Tag: Don’t Know Tough

I read 114 books I put in the category of “Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller” last year (and there are a couple of multi-genre novels that could beef that number up a bit), so I have to consider it apart from everything else when I put together my Favorites Lists, or just about everything else would get ignored. Even if I went with a Top 15-20 instead of a Favorite 10, maybe 2-3 books from the previous lists would’ve made it along with all of these.

I had a hard time writing up this post—not because I had a hard time picking the list this year (thankfully). Partially because I’m tired of doing these little snippets at this point in the week, but mostly because I want to write a thousand words or so on each one (and probably spend time re-reading huge chunks of each of these books in order to do that properly), so keeping myself to a paragraph or so is really difficult. I ended up borrowing liberally from things I’ve written here and elsewhere just to make sure this list was able to be posted before Feb. 26th.

Once again, I’ll note that I limit my lists to things I read for the first time. I’d be willing to guarantee anyone reading this page will enjoy at least 6 of these (which six will vary from reader to reader, however). I’m tempted to say that all the listed books are guaranteed for everyone, but people’s tastes are too varied, so I’ll hedge my bet. Try these, and you’ll be glad you did.

(in alphabetical order by author)

Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby

by Ace Atkins

My original post
It’s really no surprise that Atkins’ final Spenser novel makes this list—Spenser is one of my all-time favorites, and the decade that Atkins spent at the helm included several of the best novels in this long-running series (this is the 50th novel!!). He also helped legions of fans deal with Parker’s death by doing such a capable job. This book evokes some of Parker’s best early novels while remaining wholly original and compelling—true to both authors. It’s a great way for Atkins to go out.

Double Take

by Elizabeth Breck

My original post
In my original post, I said that it felt like Breck wrote this novel for me—I’m not that delusional, but it resonated with me in so many ways that she might as well have. Madison Kelly was one of my favorite discoveries of 2021 and her sophomore adventure solidified my impression of her. Madison’s tough, smart, lucky (and knows how important that is), and committed. Brisk and assured writing. A nice bit of sleuthing to find a pretty clever crime (committed by some people who really shouldn’t ever get into criminal activity—and some who seem born to it). Featuring the kind of ending where you find yourself leaning forward as you read, because somehow that helps you get to what happens next faster; you don’t hear the music/people/animals around you; and your eyes move just too slowly.

Racing the Light

by Robert Crais

My original post
We leave one of my newest PI obsessions to go back to one of my oldest—Elvis Cole. This is the best use of this character in years, and I loved every second of it. Like the best Cole novels, it starts as a missing persons case before turning into something far more complicated and deadly. But Cole is able to keep his focus on the victim (while finding justice for the wrongs he encounters). Joe Pike doesn’t get as much “screen time” as he has been lately, which makes every second that he’s around so much more effective—he owns one of the best moments of the book (and barely does anything in it). Racing the Light will no doubt be considered one of the pivotal moments in the series and I can’t wait to see what comes after this point.

The Botanist

by M.W. Craven

My original post
The last note I made on this novel was, “the last 30 pages made me happier than almost anything else this year.” And thinking back on those pages right now still makes me almost giddy. While Poe and Tilly are vital to the novel—ultimately, this novel is about the secondary characters—victims, suspects, and the killers. The primary case is brilliant on every front—the method of murder, the way that the method is finally discerned by the good guys, and then the way the case is closed? It’s all a thing of beauty (in the dark, warped way that Crime Fiction is to fans of the genre). I’m on the verge of babbling now, so I’m going to leave this and move on to the next novel on the list.

Don’t Know Tough

by Eli Cranor

My original post
I was blown away by this novel. I read it in May and I’m not convinced I’ve wholly recovered. It’s a story about faith, family, and (American) football. I can’t tell you which is more important to any character in this novel at any point (but I’d lean toward the latter for just about all of them). The prose is gorgeous and visceral, the story is intense and heart-breaking–it’s about a high school coach and a star player trying to keep their heads above water in the middle of a murder they’re both connected to. I can easily sound like I’m over-hyping this, so I’m not going to go on the way I want to. I’ll simply say that Cranor’s work is just gut-wrenching, beautiful, and powerful. And not to be missed.

Movieland

by Lee Goldberg

My original post
This series started off strong and keeps getting stronger. The overall arc of the series is a rookie detective (who got promoted earlier than she should have) learning how to be a good, maybe great, detective. Eve Ronin makes mistakes, she learns from many of them, but her instincts are on point and she eventually gets her criminals. If she can learn to do it without burning every bridge in sight and unintentionally antagonizing everyone she works with, she’ll get there faster. This is likely the last case her partner will work and he gives it everything he’s got—while imparting every bit of hard-earned wisdom to her as he can—and boy howdy, does he shine here. This is likely the best thing by Goldberg that I’ve read—and I’ve been a fan for a long time.

