Red is the Fastest Color

by Dave Carty

Jamison Everett, a shy and lonely man with few friends, is a retired high school English teacher. When his artist sister, Monna, who is suffering from Parkinson's Disease, calls and asks for his help, he reluctantly agrees to leave his apartment in Minneapolis and temporarily relocate to her remote Montana town. Perhaps, in caring for his sister, he will find the friendship he longs for. But Monna's fiercely independent husband, Ben, has a different game plan. Parkinson's has robbed Monna of her ability to paint, and if the doctors won't cure her, then by god he'll do it ― by sheer force of will. Jamison, summoning his courage, offers to help, and an alliance is born. Yet neither man can know how much their nascent friendship will ask of them. Only Monna senses what is coming.

264 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2024

About the author

Dave Carty attended Colorado State University and the University of Colorado, where he majored in Journalism. During his twenties he worked at a variety of jobs too numerous to list in their entirety: waiter, bartender, carpenter, salesman, ski instructor, real estate agent, and day laborer. But ultimately he returned to writing and by age 30 was making a living as a full-time professional writer.

For the next three decades, Carty published over 1000 articles in a host of national publications while simultaneously writing novels on the side. Leaves On Frozen Ground is the upshot of that apprenticeship, and his first published work of literary fiction.

Carty writes from his home in southwestern Montana, where he lives with three English Pointer bird dogs and indulges his non-literary passions: dancing, bird hunting, woodworking, and all things outdoors.

Reviews

[Thomas Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monna and Ben Van Hollen have been married for forty years and live in small town America, Aden, Montana. Monna is an accomplished artist who from an early age always knew that the was the profession she wanted to pursue, and she is good enough that she has even made a little money at it.
But things have taken a turn when she has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Monna reaches out to her brother to try and convince to move from the big city of Minnesota where he is retired and come give Monna a hand. Eventually Jamison does make the move to Aden and what a lifestyle difference not only that he will be around Monna's husband Ben. Ben and Jamison really do not get along as they come from different lifestyles. Jamison has been retired and has a savings and Ben who will probably work until he dies and not much savings. But maybe just maybe they will find a way to develop a relationship and Jamison will find a way to help his sister out and Ben might find a way to cope with disease that affects his wife. When first started into this book I knew the story was going to revolve around Monna's disease, but you really had no idea where this story was headed, and I had considered DNF but i am glad I stuck with it. Be warned that this is a slow-moving story, but it is one worth sticking with and you may even need a few tissues along the way.

[Rick Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

If your favorite authors include Jim Harrison, Thomas McGuane, Kent Haruf and Peter Heller, you’ll want to add Dave Carty to your roster. Like his previous novel, “Leaves on Frozen Ground,” Carty’s “Red Is the Fastest Color” is a poignant, haunting novel about everyday people—in this case, a lanky, socially inept retired English teacher, his gifted and artistic sister and her stalwart husband. With colorful dialogue, a lively cast of secondary characters (including an intriguing feral cat named Leviathan) and plenty of details of small-town Montana life, “Red” is a carefully crafted, bittersweet novel about friendship and facing a looming tragedy with dignity and courage.

[Mru Natu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never expected this book to be the heart-touchingly beautiful, simple story it is. The narrative began slow, and frankly, I was a little bored of the long passages of descriptive texts detailing Montana and its landscapes and Monna's house. But this same atmospheric story had me riveted till the end. Honestly, for the last two chapters, I was unable to go on due to the amount of tears blurring my vision.
It's a beautiful story of friendship, of a brother-sister relationship, about overcoming loneliness and so much more. I recommend it to readers looking for emotional narratives.

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red is the Fastest Color:
I REALLY wanted to love this. It was well written and I thought I’d love it with the connections to Montana but I was just bored. It took so long for much to happen and even then it wasn’t a huge turning point in this book for me. It was a sad, sweet story and was a bit difficult for me to read because I’ve lost a family member to Parkinson’s. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, but maybe it was just written for an age range much higher than me because it was hard for me to relate to 70 year olds.

[Nate Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fact is, I wanted to like this book very much because of the proximity of the location, the Shields Valley, MT, is just a few miles from me. And I had no problem reading it cover to cover in a couple days. I just wanted more poetic, maybe deeper undertones, more depth I guess. You know, moments where you think, man, that's a hell of a paragraph... But, I also felt it could have used another edit, tightened up.

[Tony Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book on a long airplane trip and by the time the flight was over I couldn't put the book down. I finished it the next morning and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the book. The character development and setting was extremely relatable and the author's treatment of a challenging, but all too common, life situation was superb. You should read this book.

[Eileen Ralicke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters in this book will be with me for a long time. This is a beautifully written story that is woven so tenderly into the backdrop of the beauty of Montana mixed into delicate and interpersonal bonds of love and friendship. Each sentence is crafted so beautifully. It was a pure joy to read, I was so easily transported into the story! Some tears at the end

[Liz Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, very heartwarming. Highly recommend!

[Steven N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by Dave Carty!!

[Carol Jakubowski Delisi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needs edits... on basic words and character names... and the story is depressing.

[Alison Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpectedly incredible. One of the best books I have read in a long time, and I don't even know how the author snuck up on me and made me love the world and the characters he created.