Dodge City

by Patrick deWitt

From bestselling author Patrick deWitt comes Dodge City, a rollicking novel about a young man on an amphetamine-fueled cross-country road trip, fleeing the draft for the safe haven of Canada.
It’s 1967 in Los Angeles and Lee Clarke has received his draft notice, calling him up to fight in the Vietnam War. A straitlaced, apolitical twenty-three-year-old from Concrete, Washington, Lee is studying at UCLA until a fistfight leads to his expulsion—and his removal from the deferment list. The draft notice forces him to make the first political decision of his life, and though he’s happy in California and loves his girlfriend, he will leave the country and head for the border. He signs up at a drive-away car-delivery service, chancing into a showroom-new Jaguar bound for the East Coast. Bringing only a single suitcase and a bag of amphetamines, he makes his stimulated progress against the width of the country, pining for the life he’s left behind and wondering what his decision will mean for his future. But he is not just saying goodbye to the country of his birth. In four different towns strung out along the northern United States, Lee visits each member of his immediate his father, a World War II veteran in a state of degradation; his mother, engaged in a buoyantly manic and never-ending performance with her shut-in sibling; his heartbroken, misanthropic brother, Harry; and finally his twin sister, Grace, a brash, young nurse-in-training mired in romantic drama at a Manhattan psychiatric hospital.
An arresting portrait of a country in flux and a family in disarray, Dodge City represents a signal achievement in an already illustrious body of work by the “twenty-first-century Mark Twain” (Slate).
Witty, moving, and delightfully off-kilter, Patrick deWitt’s sixth novel is a brilliant and raucous exploration of family, country, division, and war, from an elegant humorist who never shies from the stranger aspects of human behavior.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Literary Fiction, Canada, Road Trip, Audiobook

256 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication September 29, 2026

About the author

Patrick deWitt is the author of the novels French Exit (a national bestseller), The Sisters Brothers (a New York Times bestseller short-listed for the Booker Prize), and the critically acclaimed Undermajordomo Minor and Ablutions. Born in British Columbia, he now resides in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Karen]

It’s 1967, Lee is 23 yrs old living in California, in college, lives at the beach, has a serious girlfriend.
He gets kicked out of college for fighting ( not his fault) and soon after gets a notice that he has been drafted to the Vietnam war.
His plan is to dodge… go to Canada.
He comes from a broken and quirky family ..his parents divorced a twin female sibling and a brother he doesn’t speak to, in different states.
He travels east to visit and say goodbye to each family person before he goes to Canada, and it is quite an undertaking… it is an amphetamine laced journey, the dialogue so quick and entertaining and I really enjoyed this one… a fast read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for the free ebook in exchange for my honest review!

[Mika]

*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

Most road trips are about finding yourself, but in 1967, they were about outrunning the Vietnam War. Dodge City explores the moment when dodging your fears becomes a flight for survival.

Introduction

My brain focused too much on the Vietnam War and the cross-country road trip aspects that I didn't notice until I already started reading that this is a humorous book. To be precise, a dryly humorous story with eccentric characters. The tone is much lighter than what I usually read. While I can appreciate and enjoy a light-hearted story, I oftentimes find myself unengaged by them.

Themes & Characters

Despite the short length of this book, it explores many different themes.

Lee Clarke, who got kicked out of UCLA after an event of violence between himself and another student, received a draft notice sooner than expected. His fistfighting explores the vulnerability of one's origins and how people react differently when their boundaries are crossed. Unlucky, Lee Clarke has his boundaries crossed more than once in this story. His war duty forces him to question how much (military) service a citizen truly owes to its country. Lee Clarke makes his first political decision of his life when he received his draft notice—breaking free from the social systems that forces young men to join the Vietnam war. Instead of overcoming his fears, he tries to flee by having a cross-country road trip. To fight for his independence and free will, he has to abandon his own country.

Lee Clarke isn't the only character who flees from responsibilities. Other characters are caught between love and an uncertain future. Others are haunted by their family history. It portrays America during a time of political and social unrest. In the end, all characters are defined by their behaviours and choices they make.

