Although ten years have passed, Rhett Littlefield has always blamed himself for his father abandoning him and his family. When the troubled fourteen-year-old gets kicked out of school for his latest run-in with the vice principal, his frazzled single mother sends him to Eastern Kentucky to stay with his Uncle Theo, a man of few words who leads an isolated existence with his loyal dog, Chekhov.

Resigned to make the best of his situation while still longing for the day when Mama will allow him to return home, Rhett discovers that he and Uncle Theo share a connection to the past, one that has altered both their lives, a past that will soon come calling.
This story explores the cost of family secrets, the strength of family bonds, and the importance of reconciling the two in order to move forward.

“Slacker” Rhett of Kentucky gets expelled, by both the school and his single mother, who sends him to his “uncle in the sticks” to straighten him out.

His mysterious, lame, heavily-tattooed uncle doesn’t talk much, just imposes a strict home-schooling schedule on his errant nephew, feeds him and assigns him a simple room in his tumbledown farmhouse. Uncle also disappears for long periods, either working out in his barn gym or puttering about his “garden.”

It takes a while for Rhett (told in his first-person point of view) to warm up to Uncle, although Uncle is a great cook and does gift Rhett with a mountain bike for weekend exercise. But what is Uncle up to behind the barn every day, what are the warning phone messages he receives, who are the strange people who drop in or spy on him, and what is he constantly writing late at night?

Even for an innocent 14-year-old, it certainly takes Rhett a long time to figure out the marijuana-growing operation, which is lethally booby-trapped, and to sort out who’s who of the shady characters that enter onto the farm property now and again.

Of course, the stakes grow gradually and intriguingly, as the two get to know each other better, and as Uncle reluctantly reveals family secrets that have a major effect on Rhett.

There are a few places the storyline drags, such as in Rhett’s first encounter with the guard dog and his first mountain biking day. There are also a number of places Uncle introduces the topic of religion (praying, church attendance, God’s plan for Rhett) that feel like a dropped-in, unnatural fit with the storyline, and indeed slow it down a bit. But it doesn’t take over the book. And both Rhett and his uncle undergo strong character arcs.

The author uses a lot of repetition of words, which ranges from lyrical and stylistically pleasing to overdone and slightly annoying. For instance, there are 25 mentions of tuna mac, Rhett’s favorite food, and five identical descriptions of the dumpster that smells like sour milk.

One small complaint: Rhett has a recurring nightmare about his absentee father that never gets explained. If the explanation is revealed subtly, I didn’t get it and it left me wanting.

The climax is nothing short of dramatic, if a bit corny. But the climax is well written and satisfying anyway.

The story is also briefly, unexpectedly heavy-handed on violence near the end, but nothing teen readers can’t handle. Nor is occasional swearing anything teens will mind. A sample of the strong voice in the writing:

He was showing it off to a bunch of us before class, shooting the shit out back behind the dumpster that smelled like sour milk, bragging about how he had swiped it from his old man’s dresser when he was searching for his nudie mags. That son of a bitch must have slipped it into my bag when he spotted Mr. Smitherman walking in our direction, and someone must’ve tipped off Mr. Smitherman since everyone snitched and tattled and told on everyone at this stupid school that I didn’t even want to be at anyhow. There was no honor here. But, dang, I never saw Mr. Smitherman coming. I must’ve had my head in the clouds, as usual. Nor did I expect what was to follow.

“Expulsion!” Mr. Smitherman shouted to me, at the top of his lungs, that one vein that ran up the side of his neck warped and crooked and purple, and I sore it was pulsing like some sort of alien earthworm.

Overall, this well-paced, contemporary, coming-of-age novel is believable and offers great voice, memorable and engaging characters, superb writing and a plot that teens will love.

– Pam Withers