ambiguities hidden within an otherwise likable man who happens to represent law and order.
Readers more interested in plot may become impatient with the author's frequent digressions which are meant to peel away layer after layer of his character's persona, but for me the revelations made the progress of the story even more interesting. In the end it turns out to be important that we know this man inside and out. Watson ahs a sure grasp of small-town and rural life and the pressures it creates on individuals and their relationships with one another. His Jack Nevelsen is another in a line of well-drawn sheriffs (See "Montana 1948" and "Justice", which both take place in the same western town of Bentrock).
Watson is a good writer with a gift for illuminating the inner worlds of what seem to be predictable and ordinary people. He seems filled with this sense of wonder. Like the pair of bachelors, identical twins, drinking at a bar, or a cantankerous teacher who believes with scant evidence that his cattle are being rustled, or the widow who reports her S&H green stamps have been stolen. There is much to be known about them that will never be known - and will go with them to the grave.
Readers more interested in plot may become impatient with the author's frequent digressions which are meant to peel away layer after layer of his character's persona, but for me the revelations made the progress of the story even more interesting. In the end it turns out to be important that we know this man inside and out. Watson ahs a sure grasp of small-town and rural life and the pressures it creates on individuals and their relationships with one another. His Jack Nevelsen is another in a line of well-drawn sheriffs (See "Montana 1948" and "Justice", which both take place in the same western town of Bentrock).
Watson is a good writer with a gift for illuminating the inner worlds of what seem to be predictable and ordinary people. He seems filled with this sense of wonder. Like the pair of bachelors, identical twins, drinking at a bar, or a cantankerous teacher who believes with scant evidence that his cattle are being rustled, or the widow who reports her S&H green stamps have been stolen. There is much to be known about them that will never be known - and will go with them to the grave.
March 27, 2015
I was so irritated and upset about Jack's willingness to actively instigate and pursue a lie to "save" his town while destroying so many innocent people that it interfered with my enjoyment of reading the book. He didn't even particularly like the town where he lived. Or the man whos reputation he was supposedly trying to save. So I never really understood why he did what he did. Unlike others, however, I felt the ending to be fitting and loved that the entire town would now be talking about the badge he left on his desk and the paltry amount of money he stole from petty cash that was in his pocket. So he manages at the end to also destroy the reputation of the woman he hoped to run away with.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2012
I decided to read this book after finishing Montana 1948 because I enjoyed it so much. This one also takes place in NE Montana and does a wonderful job of describing the area, climate, culture, etc. Plus the author has a knack for going into detail about the main character's personality while leaving room for the reader to make inferences as well. This story is a great example of how one decision to lie can lead to multiple undesirable consequences. I still want to read more by this author.
February 9, 2016
Cerebral, which works for me, but if you need action packed, go elsewhere. Good job at writing about small town life and how we can too easily surrender our true selves to the alter of worrying too much about what other people think, or of rocking the boat, etc. I enjoyed it but it made me sad for the hidden, unfulfilled lives of almost every character in the book.
July 8, 2008
So far, this is one I would not recommend but I will keep you posted at the end.
OH MY GOD!! this book was crap! and the ending was one of the worst I have ever read.
OH MY GOD!! this book was crap! and the ending was one of the worst I have ever read.
November 21, 2019
Just too much interior dialogue and back story. The ending was very disappointing. I felt cheated, having spent so much time reading the book.
September 18, 2018
WHITE CROSSES is set in the fifties; the title signifies crosses people put up on the side of the road at fatal car accidents; that may have been a Montana thing.
Sheriff Jack Nevelson is called to the scene of such an accident. The car missed a hairpin turn and two people were killed. They had both been removed by the time Jack got there, but he knew the Bentrock elementary principal, Leo Bauer, and was informed the dead girl, June Moss, had just graduated high school. There were three suitcases in the car, one of them apparently belonged to Rick Bauer, Leo's son. Jack knew better.
Jack decides to collaborate with Rick to make up a story; they claim Leo was taking June to a place where she would meet up with Rick, who was attending a graduation party, and they would run away together. Jack seems to sincerely believe he must do this to save the innocence of the town. If he didn't every low life in the county would be kidnapping young girls to run off with them. Whoa! Maybe the fifties were less cynical then we are in the 21st century. Jack goes so far as to tell the tow truck driver his version of what had happened. The guy is nonplussed since his wife is the uber town gossip of Bentrock.
