SKIN FOR SKIN

In Litton’s trilogy-concluding thriller, an evil presence holds a small Kansas town in its grip.

It’s October 1934, and drought and falling wheat prices are taking their toll on the farming community of Elim, Kansas, sowing seeds of desperation and despair. In a vacant schoolhouse, on a drizzly Saturday night, six friends—including town barber and mayor Pup Sorell—meet for a spirited night of poker and banter until a masked gunman kicks in the door, takes all the money, and locks them in the storm cellar. Although nobody is physically hurt, the robbery sets off a chain reaction of suspicion and vengeance. The cast includes Faris Clayton, a high-school senior and soulful philosopher; Father James Patrick Nolan, the town’s spiritually haunted Catholic Priest, who seeks solace in the writings of St. Augustine but finds comfort only in Pup’s moonshine; and Elle Wales, an innocent 14-year-old girl. Pup’s barbershop is the social hub of the town, and Pup is the dispenser of news, gossip, and cheer—until he is not. The slowly unwinding narrative, written in the vernacular and cadence of its setting (as when a character describes a foul odor as “like a hind whiff of the old schoolmarm”), is a character-driven tale that overflows with details of the period’s economic devastation, news of the day, and the specifics of the many poker games organized by Pup. The specter of death hangs over the novel from the opening scene, which depicts the murder of Gene Moot, a local bootlegger. Thought-provoking, mystical ponderings begin and end the chapters, paralleling the mental anguish and gradual psychological deterioration of several primary characters as they are felled by the demons of guilt. However, in terms of the progression of the narrative, they are digressions that interrupt the action.

This meticulously crafted, sad, and verbose crime story requires a patient reader.