Poor Boy Road by James Weaver

When you are from Warsaw, MO, the best day of your life is when you watch it recede in your rearview mirror.

Jake Caldwell took off after high school, running away from Stoney, his abusive father, and the trainwreck of a family as a result of Stoney's ruthless control courtesy of his fists, ball bats, and alcohol. Jack was a promising 2-way football player headed to K-State on a full ride until Stoney had other ideas. So Jack ran off, leaving his sister and brother to fend for themselves as his girlfriend Maggie. 16 years gone with nary a phone call. 

Jake did some odd jobs in the Kansas City area, but the thing he did best was to intimidate people who'd gotten in over their head. He broke legs and inflicted other sorts of pain on the poor schlubs who'd gotten behind on their loans for a KC mob boss. After doing this for a number of years, he'd started to question his ways even to the point of paying off some loans owed by the very guys he was assigned to squeeze. In short, he was doing for pay what Stoney did to his own family. 

Jake told his boss he wanted out, but the boss man wasn't ready for Jake to leave just yet. A dealer out of Warsaw was trying to extend his territory into KC. Jake was offered one last job: kill Shane Langston, within 2 days. But murder really wasn't in Jake's wheelhouse. But if that's what it took to get out . . . Jake returns home, still running, this time from his life in KC.

Jake's sister calls to say that Stoney is dying from lung cancer and not expected to live much beyond a week or two. So Jake has two tasks ahead of him. Bury the man who was the source of his misery and current station in life and kill Shane.

Returning home isn't easy. The memories of childhood cascade around Jake. Maggie has a child and works as a hospice nurse where Stoney is admitted. His best friend in high school, Bear, is now the sheriff. And then there is the general level of low life that inhabits Shane's drug dealing world.

Shane is ruthless. On the surface, he runs a profitable car dealership, but it's mostly used to launder money. Cross Shane and you're likely to lose a hand or a foot or a bullet in your forehead. People have a way of ending 6 feet under.

Regular readers of MRB may realize that I like a particular breed of mystery (although this really isn't a mystery because the bad guys are known throughout the book). In a dark, somewhat destitute corner of the mystery book market sits what's frequently referred to as 'redneck noir' that I find particularly entertaining. Set in the SE corner of Missouri hard in the foothills of the Ozarks are folks with less than little and no real place to go. Jake got out but has to go back to face demons that inhabit his nightmares, courtesy of a flat out mean, drunk, and abusive father.

This exceptional tale is less a mystery and more of a character study of a good guy gone bad who is now trying to turn away from the life. Caldwell is a remarkably compelling character and a welcome addition to the redneck noir corner that gets relegated to a forgotten corner of the bookstore.

Jake Caldwell and Jack Keller (see JD Rhoades, the crown prince of the genre). Now there would be an interesting pairing.

ECD