Reconstruction

by Mick Herron

My original post
Dead Lions by Herron would’ve been on this list, but I don’t let myself use one author more than once, so the spot goes to Reconstruction. Possibly because I spent far more time with this than I do with most books on a first read. Herron got everything right with this book. None of the primary characters are who you think they are at the beginning—most are far worse people than you think (including the ones you have a bad impression of—they’re even worse than you imagine). Which doesn’t stop them all from being some of the best designed and executed characters you’ll run into. The plot is like an onion (or a parfait, to appease Donkey)—you keep peeling back layer after layer after layer until the very end—and each layer is practically perfect and delicious (making it more like a parfait, now that I use that word). The narration is sneakily hilarious and dark. One of my earliest reads of the year and it set the bar high for the next 11 months.

The Self-Made Widow

by Fabian Nicieza

My original post
The premise of this sequel is fantastic—what’s a detective to do when they know who the killer is, but they’re not sure how or why the murder was committed. In fact, in the beginning, Andi’s the only one sure the victim was murdered at all. Kenny takes some time out from the documentary he’s making about the events of the previous novel to help Andi out (and hopefully to get another book, documentary, whatever out of it all). Andi’s up against someone as smart as her this time, and it’s going to take more than just Kenny’s help to crack the case. Told in Nicieza’s fantastic style this is a sure-fire winner.

The Bullet That Missed

by Richard Osman

My original post
This third book in The Thursday Murder Club series is about two things—the new case the Club decides to look into (mostly so Joyce can meet some local TV personalities) and fallout from the last book–on multiple fronts. As much as I enjoy this series for the lightness and joy it brings—the looming danger that arises as a side effect of their recent success was great. By all means, let’s let things get serious. Elizabeth’s husband, Stephen, steals this novel, however. He shines brighter than ever—and is in worse shape than ever before. This series is ultimately about grief and living in its shadow—that shadow seems larger than ever, and it’s just going to get bigger.

Family Business

by S. J. Rozan

My original post
This was the first novel I read in 2022, and it stuck with me throughout the year. I was shocked—and very pleased—by the actions of a long-term character. The narration was as good as Rozan has ever given us. Once again, Rozan takes us into the depths of Chinatown’s Organized Crime and does so in a way that no one expects. Lydia’s at her cleverest when it comes to solving the crime here—even if she might not be that wise when she reveals it. The relationship between Lydia and Bill has taken on new depths, and remains one of the best relationships in detective fiction. Family Business just made me happy from beginning to end.

I want to mention really briefly the books that almost made the list—tied for 11th, I guess you’d say. (fatigue and trying to keep this list from getting too long prevents me from just making my Favorites list long enough to contain them—preventing Reader Fatigue is more important than my own).
Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski
Roses for the Dead by Chris McDonald (the other two parts of this trilogy could easily be substituted for this one)
Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild
Jacked, edited by Vern Smith
Killer Story by Matt Witten
(links will take you to my original posts about them)

Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor: Glory Days, Well, They’ll Pass You By…

By HCNewton

On May 26, 2022

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Don’t Know Tough

by Eli Cranor

DETAILS:
Publisher: Soho Crime
Publication Date: March 22, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 322 pg.
Read Date: May 19-23, 2022

I feel like I said too much here—I didn’t give away any plot points (I don’t think), but I still think I maybe said too much. I don’t know how else to talk about this novel. Also, I don’t think it matters what I say, just read the first two pages of Don’t Know Tough and it won’t matter what I put here—you’re going to have to read the rest or will just walk away.

Either way, you’re probably wasting time if you read this post when you could just read the @#$&! book.

What’s Don’t Know Tough About?

Billy Lowe is a running back for a small-town Arkansas High School Football team. He’s practically half the team by himself. They wouldn’t be in the State Championship playoffs without him—and they won’t win anything without him, either.

So when he gets himself in trouble—with the school and potentially the legal system—for repeatedly giving a beating to the son of one of the area’s richest men, their first-year coach’s dreams of glory are in jeopardy.

Then, the boyfriend of Billy’s mother is found dead—likely murdered. Things go from dismal to worse.

Billy

Billy has been valued for one thing in his life—he’s a great football player. He’s the son of a high school football legend. The younger brother of a phenomenal high school player. After High School, he will likely produce a few kids who will go on to be high school football players.

He’s also the target of his mother’s drunken and abusive boyfriend. Everyone living in their trailer is. Her boyfriend (Billy refuses to use his name) replaced the drunken abusive father and husband who abandoned them years ago.