It gets worse when Jack goes to see Ed's widow, Vivien, to tell her about the accident. She's in her night gown and one shoulder is bare. Jack can't help but want to check out her nipples. When he gets home, his wife, Nora cries when she finds out Ed is dead. Jack is suspicious; this isn't normal. Ed was a friend of his, but Nora has no reason to carry on like this, and she wears perfume to Ed's funeral. Hmm.
June also has an uncle who further complicates the plot. There are four children in the Moss family, only one of whom had a child, June, and he's dead. Ralph Moss believes the Rick story and he wants revenge.
At first I thought I'd find out what was really going on and get some backstory on the relationship between Ed and June and what really happened out there, but this story is more about Sheriff Jack Nicholson coming unglued. We get the impression his marriage was already crumbling before the accident. You will not believe the ending. It's just too ironic.
Sheriff Jack Nevelson is called to the scene of such an accident. The car missed a hairpin turn and two people were killed. They had both been removed by the time Jack got there, but he knew the Bentrock elementary principal, Leo Bauer, and was informed the dead girl, June Moss, had just graduated high school. There were three suitcases in the car, one of them apparently belonged to Rick Bauer, Leo's son. Jack knew better.
Jack decides to collaborate with Rick to make up a story; they claim Leo was taking June to a place where she would meet up with Rick, who was attending a graduation party, and they would run away together. Jack seems to sincerely believe he must do this to save the innocence of the town. If he didn't every low life in the county would be kidnapping young girls to run off with them. Whoa! Maybe the fifties were less cynical then we are in the 21st century. Jack goes so far as to tell the tow truck driver his version of what had happened. The guy is nonplussed since his wife is the uber town gossip of Bentrock.
It gets worse when Jack goes to see Ed's widow, Vivien, to tell her about the accident. She's in her night gown and one shoulder is bare. Jack can't help but want to check out her nipples. When he gets home, his wife, Nora cries when she finds out Ed is dead. Jack is suspicious; this isn't normal. Ed was a friend of his, but Nora has no reason to carry on like this, and she wears perfume to Ed's funeral. Hmm.
June also has an uncle who further complicates the plot. There are four children in the Moss family, only one of whom had a child, June, and he's dead. Ralph Moss believes the Rick story and he wants revenge.
At first I thought I'd find out what was really going on and get some backstory on the relationship between Ed and June and what really happened out there, but this story is more about Sheriff Jack Nicholson coming unglued. We get the impression his marriage was already crumbling before the accident. You will not believe the ending. It's just too ironic.
October 20, 2020
I found this novel of mid-century small-town life and its character study hard to put down. Written with elements of crime fiction, it is an ironic account of how a well-meaning county sheriff's cover-up attempt leads to a series of worrisome complications and finally to a devastating resolution. Everyone has their secrets and is guilty of something, the sheriff has come to believe, and he is no exception. As author Watson probes deeper into his character, we find the weaknesses and moral ambiguities hidden within an otherwise likable man who happens to represent law and order.
Readers more interested in plot may become impatient with the author's frequent digressions, which are meant to peel away layer after layer of his character's persons, but for me these revelations made the progress of the story more tantalizing. In the end, it turns out to be important that we know this man inside and out. Watson has a sure grasp on small-town and rural life and the pressures it creates on individuals and their relationships with one another. His Jack Nevelsen is another in a line of well-drawn sheriffs (See "Montana 1948" and "Justice" which both take place in the same western town, Bentrock.
Watson is a fine writer with a gift for illuminating the inner works of what seem to be predictable and ordinary people. He seems filled with this sense of wonder. Like the pair of bachelors, identical twins, drinking at a bar, or a cantankerous rancher who believes, with scant evidence, that his cattle are being rustled, or the widow who reports that her S&H Green Stamps have been stolen. There is much to be known about them that will never be known - and will go with them to the grave.
