Donna Davis’s Reviews > Old Newgate Road > Status Update

He brings Daniel out to get him away from Portland, and pulls a local string or two in order to get him on a tobacco crew. Daniel is sharp. He bonds with Phil, who is lucid sometimes and at others, totally out of it; before D. arrives he pisses himself, then showers with his pajamas still on. Daniel confronts Cole, telling him that his refusal to deal with conflict isn't going to fix their family. Quotes.

I fucking love this book! Goes to show: never put too much stake in the reviews others have left. So now we know that his father killed his mother, and Cole was the one to find them after it happened. The abuse was never spoken of during the day, a family secret, but now she's dead. His new life is in Oregon, but he didn't think seeing the old house would be so hard...or that his dad would be in it and unhinged.

This guy's writing could wake the dead. The slow, dreadful build up to the horror that took place when he was a kid in 7th grade...and we're hardly even started yet. The developmental aspects are dead on.
Nostalgic references may have a noir quality to younger and middling readers, but for the Boomer generation, it's like it was yesterday.