His life is defined by football and abuse. Everything else is just filler.

It’s no wonder then that Billy is full of rage and need for some kind of affection beyond his mother’s imperfect attempts to express her love.

He doesn’t know how to live. He doesn’t know how to be an adult. He knows how to be hurt and how to hurt. We see that immediately in the first two pages—the next 320 are just the repercussions of that.

Coach Trent Powers

Coach Trent sees himself in Billy. His teenaged years featured several different Foster Homes until his high school coach brought him into his home and family and changed his life. He found stability, family, and Christianity. He went on to marry his coach’s daughter.

Trent wants to copy and paste his experience onto Billy (except that whole marrying the coach’s daughter thing—there’s no way that Mrs. Powers would accept that). He has far less time to replicate that scenario than his coach had, but he still thinks he can make it work.

He fails to see the things that separate Billy and his teenaged-self. More importantly, he fails to see the differences between himself and his coach. He is earnest, idealistic, and desperate—he thinks he can impose success on the situation if he wants it enough, if he believes it enough.

At one point, Trent tries to evangelize Billy. It epitomizes this whole endeavor and is one of the more painful scenes in a novel that has an overabundance of painful scenes. I wanted to call a time-out, stop the scene and talk to Trent for a minute. This is not how you present the Gospel, sir, as if simply saying “Jesus” will solve every problem. Go read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and try again, stop rushing it. I think he’s genuine, I think this is a heartfelt attempt on his part to help Billy, I am convinced that Trent thinks he’s doing the right thing—but he’s approaching the whole thing incorrectly.

Trent sees himself as the Evangelical Louanne Johnson/Jaime Escalante/Principal Joe Clark/Sister Mary Clarence mixed with Coach Eric Taylor, who will rescue this kid. Sadly, he’s really just a combination of Ned Flanders and Michael Scott. I liked him, wanted him to succeed, and never thought for a moment he would/could, or should.

Race

You hear football, the South, and Crime Fiction and you think this book is going to be about race/racism—at least in part. And you’d be wrong—as hard as that is to believe.

But you’d also be almost right. One of the more impressive things about Don’t Know Tough is the subtle way it is and it isn’t about race in the South.

So, what did I think about Don’t Know Tough?

I was blown away by this. I should stop there before I go overboard with praise. But, I’m not going to. Feel free to stop reading now, though, I’m not going to improve on those six words.

I should probably start off by saying, as un-American as it is, I don’t like football. I don’t see why it’s popular, I wish so many young people in this country wouldn’t sign themselves up for the lasting physical and mental damage that it brings. I do not understand the religious fervor that grips fans of the sport—particularly in Texas and the South when it comes to high school and college teams. And frankly, I don’t know that I want to.

But hey, Dani Rojas speaks for millions when he says, “Football is life.” (even if he’s talking about the other football). So bring on the books about it—especially if you’re going to write them the way that Eli Cranor does. If you’re going to give me something this good, I don’t care what subculture, sport, or location it is—I’m going to lap it up.

As I stumbled through saying above, Don’t Know Tough is about race, it’s definitely about class and family. But it’s primarily about being an adult, about being a man, and how one gets to that stage in life—about mentorship and being mentored. Both Trent and Billy find themselves in situations where they have a greater degree of responsibility than they’re accustomed to or prepared for. Billy is thrust into it by his actions and other people’s actions. Trent decides to take it upon himself. At the same time, everyone around them recognizes them as still being (essentially) children and treats them accordingly.

This is a novel about heartbreak, despair, about clinging to a dream as it crumbles around you (whether or not you realize that’s what’s going on). There is a sense of inevitability about everything that happens to Billy, Trent, and their families—even if any of them realized what was happening and tried to change things, it just wouldn’t matter.

And all of it is told in prose that is beautiful, visceral, empathetic, and honest—I cannot convey to you the greatness of Cranor’s writing properly. I’ll either not be effusive enough in my praise, or I’ll come across as over-hyping it. He invites the reader to think about Hemingway* as you read this—in terms of themes, story, and character—but I’d like to think I’d have gotten there on my own.

* The Old Man and the Sea in particular, but I think it’s safe to bring other works into the conversation.

This is a brutal novel. As I read, I wanted it to end sooner than it did to just stop the suffering of these poor characters. But I wanted to read another couple hundred pages of Cranor’s writing.

Reading Don’t Know Tough is like watching a series of defensive highlights on the NFL Network—hit after hit after hit after bone-crushing hit. It will leave you psychically battered and bruised—and oddly wanting more.

5 Stars

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