One of my critique partners recommended the work of John Hart to me, so when I saw that it was available on Netgalley, I requested it. I’m certainly glad that I did, and I understand why she likes his work so much!
The Unwilling by John Hart
Genre: Crime fiction
Publication: St. Martin’s Press, 2 February 2021
“We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die for the ungrateful.” —Unknown Soldier
Set in the South at the height of the Vietnam War, The Unwilling combines crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart ‘s singular style.
Gibby’s older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison.
Jason won’t speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn’t known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.
But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunk, one of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after.
Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother’s hidden life, a dark world of heroin, guns and outlaw motorcycle gangs.
What he discovers there is a truth more disturbing than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra‘s murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed, and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison.
This is crime fiction at its most raw, an exploration of family and the past, of prison and war and the indelible marks they leave. (From Bookshop.org)
My thoughts
Within a few pages, Hart had me invested in his characters and their lives.
Vietnam and the draft looms over the story. Gibby and his friend Chance are both eighteen, and now must sign up for selective service. The draft is a specter of dread that becomes increasingly real to them. Both know people their age who’ve been drafted; both know people who have not come home from Vietnam. And both know people who have returned from war physically alive, but forever changed by what they saw.
That includes Jason, Gibby’s brother, now fresh from prison. Rumors abound about his war activities, though no one knows the truth. Detective French, the boys’ father, fears the worst, especially after Tyra’s murder and wants to protect his youngest son. But Gibby is tired of being the obedient, unrebellious one, and the only French brother who hasn’t been tested by fire. And he believes Jason is innocent.
Hart is terrific at evoking emotion on the page and in the reader. At one point, my stomach was curling inside, writhing with impatience to know what happens and dread of what is to come. He writes in crisp, elegant sentences. He conveys in a few words what some might need a dozen pages to explain less effectively. The dialogue crackles with tension, loaded with all the things left unsaid.
In Gibby’s sections, there’s a sense of grief over the brother he lost, but also a sense of his own lostness: who he is, what he should do, how he ought to relate to his detective father, his overprotective mom (and her unreasonable demands), and now his unrepentant prodigal brother. This last might hold a key for how Gibby will emerge from this time. It’s a complex, deeply nuanced set of relationships.
A few quibbles
I felt that the book was stronger in the Gibby/Detective French/Jason sections than when Prisoner X and his henchmen became involved. Some of those sections contained graphic, gruesome violence. (I was a bit freaked out by the brutality of Tyra’s death, to be honest. Then again, so were the investigating detectives.) The actual violence is off the page, but the aftermath is raw. (Incidentally, most of the victims are male rather than female.)
A few of the story’s plot points felt improbable and almost unbelievable; but to Hart’s credit, he makes them believable in the story’s world. Given the strength of his writing, I was willing to believe in Prisoner X’s actions and power.
Recommended
Overall, this was a riveting book. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime fiction, and I will definitely be on the lookout for more books from John Hart.
One thing I particularly liked . . .
I appreciated how Hart was willing to address the complexities of the draft and war through his characters, and he doesn’t cast judgement on any character for their choices, good or bad.
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.
Like this? Read that!
If you enjoy Southern crime fiction, check out my review of The Revelators by Ace Atkins. Terrific writing, combined with fascinating, deep characters, complex relationships, powerful criminals, and action.