Outroduction

I was surprised when I finished this book 'cause I expected more. The whole time I was waiting for something spectacular to occur, but it never did. Ultimately, the Vietnam War premise was less emotional than I initially thought. I don't often read light-hearted stories. However, despite my low rating, I still think it's worth checking out for anyone wanting a dryly humorous read that handles heavy themes without becoming overwhelming. It explores themes such as family, love, duty, free will and war.

Thank you NetGalley and Fourth Estate for the advanced reader copy of Dodge City by Patrick deWitt.

StoryGraph review

Started the book: 01. September 2026
Finished the book: 01. September 2026
Wrote the review: 01. September 2026

[Meike]

Let's do the upcoming deWitt!

[Will Pass]

Wow, what a wonderful ride!

Follow Lee Clarke, a charming benzedrine-fueled Vietnam draft dodger hightailing for the northern border in a borrowed Jaguar E-type. With deadpan dialogue and beautifully damaged characters, deWitt takes the reader on a high-speed roadshow of family foibles, with each visit revealing another facet of Lee's identity within the funhouse mirror that is American patriotism. Consider me conscripted and ready to throw this book like a grenade at anyone who wants to laugh in the face of mindless power. Oh, and there’s a cute and often funny love story involved, adding yet another layer to the underlying theme of loyalty versus liberation while giving Lee one last chance to do the right thing, whatever that might be.

I loved this book, plain and simple, and will read it again.

[Sam Ashurst]

Dodge City, a book about a young man’s encounters with friends, love, and family following his decision to dodge the Vietnam draft, put me in mind of complicated ‘70s movies; it’s Five Easy Pieces meets the Last Detail. It’s a novel featuring the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll of the ‘60s, but sad versions of each. It’s a book about decisions and consequences, destiny and control. A white pill hangover following a crashed party. A single bowling pin waiting to be toppled. I loved it, it’s a beautiful story.

[Danielle]

3.5 ⭐️

[Chelsea Knowles]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Dodge City follows Lee Clark in 1967 as he receives his draft notice to serve in the Vietnam War. Lee is only twenty-three and he understandably doesn’t want to fight in a war so he decides to dodge the draft by leaving America and heads to the Canadian border but this does mean leaving his girlfriend behind. He gets a Jaguar to travel in from a drive-away delivery service and takes some amphetamines to stay awake. As Lee travels across the US to get to the Canadian border, he decides to meet up with his family members. Lee meets his father, who is an alcoholic WWII veteran who is not doing well and has strong views on fighting for the country. He meets up with his mother, who lives with her brother after leaving Lee’s father years ago. He sees his brother, Harry, who he doesn’t get along with and is reluctant to visit and his sister, Grace, who is a psychiatric nurse-in-training and very supportive of Lee. As Lee travels across the US he thinks about the draft, what it means to leave his girlfriend and what the future will have in store for him in Canada.

I really enjoyed this book and I will be recommending this. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this but this quickly pulled me in and I read this in a matter of hours. I easily connected with Lee and understood why he wanted to dodge the draft. There are some really good conversations in this around war and who wants to fight. The older generation in this book (Lee’s dad and mother) believe in fighting for your country and cannot understand why Lee doesn’t want to go. Whereas Lee just doesn’t understand the need to go to another country and kill strangers. Whilst the topic of this book is dark due to it being about war, there is a humorous tone throughout and in that respect, the tone of this book reminded me of Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler. This book is written well and quickly grabs your attention. I had a really good time reading this and I think this is an important read especially for today’s times when conversations around patriotism arise and what it means to serve your country. I’m giving this 4.5 stars rounded up to a 5.

Favourite quote - “Okay, but don’t you think it’s weird that they expect us to go over there and murder strangers?” “You want to get to know them first? Play canasta? Don’t forget that the strangers are trying to murder you.” “Don’t you think that’s weird?” “I think it’s unfortunate. But that’s just the way it goes, isn’t that right?” “Is it?” “Yes, it is. That’s the way it’s always gone and will always go. Cavemen went to war, and so will spacemen. It’s just a part of the male American experience. And if you leave your country, that’s your business, but as soon as you step over that line, you’ll be losing a piece of yourself you won’t get back.”