Readers more interested in plot may become impatient with the author's frequent digressions, which are meant to peel away layer after layer of his character's persons, but for me these revelations made the progress of the story more tantalizing. In the end, it turns out to be important that we know this man inside and out. Watson has a sure grasp on small-town and rural life and the pressures it creates on individuals and their relationships with one another. His Jack Nevelsen is another in a line of well-drawn sheriffs (See "Montana 1948" and "Justice" which both take place in the same western town, Bentrock.
Watson is a fine writer with a gift for illuminating the inner works of what seem to be predictable and ordinary people. He seems filled with this sense of wonder. Like the pair of bachelors, identical twins, drinking at a bar, or a cantankerous rancher who believes, with scant evidence, that his cattle are being rustled, or the widow who reports that her S&H Green Stamps have been stolen. There is much to be known about them that will never be known - and will go with them to the grave.
June 9, 2022
ah - to be able to get back the time I wasted reading this book - thank goodness it was a relatively short/quick read.
The main character is a small town sheriff in a Montana town. The story takes place sometime in the mid 50's (?).
The sheriff gets a late night call from his over-eager deputy informing him of a fatal car accident on graduation evening that has taken the life of the high school principal (male) and the life of a graduating student (female).
It would appear that the principal and the student were running away from town, with their suitcases.
The sheriff - who apparently has a "father" complex and a "god" complex all rolled into one decides that in order for his small town to remain untainted that he must control the narrative of what happened and why. He is an absolute bully to the graduating son of the principal and to a young woman who dated the principals son and was a friend to the girl killed in the accident.
Near the end of the story the sheriff is shot by the uncle of the dead female student - no real reason is given for that. As the sheriff recovers he begins an "emotional" affair with the dead principles wife. On the evening that he intends to change the relationship from emotional to physical with the death principles wife (before she can leave town and start her life over) - the sheriff is shot and killed by the uncle of the dead female student.
All in all - this book was not a good fit for me. I have never cared for characters who feel as though it is their right to bully other characters and to control the complete narrative of the story.
Save your time and don't bother - unless you really enjoy reading a "bleh" book.
The main character is a small town sheriff in a Montana town. The story takes place sometime in the mid 50's (?).
The sheriff gets a late night call from his over-eager deputy informing him of a fatal car accident on graduation evening that has taken the life of the high school principal (male) and the life of a graduating student (female).
It would appear that the principal and the student were running away from town, with their suitcases.
The sheriff - who apparently has a "father" complex and a "god" complex all rolled into one decides that in order for his small town to remain untainted that he must control the narrative of what happened and why. He is an absolute bully to the graduating son of the principal and to a young woman who dated the principals son and was a friend to the girl killed in the accident.
Near the end of the story the sheriff is shot by the uncle of the dead female student - no real reason is given for that. As the sheriff recovers he begins an "emotional" affair with the dead principles wife. On the evening that he intends to change the relationship from emotional to physical with the death principles wife (before she can leave town and start her life over) - the sheriff is shot and killed by the uncle of the dead female student.
All in all - this book was not a good fit for me. I have never cared for characters who feel as though it is their right to bully other characters and to control the complete narrative of the story.
Save your time and don't bother - unless you really enjoy reading a "bleh" book.
November 14, 2017
DNF. The book held my interest for the first few chapters, but then I got tired of constantly being inside Jack's head and listening to him overanalyze everything. There were also pointless backstories on minor characters that really served no purpose. The ending was completely out of place...we hear through most of the story what a moral character Jack is and how it bothers him that he convinced Bauer's son to lie about the accident, then at the end, Jack throws all his morality out the window and decides not only to steal the petty cash from the sheriff's office, but also to walk out on his wife and daughter so he can take up with the widow of Leo Bauer and start a new life. But before he can do that, he gets shot and killed. To me it felt like Watson got tired of Jack's character at the point when the character might've started to become interesting, so he decides "eh, screw it, I'll lead up to this huge revelation/life change for Jack, then kill him off because I don't want to bother exploring that angle anymore."
October 5, 2025
By now I know that none of Watson's books are thrillers, but the majority of this book takes place between Jack's ears. I just kept thinking about how this character has real emotional issues. How does the death of a friend lead him to have long internal dialogues with himself about his wife being unfaithful or him running off with the widow?
