What About the Bodies

In Jaworowski's intense if occasionally far-fetched sophomore novel (after Small Town Sins), three vividly drawn strivers vie for fulfillment in down-and-out Locksburg, Pa. Carla Louden has mortgaged her home to finance her restaurant, which she eagerly staffs with her son, Billy, and one other underpaid employee. Carla would do anything for Billy—and she may have to, after he buries the body of his former classmate, Doreen Shippen, in the backyard. Meanwhile, autistic adult Reed sets out to make good on a promise he made to his mother on her deathbed before his brother has him institutionalized. Along the way, he meets resistance from a bullying police officer and the Locksburg rumor mill, which blames him for his mom’s death. Finally, singer-songwriter Liz receives a promising call from a Nashville power player just as her boyfriend drags her into debt to a violent ex-con. Her only way out is an elaborate drug deal that will either save or tarnish her artistic ambitions. As Jaworowski’s desperate, three-dimensional characters cross paths and teeter on the edge of destruction, the author raises powerful questions about poverty, fate, and the ties that bind. Though a few plot contrivances hold it back, this is a remarkably accomplished neo-noir. Agent: Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Sept.)