Critically and popularly acknowledged as the top contemporary novelist in the world, Yank author John Grisham specialises in courtroom dramas. Which is not to say that he isn't interested in other genres, too. American sports for one, which he occasionally pens stories about regarding his childhood, as well.
Calico Joe by John Grisham, 246 pp, 2013 Hodder paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 325 baht.
In sports there are figures that stand out for longer or shorter periods, until overshadowed by those who break their records. Fans are loyal to bygone sports heroes. Come on, they say. There will never be another Joe Louis, Red Grange, Sea Biscuit. Not only were they the best, they dominated their sports.
Which is what the fiction title-role of Grisham's latest book is. Calico Joe has no trial or even a lawyer among its characters. What rules and regulations it contains refer to baseball. The narrator is Paul Tracy, son of New York Mets baseball player Warren Tracy who he hates, and admirer of Chicago Cubs baseball player Joe Castle (Calico).
We are asked to believe that not only is baseball the favourite sport, but every American father plays catch for hours daily after school and work. At weekends, the youngsters play little league baseball, the dads coaching.
Paul is 11 when 21-year-old Joe leaves the minor league and joins the major-league Cubs, immediately demonstrating his amazing ability when at bat. No matter what kind of ball is pitched, he hits mainly home-runs, becoming a national celebrity. By contrast, Warren is barely kept on at the New York Mets.
Beating his wife, son and daughter when drunk, verbally abusing them when sober, the family throws Warren out. In the book's tragic scene, Warren deliberately pitches a fast ball to Joe and breaks his face, ending the wonder players's career. The sports world hates Warren with a vengeance.
Three decades pass. Mum, son and daughter are married with families of their own, Paul a writer for trade magazines. Re-enter Warren with terminal cancer, feeling guilty and wishing to meet Joe, apologise, ask his forgiveness. The chapter of their get-together will have you reaching for your Kleenex.
Though this reviewer prefers his legal thrillers, it is fair to say that Calico Joe is on a par with his previous works. Still, I should mention that I'm not into sports. Truth be told, I am an unranked amateur chess player.
The Gods Of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye, 466 pp, 2012 Headline review paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 350 baht.
NYPD beginnings
Not nearly as old as London and Paris, what the Big Apple lacks in age, it makes up for in dynamism. It has been the gateway to the New World for tens of millions of immigrants. It's the centre of banking, the arts, publishing, fashion. New Yorkers aren't alone in regarding it the hub of the universe _ 9/11 made that clear.
The city has the most movies and books, music and laws. Crime was rampant there and it was generally accepted by second-generation denizens that first-generation newcomers _ considered thieves one and all _ were the culprits. There were calls to send them back where they came from, at least to Canada.
The proposal of having a police force was unpopular _ no army of occupation here! _ but as it was better than nothing, Justice George Washington Matsell was given the nod to bring the New York City Police Department into being, and also to write its rules and regulations.
Yank authoress Lyndsay Faye focuses on this in her historical novel The Gods Of Gotham. The year was 1845, which happened to be the first year of the potato blight in the Emerald Isle. Many Irish starved to death in their homeland. Rather than join them, many left on crowded ships to New York.
Their reception was hostile. Destitute, they took work for pennies to feed their families _ if they could find jobs. More than a few women and even children became prostitutes. Mugging, housebreaking, murder were common. Living in squalor, they shared space with rats. Disease took its toll.
The story's protagonist is Timothy Wilde. When the saloon in which he works and his savings go up in smoke in a Manhattan fire, he joins the new police force _ Copper 107. What he observes on his 16-hour-a-day beat, $500 a year salary, is vividly described. Not least is the brothel madam who kills children and sells their bodies to a doctor.
!Timothy's brother is a lush. The reverend father of the woman he loves tries to kill her, advocating tolerance. Which is what the author does, noting that after the Irish, the Italians, then the Jews, then Asians, now Muslims are being discriminated against. Allowing that some are extremists, she insists that most are decent.
The title page asserts that The Gods Of Gotham is a work of fiction, but the contents tell us otherwise. Charles Dickens' first-hand impressions of New York are quoted at length. Lyndsay Faye is an earlier E.L. Doctorow.
