A FINE DARK LINE

If Mark Twain had written To Kill a Mockingbird or Summer of ’42, it might sound something like Dick Hill’s reading of A Fine Dark Line. Hill has the ear, the pitch, and the understanding to tell the story of 13-year-old Stanley Mitchell’s all too fast coming-of-age in precisely the way author Joe Lansdale intended. In fact, Hill is the perfect match for Lansdale, who is no slouch when it comes to the oral storytelling tradition. Living in Dewmont, Texas, in 1958, where his parents own a drive-in theater, Stanley is completely ignorant of issues of sex, race, poverty, and violence. When he discovers a box of old love letters and journal entries near the ruins of a long-ago house fire, he unwittingly uncovers a forgotten scandal and several murders. S.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2004 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 03]