[Leila Le]

3.25
Story follows Lee, a young man who has been drafted for war and his attempt to flee from the action. We go with him as he visits all of his family, mending their relationships along the way

I really like this book and I would consider this rating high for a lit-fic. I liked how his relationships with his family was actually thought out and took time to heal. I also liked how not everyone was supportive of what he was doing which made the characters seem that much realer.

The only thing I didn’t really like was how at the beginning of the book the characters seemed a bit flat.

[em]

A fantastic book of character, moral, and the importance of family. I really loved this, Lee was a fun character to centre the story on. His narrative was entertaining and at times, a little unreliable, which made the whole thing more enjoyable. My particular favourite was his sister Grace, who I would have happily read an entire book about. A really great novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #DodgeCity #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Sam Hughes]

Ok I loved this.

I am so thankful to Ecco Books, Patrick DeWitt, and NetGalley for advanced access to this hist. fic, existential nightmare that had me thanking my lucky stars I was born in the mid-aughts.

Lee Clarke has just received his draft letter for the Vietnam war and he’s not anticipating it. Like hey, how about no? Instead of staying back in LA to fight the good fight or following the government’s insistence on serving his country and fighting communism, he travels across the country to become an Ex pat of sorts.

Along the way, he pays visits to the kooky, misplaced members of his family who all seem to be experiencing more radically insane life events that allow Lee to vicariously dissociate a bit, while he mourns his loss of autonomy.

So excited for this one to hit shelves on September 29, 2026.

[Ellie Rollings]

THANK YOU to the lovely people at 4th estate for sending me this proof to read! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to even receive a proof in the first place :)



In this book we follow a character named Lee in 1960s California. He has just received his draft notice for the Vietnam war and he makes a the first political message in his life to uproot his entire life and leave everything behind, including his beloved girlfriend, to escape California to the Canadian border.

Throughout the book we follow Lee journey and interactions with his family such as his dad, mum, brother and sister and different all of there dynamics are. I found myself utterly entranced by every single character within this book and the demonstration of real life struggles to be the heart of this book. From Lee’s dad’s issues regarding alcohol to the difficult relationship ship he has with his brother.

I found this book very easy to read and addictive that I just wanted to read it constantly. If a book regarding family dynamics is interesting to you this is definitely something that you should read because this was utterly amazing. I’m definitely going to read more of Patrick DeWitt’s works. I am obsessed.

[Tilly]

4.25⭐️
a very fast-paced, unflinching book. the dialogue was one of the highlights for me; staccato and succinct, yet revealing and compelling, Patrick deWitt’s conversational style has its own dynamic pulse. didn’t want to put this one down—it had me sat in my car reading for half an hour after a nine hour shift, pushing my paid-for parking ticket right to the final minute!

[Bridget Chou]

Thank you to Greenlight Bookstore for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Set in the 1960s. Starts with Lee in college and receiving a draft notice for the Vietnam War. Lee decides to go on the run,Which leads to a road trip through America. During his trip he tries making right with his decision to flee to Canada. He decides to stop and visit family members .Everyone in Lee's life opposes his decision. We learn how each family member has made their own choice to flee some type of responsibility and see those reflections. A Character driven novel with family trauma reading sometimes dark, sometimes humorous and sometimes emotional but always at a steadily pace.

[Ruthenator]

A different kind of Odyssey for the summer of '26 I guess.
I received a copy from a goodreads giveaway. I'd give this 3.5 stars, if I could. It was enjoyable but it felt to me like it didn't quite get there. I think there was a bit of explaining what the reader should be inferring which seems to be common these days.

[Paul Wagenbreth]