Just when I thought there was going to be no real action in this book, the plot turns toward the negative effects of Jack's lie, like him getting shot. I thought maybe that was what the story was going to be about. But then it took another direction when Jack actually starts taking steps toward running off with the widow. There was nothing in the book that suggested he was unhappy with his wife and daughter, so it made no sense to me. And there was nothing in the book that explains Jack's interest in the widow.
Just when I thought there was going to be no real action in this book, the plot turns toward the negative effects of Jack's lie, like him getting shot. I thought maybe that was what the story was going to be about. But then it took another direction when Jack actually starts taking steps toward running off with the widow. There was nothing in the book that suggested he was unhappy with his wife and daughter, so it made no sense to me. And there was nothing in the book that explains Jack's interest in the widow.
August 26, 2019
I am torn on this book, more like 4 and 1/2 or even more.
It probably is a 5, but the protag bugged me so much that I am being probably unfair. I'm not sure I am right or not.
Wow--what an amazing book.
In general, I hate historical fiction, but for reasons I don't understand, I thought this was going to be a multiple time line book. I was wrong, but I was hooked.
I think it is the first book I've read that takes place in Montana.
It is an amazing book. I couldn't take my eyes off the protag, even though I greatly disliked him. Really well-drawn. I love the description and drawing out of consequences.
It is one of the most satisfying conclusions I have read in a long time.
Very powerful and interesting book.
I will be giving this book to people.
It probably is a 5, but the protag bugged me so much that I am being probably unfair. I'm not sure I am right or not.
Wow--what an amazing book.
In general, I hate historical fiction, but for reasons I don't understand, I thought this was going to be a multiple time line book. I was wrong, but I was hooked.
I think it is the first book I've read that takes place in Montana.
It is an amazing book. I couldn't take my eyes off the protag, even though I greatly disliked him. Really well-drawn. I love the description and drawing out of consequences.
It is one of the most satisfying conclusions I have read in a long time.
Very powerful and interesting book.
I will be giving this book to people.
January 6, 2018
This book is all about the writing style - which is very interesting. It's told from the point of view of Jack Nevelson, sheriff of the town where he grew up. Strictly from his POV. And his story covers a lot of ground - people, relationships, and Montana. This is a smallish town - there's not real description of how big it is which I would have liked - and he knows a lot of people there. The book starts with a deadly car accident and continues throughout the book with Nevelson's neurotic campaign to cover up what really happened. I began not to like him after a while of that, but the writing style is compelling and I wanted to know how this all turned out. The ending surprised me.
July 21, 2022
Left me confused :)
And not in a good way
Author of my fave book so I was very excited to read but.... unfortunately not this time larry... Barely about the actual accident mentioned in the blurb and more about the inner ramblings of the sheriff main character about shit I don't care about.
Skimmed the entire book because of all the unnecessary and useless pointless thoughts the character went on about
Sooooo kind of a DNF?
But confusion because I actually really liked parts of it??? Would've been a really good read if it was 200 pages shorter and the ramblings were left out!
Weird that he got with Vivien and mentioned her nipples multiple times... A woman who's husband just died
And not in a good way
Author of my fave book so I was very excited to read but.... unfortunately not this time larry... Barely about the actual accident mentioned in the blurb and more about the inner ramblings of the sheriff main character about shit I don't care about.
Skimmed the entire book because of all the unnecessary and useless pointless thoughts the character went on about
Sooooo kind of a DNF?
But confusion because I actually really liked parts of it??? Would've been a really good read if it was 200 pages shorter and the ramblings were left out!
Weird that he got with Vivien and mentioned her nipples multiple times... A woman who's husband just died
April 11, 2023
Larry Watson is a writer who takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. Most of the time. Not so with White Crosses. I found myself losing patience with the constant stream of consciousness of the main character. No matter what happened in the story, the meandering thought processes of Sheriff Jack Nevelson veered this way and that: past, possible futures, possible actions he might take that he never ended up taking., histories and personalities of every single town resident he encountered...I finally skimmed through much of that to find out what was REALLY going to happen. I can't recommend this book. Read Let Him Go, instead.
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