JANUARY 2012 - AudioFile
As Nick Reid, repo man, seeks to recover a 1969 Ford Ranchero from a meth-lab king in the Mississippi Delta, listeners enjoy the ride through the seedy underbelly of the rural South. Narrator David Carpenter’s good-ole-boy tone and lackadaisical pace propel the humor of the novel. And we need to be able to laugh at these characters—otherwise they’d be repulsive. Carpenter’s clichéd voices are appropriate for this cast of trailer trash since the characters, as written, never depart from their own stereotypes. Carpenter’s narration gives each redneck a signature quirky voice, which helps distinguish between the depraved, the druggies, and the shifty opportunists. F.T. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
Full of inspired comic hyperbole, Gavin’s rollicking debut does for the Mississippi Delta what Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen do for Florida. Former cop Nick Reid works for K-Lo’s rental shop in Indianola, Miss., repossessing TVs and such from people delinquent on their payments. Which is how he meets Percy Dwayne Dubois, gets hit on the head, and loses the 1969 Ranchero his landlady loaned him, “essentially a glorified Fairlane, which never rated glorification.” Determined to retrieve the stolen car, Reid calls on Desmond, a huge black colleague, to help him, and the fun begins as the pair crisscross the Delta, “less a place than a boot on your neck.” Reid and Desmond work their way through a series of lowlifes from Dubois’s cousin Luther to Acadian meth lord Guy (pronounced Gee), all the while trying to avoid Dale, a crooked, muscle-bound county cop. Readers will eagerly await Reid’s next adventure in the Delta. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Ranchero
“Gritty, earthy and often hilarious… The irresistible Ranchero has the humor of a tall tale told by Mark Twain.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“A very colorful trip … Gavin turns out phrase after phrase of ear-pleasing insight into the Delta and those who live there, and dialogue that sounds just right… And when Gavin waxes funny, he really is funny, with enough comedic situations to keep everyone laughing as Reid tries to recover the Ranchero.”
—The Associated Press
“In his debut, Rick Gavin offers a comic romp through the Mississippi Delta, "less a place than a boot on your neck," where eccentricities thrive, pathetic criminals flourish and the absurd can pass for the norm… Gavin's eye for the odd turns out dark, slapstick humor akin to Tim Dorsey's Serge A. Storm novels and Ben Rehder's series set in Blanco County, Texas... Gavin's fine eye for details, his compassion for humanity and his dark sense of humor make Ranchero work… Gavin's dialogue is Elmore Leonard-perfect.”
—South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Ranchero
“This first novel from Gavin is a little miracle. The dialogue is pitch-perfect…. One of the most enjoyable crime debuts in a very long time.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Gavin’s first novel is a sure winner. Reminiscent of Tim Dorsey’s “Serge Storms” series but with a more likable protagonist, it will appeal to down-home good old boys and their armchair counterparts. Recommended.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Full of inspired comic hyperbole, Gavin’s rollicking debut does for the Mississippi Delta what Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen do for Florida… Readers will eagerly await Reid’s next adventure in the Delta.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Rick Gavin brings a true ear for dialogue and his gifts as a literary stylist to this series debut. A kick-ass backcountry novel.”
—New York Times bestselling author Randy Wayne White
Library Journal
Nick Reid leads a low-key life, doing odd jobs at a rental store in the backwater Mississippi Delta, until his boss sends him out to repossess a television from no-account Percy Dwayne Dubois. Unable to imagine life without his TV, Percy Dwayne hits Nick upside the head with a fireplace shovel and, with TV, wife, and son in tow, makes a hasty escape in Nick's borrowed classic calypso coral 1969 Ford Ranchero. Thus begins a four-day trek across the Delta in search of Percy Dwayne and the stolen Ranchero, gathering along the way as unlikely a gaggle of backwoods hangers-on as ever peopled a story of redneck derring-do. Along the way, the group encounters corrupt law enforcement officers, drug addicts, meth lords, and other unsavory characters who detain and distract but never permanently interrupt the quest. VERDICT Gavin's first novel is a sure winner. Reminiscent of Tim Dorsey's "Serge Storms" series but with a more likable protagonist, it will appeal to down-home good old boys and their armchair counterparts. Recommended. [A Minotaur First Edition Selection; library marketing.]—Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Kirkus Reviews
A hapless repo man's quest for a defalcating consumer turns personal in Gavin's debut, a testosterone-fueled romp. Nick Reid is just minding his own business, putting the bite on Percy Dwayne Dubois for the 42-inch flat-screen TV he'd missed three payments on, when Percy Dwayne lays him out with a fireplace shovel and helps himself to Nick's wallet and cell phone and the 1969 calypso coral Ford Ranchero he's driving. Because the car isn't even Nick's--it was the pride and joy of Gil Jarvis, the late husband of the landlady who loaned it to Nick while his own wheels were under the weather--Nick chivalrously vows to retrieve it in mint condition. Enlisting the help of Desmond, a hulking African-American colleague, he slips the traces of K-Lo, his enraged Lebanese boss, and high-tails it after Percy Dwayne, his wife Sissy and their diapered baby PD Jr. His sort-of-plan is to head to Yazoo City, the reputed home of Luther Dubois, who just might be a relation. Percy Dwayne, meantime, has other plans. Calling Nick using his own cell phone, he offers to ransom the Ranchero back to him. All these plans come to naught when a meth cooker named Guy runs off with Sissy, PD Jr. and the car. It's not clear whether Sissy, like Helen of Troy, is cooperating with her abductor. In fact, nothing much involving psychology or narrative causality is ever all that clear. What's certain is that no one normal will appear and nothing normal will happen until Nick catches up with the Ranchero--maybe not even then. Forget comparisons to other books. The closest you've ever come to Nick's experience is sitting in a Florida drive-in theater circa 1958.