You had to be there.
Which is to say, the America of the late ’60s, when the country was rent by a war even more divisive than the one today and we were all being assailed nightly on the TV news by the ever-increasing body count from the quagmire which Life magazine brought to front-page attention with a special edition of pictures of all the American soldiers killed over there in a single week and, more immediately for me, an ROTC acquaintance of mine, his new bars freshly anointing his Army greens, lost his life almost as soon as he set foot over there and another acquaintance of mine, a fellow lieutenant in a noncombat specialty, also “made the ultimate sacrifice,” as it’s euphemistically put, in that distant place, and, literally on my doorstep, a high-strung college roommate of mine, perhaps the unlikeliest candidate ever for donning uniform, had to get up in the middle of the night to catch a train to Chicago for a draft physical, which fortunately and only rightly disqualified him for service for I forget exactly what medical reason.
Such was the tumultuous world into which Lee Clarke, the hapless protagonist of Patrick DeWitt’s unsettling but not humorless new novel, awakens on the day when he finds awaiting him in his mailbox his draft notice, which, he mentally remarks, with its “greeting” salutation lacking even a more welcoming “s” at the end of the word, was “intended to resound in the mind’s ear as the voice of a truth one could not ever get away from: artless, spare, with no trace of comradeship.”
This despite his having been given to think by his draft officer that even though he has lost his deferment after being expelled from school for fighting, some accommodation might be made were he to re-enroll at another school within a prescribed time.
A situation Lee looks to immediately set to rights, enrolling at another institution almost as soon as the communication arrives, but, alas, even with proof of school registration squarely in hand, he’s told by his draft officer, a Mr. Dewey, that while, yes, it’s “strange” that the Selective Service had come calling as soon as it did (though he won’t go so far as to acknowledge a mistake had been made), there’s nothing to be done about it, the “machinery” is far enough along that he’ll almost certainly have to suit up and, yes, no doubt end up in Vietnam.
Indeed, the whole ambience of Dewey’s office, with its “lone aesthetic gesture” being an image on the wall of a “heroic eagle, descending from above in what looked to be a rage of activated patriotism (with) talons … blood-dipped, a fresh kill in (its) immediate past,” is uninviting of any sentiment disinclined toward “patriotic gore,” to use a phrase.
No quarter, at any rate, to be found there, where a banner unfurled about the eagle’s lower body reading “to a man, free” would seem to leave as the only logical choice for Lee to head for Canada, an option greeted with varying reactions by his family members as he sets out on a final odyssey before doing whatever he will end up doing, the first stop being his divorced father, whom Lee had never admired but always liked and who has fallen on hard times, having been reduced to dog-catching.
And while he is not overtly hostile to Lee’s intention, he cannot in good faith embrace it, having, as he puts it, with his own military service in World War II, “paid his way” to “hold my head up in the “United States of America,” his service having come at a time when, as he puts it, conscientious objectors were viewed in the same category as child molesters and religious freaks.
No cutting and running then, he declares, casting such behavior – getting out of Dodge, as it were – as “your generation’s contribution to the culture.”
Less resistant to Lee’s stated intention is his sister, who is having issues of her own with an affair with a married doctor, and his mother, whose abandonment of her marriage was what set his father on his downward course – “the cord connecting him to his duties was severed,” notes Lee in Robert Stone-like prose, and “his devolution commenced” – and in particular her brother, with whom she has been staying, and who among the family is most approving of Lee’s look northward for sanctuary, his greeting to Lee being to ask if he is “feeling waves of great bitterness at the lunatic machinery of mankind pulling you into its grim mechanisms in opposition to your wishes and against the common-sense morals of mother nature.”
Indeed, he finds Lee’s likely course of action a “romantic crime” -- “freedom at all costs and hang the consequences!”
A disquisition of sorts on war and patriotism, then, DeWitt’s novel, and delivered, as I say, in Robert Stone-like prose, making for a particularly absorbing read for me, with my own background, and coming at a time when, speaking of lunacy, the current holder of the nation’s highest office, without ever having served a day himself in uniform, indeed having used the available medical stratagems of the day to avoid it, has been banging the drums of war while professing no understanding of why service members would give their lives for something greater than themselves and even moved to prosecute veterans solely for advocating that soldiers not follow the sort of illegal orders that, to cite an especially egregious and relevant instance, made for the massacre at My Lai, which author William Styron cited as a symbol of the “moral degeneracy and criminal nature” of the Vietnam war.
Quite the thing to come to age on, at any rate, that fractured time, for me as well as Lee, and ably reconstructed in DeWitt’s fine novel, with its only possible fault for me being its conclusion, even if right offhand I can’t think what would have made for a more satisfying ending for me.

[JL]

First off, thank you to HarperCollins for a pre-publication ARC (advance reading copy) of this book, due to come out September 29, 2026.

