CROOKED FENCES

A war veteran takes a job in the South and is forced to confront longstanding prejudices in Heigelmann’s novel.

U.S. Marine Todd Goodson is serving in Afghanistan when his squad is ambushed, and the Humvee transporting them is nearly completely destroyed by a roadside bomb. Todd is knocked unconscious but only suffers minor injuries; two of his fellow soldiers are killed, and his close friend Tucker Pearson is seriously wounded. After this experience, Todd feels deeply demoralized and decides not to reenlist; instead, he applies to become a New York state trooper, following in his father’s footsteps. He’s accepted but won’t be called into service for many months. Meanwhile, his relationship with his girlfriend, Angie, is on the rocks; he’s also suffering from frequent nightmares and other clear signs of PTSD. He visits Tucker in Nashville, Tennessee, and lands a job managing a low-income housing development, Shady Meadows, which is largely occupied by Black residents. It turns out that Todd has racist views, just as his father did, which horrify those around him: “I just believe that people of different races get along better with their own kind,” he says to Tucker’s father. He displays anti-gay tendencies, as well, but later expresses shame about his bigotry (“I’ve been a hypocrite; a self-righteous, homophobic, racist jerk”) and works to change things for the better. Over the course of this novel, Heigelmann presents a slow-paced and predictable morality tale in a manner that’s both simplistic and preachy. The prose is so plain in style as to be featureless, and the dialogue feels canned and stilted. The author deserves some credit for tackling weighty issues. However, he contributes no new insights to this well-traveled literary territory. Moreover, the entire novel has a tone of condescension that’s particularly unappealing; for example, in a prefatory note, Heigelmann discloses that the “main character’s primary ethical flaws are racism and homophobia,” apparently just to make sure every reader will comprehend the story’s heavy-handed message.

A formulaic work that lacks subtlety.