Reviews

• The book came just as the description in the amazon listing - hardcover, very good quality, and the Dust Jacket intact. Thanks.

• This book is definitely a five star! Writing excellent. Story line interesting and intriguing. The characters are so well developed, I understood them, although the world they inhabit was foreign to an old man like me. But it came to life, amazingly. Their emotions as the novel porgressed were so well realized and true. Nothing phony, Oh, I loved it! I recommend it

• CWA Gold Dagger winner, this is a hard-hitting gripping gritty thriller st in a world alien to most of us.Slightly reminiscent of S.E.Hinton's teen novel The Outsiders, this is a coming of age novel for our time. Not for the faint-hearted, Dodgers brings to life a world of drugs, racism, exploitation, poverty, brutality and corruption as well as complex brotherly love and loyalty. A challenging read that goes where most would fear to tread; disturbing and unsettling but a work of distinction, deserving of the accolades received..

• Eine Gruppe von 4 farbigen Jugendlichen aus Los Angeles wird mit einem Mord an einem Richter im Mittleren Westen beauftragt, um ein Gerichtsverfahren zu verzögern. Um keine Spuren zu hinterlassen und um nicht aufzufallen, fahren sie - anstatt zu fliegen - mit einem Van durch die einzelnen Bundesstaaten nach Osten, was mehrere Tage dauert. Anreise, Übergabe der Waffen und der Auftrag selbst laufen dann etwas anders als geplant. Harte, schnörkellose Sprache für die Beschreibung eines trostlosen Daseins in einem winterlichen, harten Land.

• Sure the comparisons to Richard Price are inevitable, but Bill Beverly's debut novel "Dodgers" signals the arrival of a unique voice on the literary scene. When you imagine all the possible outcomes for a coming of age, gangster, road trip novel, you're more likely to expect a mess rather than a first rate novel. However, Beverly manages to create a completely original story centered around some memorable characters. The main character is East, a 15 year old drug runner overseeing a lookout crew in the projects of LA. After a police raid sets the crew back, partially the result of the carelessness of the lookout crew, East's father, Fin, sends him from LA to Wisconsin on a "hit" to kill the judge in an upcoming trial that threatens to cripple the drug empire. East, along with his combative younger half-brother Ty, along with two equally entertaining characters, Michael and Walter, set out from the projects, The Boxes, in a nondescript minivan for Wisconsin with little more than the clothes on their back and some cash. While East is quiet and introspective, Ty is the proverbial loose cannon on the verge of snapping at the slightest provocation. The journey from LA to Wisconsin provides some memorable encounters, especially in Iowa where they are instructed in their call back to LA to pick up their weapons for the hit. However, it is the quiet moments of the ride across unfamiliar terrain that shines brightest. This America is far different from few square miles in LA that East has spent all the days and nights of his short life. It is in the last third of the book that "Dodgers" demonstrates Beverly's talent. The pace is methodical in a completely positive way. Beverly doesn't rush the story from East's transformative encounter with Ty, to when he and Walter's paths diverge and finally through his isolated walk through Ohio and his work at the paintball facility. "Dodgers" is a remarkably accomplished novel that surprised me for being far more than an action packed thriller.

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