This is my first time reading a novel written by Patrick deWitt, and I doubt it will be my last. I found the writing style to be quirkily formal and verbose, particularly considering that the protagonist, Lee Clarke, is what in later years we might have termed a "slacker," a young man who was suspended from UCLA and worked as a mechanic in Southern California. It took me a while to adjust to this style. I am not sure, this being my first read of a deWitt novel, if this is the author's signature style, or if it is simply the style adopted for this book peopled with overeducated, underemployed young adults of the 1960s-70s. The dialog, in comparison, is more sparse, wry, and to the point, which I found enjoyable and often amusing.

News of Lee's expulsion from the university reached the draft board quickly, and his draft notice arrived far earlier than he'd expected. He thought he had plenty of time to enroll in community college to continue his student deferment. With the date of his physical looming within 2 weeks, Lee quit his job, sold his car, and lucked into an assignment from a long-distance car-delivery service to drive a Jaguar in mint condition eastward to New Jersey. Fueled by fast food and a goodbye gift of amphetamines, he bade his California girlfriend goodbye and set out on a convoluted farewell tour of his fractured family across the US before setting out to cross the Canadian border into an unknown and unplanned future.

Yes, this is a road trip book, populated by an assortment of characters, both family and strangers to Lee. He has plenty of time to reflect on his past and his relationships during his marathon drive, and yes, there are vague signs of love and affection in his family, but don't expect any significant epiphanies before the book closes. As a portrayal of the aimlessness of coming of age in the sixties with its social and often drug-fueled freedoms, yet with the dangers of being pulled into a distant and pointless war ever-looming, it is spot-on. Lee makes it clear that he is not political; he just knows that he doesn't want to kill or be killed, and his instincts draw him toward fleeing to Canada.

[Alicia Garcia-Webster]

Completely biased review incoming: So when I saw that Patrick deWitt's latest book was part of a giveaway on Goodreads, I submitted my entry and prayed to the almighty book gods that they grant me this one specific wish. Lo and behold, I won. I already knew that I would love Dodge City, because I live in that world where Patrick deWitt can do no wrong. He is, without a doubt, my favorite author of fiction, and had I not won the giveaway, I would have indeed purchased a copy. No one can write dialogue like deWitt can. It's funny, profound, introspective, and so, so immersive. His characters tend to be eccentric, downtrodden, and sympathetic, but they are not to be pitied. They are as measured in their missteps as they are in their accomplishments, and it's the constant turning-of-the-wheels within their brains that always enthralls me. The gist of this particular story (without spoilers) is that Lee has received his draft papers and is about to go to Vietnam. How he takes this news, and what he does with it, is the journey that Dodge City takes you on. If you are looking for a political screed, then look elsewhere. deWitt is balanced and thoughtful with every topic he touches. Not in a fence-sitter type of way either. One simply gets the sense that deWitt has great empathy and love for his characters' flaws and so he treats each and every one with respect and dignity. The reason that this author's writing appeals to me so greatly is that he trusts his readers. He doesn't guide, he doesn't point, he doesn't suggest, and there are no passive-aggressive "gotcha" moments. He lays out a beautiful tale, and then he lets you react to it as you will. It is such a gift when a writer gives his art away freely, without expectations or demands. Dodge City was such an absolute joy to read, and I highly recommend it, especially to those who like quiet stories with witty dialogue, and amazing character development. **Received this ARC for free, but all opinions are my own.

[MundiNova]

A love story about running away.

Man, a lot of the 60s was operating on blind trust in average white men. There's no way any of the things Lee does in this book could be done today. In that way, this is a perfect historical fiction novel. It captures a time in American History that wasn't too long ago but still feels wildly untouchable now.

This is a short book, but it's packed with meaning and blunt, beautiful prose. There are many familial and social layers showing what it means to 'leave' or run away from expected responsibilities. Set against Lee's draft notice for the Vietnam War, we see Lee travel (literally) through America and his own past. Trying to make right his ultimate decision to flee to Canada. Everyone in Lee's life initially opposes his decision, but then we learn how each of them has made their own choice to flee an expected responsibility. Their lives are ever richer or poorer because of that choice. What will be Lee's fate?

