BOOK REVIEW - Charlie's Hoot (Novel OT)

[Mike]

Charlie's Hoot by H. Trussell Pyle © 2012 Outskirts Press
ISBN: 978-1-43278075-3 331 Pages Paperback $15.95
(U.S.)

When I requested this book for review I had a couple of expectations.
The first was that it would be a pleasant way to spend a few hours,
clearing my mind of esoteric matters so that I could get back into my
“serious” reviewer mode. The second was that, regardless how well the
characters and plot came across, it would be “technically” well
presented. The author is a former newspaper reporter. That
expectation crashed and burned in the first few pages. There were
numerous editing problems which immediately started to put me off.
Once I got past those problems, however, the story grabbed me by the
lapels and dragged me along.

There was, however, one other little thing which kept nagging at me.
By and large the characters were believable, but the major “bad guy”
is so physically distinctive that it hard to believe that no one
commented on it during the major part of the book. That would have
tipped the cops to who was behind things much earlier, which would
have changed things considerably.

Disregarding those minor quibbles, this was a very interesting book.
It is obvious that Mr. Pyle took the time to do his homework. His
knowledge of the background material, while not encyclopedic, is
fairly comprehensive.

Charlie is your typical teenager; his mother is the “standard issue”
Mom – slightly clueless about her son's activities; Sister Kate is
slightly unbelievable (if you were raised in an era when they all
looked like penguins and tried to stay out of the public eye); Police
Chief Bohannon is, in many ways, your typical small-town officer; and
Easton “Easy” McKenzie (the editor of the weekly newspaper) is a bit
of a wild cannon in some respects.

All in all, this is a very “generic” kind of book, yet there are those
aspects which make it stand out in my mind. Charlie's approach to a
situation, his desire to help (even if it is misdirected to begin
with), his determination to make things right, are all high points in
the development of the story.

As we approach the summer months, and many of us look for “summer
reads” on vacation, I strongly recommend this book. It is one of
those books which has you looking around you and wondering if those
you see around you are who and what you think they are.