Patrick deWitt can do no wrong in my eyes. His books are always a welcome surprise and comforting to fall into. And I gotta say, while his earlier books were fun, his later books (this and The Librarianist) have shown he has a magical ability to capture the mundane and make it extraordinary through examination. There are little connections between everything that make life worth enjoying, and deWitt has made it into art.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Story: 5 stars
Character Development: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars

[Randy]

Lee Clarke is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. His front door mail slot—decorated to resemble a retching mouth—has spewed forth an envelope that contains a draft notice. The year is 1967. Being a UCLA student, Lee had a deferment from the war, but he face-punched the wrong student weeks before (whose parents were university donors), so Lee was expelled, and was not yet accepted to Los Angeles Community College. Ergo: Vietnam.
Lee has a free-spirited girlfriend named Cal, a decent part-time job doing auto repair, and several miles of separation between himself and his fractured family—who are strewn from Concrete, WA to New York, NY. Carefully deciding that the time has come for a road trip, Lee agrees to drive a guy’s spiffy Jaguar to the East Coast, checking in with parents (in separate states) and siblings (estranged brother, wacky sister) along the way, while ultimately aiming for Canada.
Patrick DeWitt, who blazed on to the literary scene with his droll, revisionist Western “The Sisters Brothers” (2011), scores another winner with this oddball odyssey, a road trip featuring obstacles both physical and emotional as Lee reconnects with his torn family while traversing an ideologically-torn America (one cannot help but feel contemporary echoes here). But this is not the road trip from hell; on the contrary, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in Lee’s struggles with the family binds that tie us—close encounters full of humor, heart, and even a bit of wisdom.
“Dodge City” reminds us of Emerson’s famous observation: it’s not the destination; it’s the journey. DeWitt takes readers on a very fun ride. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance reader copy.

[Filomena Mealy]

Dodge City by Patrick deWitt, the bestselling author of The Sisters Brothers, is a sharp, funny, and wonderfully offbeat novel about a young man caught between love, duty, and an uncertain future.

Set in 1967, the story follows Lee Clark, an apolitical young man from Concrete, Washington, who receives his draft notice and is called to fight in Vietnam. Although he is happily in love in California, Lee is forced to make the first great war decision of his life. Rather than immediately surrendering to the path laid out for him, he heads toward the border, leaving his country—and the life he knows—behind.

Along the way, Lee signs up with a car delivery service and finds himself driving a Jaguar bound for the East Coast. With only a suitcase and a bag of amphetamines, he makes his way across the country in a restless, stimulated haze, searching for direction while trying to outrun the demands of an increasingly uncertain world.

DeWitt’s writing is elegant, dryly humorous, and wonderfully attentive to the stranger aspects of human behavior. Through Lee’s journey, he captures a country in flux, a family in disarray, and a generation struggling to understand what it owes to itself and to its country. The novel is both entertaining and thoughtful, balancing absurdity with genuine emotional depth.

Dodge City is a masterful, unconventional road novel and a compelling portrait of America during a turbulent moment in history. Patrick deWitt’s distinctive voice makes Lee’s journey impossible to forget, and I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy literary fiction, dark humor, eccentric characters, and stories about people searching for a way forward.

[Nancy]

“What’s wrong with cynicism?”

“It’s a dullard’s shortcut.”

from Dodge City by Patrick deWitt

I sped through this short, entertaining novel, propelled by the witty dialogue and delighting in its colorful characters.

After flunking out of college, Lee is immediately drafted and slated to go to Vietnam. But he has other plans. He takes off on a cross country road trip from California to NYC, at once a goodbye tour of his far-flung family, and in the end, an escape to Canada.

Lee leaves behind the free-spirited Cal, separated by distance but not connection. He visits his dad who is on the slippery slope of dysfunction. And his mom, who long ago ditched them for a new life. Then his estranged brother who stole his high school crush, now devastated by a breakup. And last, a sister in NYC, who has made unfortunate choices in love interests.

I had to love this family of losers haunted by bad decisions. They are such fun, are so willingly open about their bad choices, so clever and forgivable.

The road trip’s purpose—-to avoid the draft by leaving the country–sparks debate everywhere Lee goes. His father was in WWII and claims he had a great time. The family remembers it differently, how he started drinking and mistreated Lee.

For all the angst, drugs, and drinking indulged in, the book never becomes a downer. We accept these characters, with all their flaws. After all, who among us hasn’t fallen short now and then?

Another entertaining read from deWitt.

Thanks to Ecco for a free book through NetGalley.

[Jamad]

Patrick deWitt has a wonderfully matter-of-fact, straightforward style that makes this a very quick read, but don’t mistake that simplicity for a lack of substance. There is a great deal going on beneath the surface, and the novel’s quietness only makes its emotional weight more effective.
Set in 1967, the novel follows Lee Clarke after he receives his Vietnam draft notice. As he drives across America on his way towards Canada, he visits the members of his fractured family, and each stop reveals a little more about who they are and how they have ended up where they are. It becomes a thoughtful portrait of both a family and a country at a moment of upheaval, with the journey itself feeling as important as the destination.
The prose is lean, the dialogue often very funny, and deWitt has a gift for making eccentric characters feel entirely believable. There is plenty of humour, but it sits comfortably alongside sadness and uncertainty without either overwhelming the other. Even the lighter moments seem to carry an undercurrent of melancholy, which gives the whole novel a pleasing depth.
This is one of those novels that slips by effortlessly yet leaves plenty to think about afterwards. It never feels as though it is trying too hard, and perhaps that is its greatest strength. Quiet, sharp, and unexpectedly moving, it lingers in the mind long after the final page.

[*TUDOR^QUEEN*]

The story takes place in 1967 California during the Vietnam War. The main character is Lee, a young man who gets kicked out of college after a fight, upending his deferment from The Draft. He decides to make a run for Canada to escape it all, selling his car to finance his journey while also signing up with a drive away car service- where he must deliver a Jaguar to a New Jersey destination. His road trip has little detours as he visits with his scattered family before exiting the US. He also left a girlfriend behind, although both felt somewhat unsure and unsettled about the whole thing. The thought of her burrows in his thoughts as he repeatedly tries calling her along the way.

The dialogue is anything but boring; these characters really know how to "talk" intelligently. There's wit and whimsy, but a heavy, gray pall hanging over each of his family member's living situations. As Lee made the rounds visiting his father, mother, brother, and sister at their separate locales, I kept feeling a sense of relief when he drove away from them- like he was the lucky one. This was a thought-provoking read that held my interest.

Thank you to the publisher Ecco who provided an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

[Amanda]

Once again thank you to @times.reads @harper_reach @harpercollinsinternational and the sagacious @jjjamieee for saying “you’ll like this one”, because fast forward and I’m giving it 5 stars.

On first impression it’s unassuming, but when you begin reading it the prose instantly grabs you with its originality. It is unpretentious only because it manages to do what it set out to- paint a picture of an anguished man, drafted for a war he does not want to partake in, battling with the loss of his autonomy.

Lee does not waver in his decision to flee, and decides to drive cross-country to Canada. He is painfully leaving his girl and his life behind, a life he had been content with living.

On this cross-country journey to the border, he makes 4 stops to visit and say goodbye to his father, mother, sister, and brother. Every stop however reveals each family member struggling with a decision they’ve made in their lives that involved some sort of a fleeing, and this prompts Lee to consider what his decision to dodge the draft means for his future, and prompts the reader to draw parallels and question what it means to be free.

The story centres around themes of family, patriotism, liberation and resistance. It is a quiet book, but not lacking in power and emotion. Really enjoyed 🚙

[Ryan Davison]

Leland Clarke got in a fight and was expelled from college at the wrong time – smack in the center of the Vietnam draft. He gets his letter to report but employs a ‘sell all my stuff and get out of the country’ approach to being called up. This is the author’s beautiful set up for our protagonist to drive from California to New Jersey and further, revisiting his past while reflecting on the present.

Lee’s family members vary from eccentric to psychotic, tender, and drunk, with each uniquely authentic interaction contributing an important piece to our story. Every character we encounter in Dodge City feels genuine to the era and the author never forgets to keep the reader entertained.

DeWitt’s smooth prose fuses into an intelligent, streamlined narrative that is a pleasure to follow. It offers the reader insight into the moral dilemma many faced with a mandatory draft. By telling the story of one citizen, we gain an understanding of an entire era. Highly recommended to fans of literary fiction or anyone wanting an engaging book about America during a simpler time.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for a review copy.

[Stephanie (aka WW)]

The blurb for this book is almost as long as the book itself. Reading on my Kindle, as I do, I found myself wanting more…more pages, that is. The percentages went by in a flash, and I sat rather stunned at 100% when I realized that there was no more. Not that I was left wanting. The ending leaves off where I can just imagine a satisfying conclusion to Lee Clarke’s flight to Canada to escape the Vietnam draft.

This is a compelling account of a young man’s flight from war duty and his mid-flight encounters with his dysfunctional family, the members of which are spread out geographically across the northern U.S. I particularly liked the snappy dialog that buoys this story. The individual family members are expertly rendered with not a word wasted. I was thoroughly impressed and entertained and, like I said before, sorry to see that 100% arrive on my Kindle. I have become a dedicated Patrick deWitt fan and I look forward to whatever he writes next. A solid 4-star read.

Much thanks to NetGalley and Ecco Publishing for allowing me to read and review this title before publication. Dodge City hits the shelves on September 29, 2026.

[Amy]

This is the first book i've read from Patrick deWitt and i'm sad I haven't found him sooner, wow, I loved this book so much.
The story unfolds against a backdrop of division and conflict, but rather than delivering a straightforward historical drama, deWitt filters events through his signature style of dry wit and understated surrealism. The characters are flawed, often a bit ridiculous , yet deeply human — their quirks and contradictions making them both laughable but also relatable.
Dodge City follows Lee Clark in as he receives a draft notice to serve in the Vietnam War. Lee is young and doesn’t want to fight a war so he decides to dodge the draft and leaves America and heads to the Canadian border but sadly means leaving his girlfriend behind.
Beneath the humour lies a quiet meditation on loyalty, belonging, and the strange ways people cling to each other when the world feels unstable.
It’s brilliantly written with a mixture of beautiful pros and fast dialogue.
It’s a masterclass in writing and a book I highly recommend

[Ridgerunner]

Delightful road novel crossing the USA West to east. 23year old Lee has to grow up fast when his Vietnam draft notice arrives. Like the rest of his siblings Lee has escaped his rural small town America and is studying at UCLA and has a beautiful girl friend. He has a good life but doesn't appreciate what he has even when the draft notice arrives. He has not given the war much thought until then but quickly realises that he doesn't want to go to war and decided to hide out in Canada instead.
En route he visits the misfits of his family whom he rarely sees and doesn't get on with especially his brother. So Lee gets plenty of advice on the wrongs of what he is planning but on the way forms deeper understanding of his family.
This then leads to look much deeper than he ever had into his feelings for Cal that he has left behind.
I liked the prose and felt the story moved on beautifully with lots of amusing encounters on this road trip fuelled by stimulants.
Thanks to NetGalley and 4th Estate and William Collins.

[Ryan Brandenburg]

It makes sense that this book suited me, since I have liked two of Patrick deWitt’s earlier works.

In Dodge City, Lee Clark received his draft notice during the Vietnam War and chose to flee. What follows is an immersive study of Lee and those around him. He departs California, crossing the country to visit his eccentric father, strayaway mother, long-lost brother, and spirited sister on his way to the Canadian border. He also leaves behind a girlfriend with whom he shares a complex relationship.

This well-written novel had a unique premise that worked perfectly for me. I enjoyed getting to know each member of Lee’s family as he visited them to say “goodbye.” The prose is straightforward, yet I valued the emotional resonance among the characters—a challenging achievement within just 256 pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for providing me with an advanced copy of this book, which is scheduled for release on September 29, 2026.

[Mike Broderick]

Thank you to both NetGalley and Edelweiss, as well as the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
Another book that is not that long. I did enjoy this one. It had a feel a bit like Amaranthine Chevrolet from two years ago, but maybe not quite as good. I do not think the writing is exceptional, but the overall theme was one that could keep my interest. I wondered what it was going to be about, and it ended up being about a guy trying to dodge the draft for Vietnam. Given the sentiment around that war, lots and lots of books have been written like this. It has been a while, but going back to this theme is not a bad idea. The effect of the American presence in Southeast Asia is still very much felt.
I found myself cheering for him (even though my overall sentiment about dodging would not be positive). He confronts many other demons as he travels across the country, helping gain a feel of “coming of age.”
It is not written at a high level, but it was a book that I could enjoy.