The fictional Horton County, Ohio, the setting of Craig McDonald’s topical new novel El Gavilan, could be many Ohio counties: largely rural, scattered with small towns, and troubled lately by illegal immigrants, causing a strain on law enforcement, education, health and other services.
New to the area is Tell Lyon, just hired as chief of police of New Austin, which has seen a significant rise in crime, in addition to bad housing conditions caused by crowding and charges of “driving while Mexican.” Tell, a former Border Patrol agent, knows the issues well.
The sheriff, Amos Hawk, relishes his nickname of “El Gavilan” (“The Hawk”), erecting billboards warning employers not to hire undocumented workers. His hard line extends to demanding that the local priest cancel his plans for a Spanish-language Mass, but he has a paternal relationship with a Mexican immigrant waitress, and is devastated when she is found raped and beaten to death in a field.
With questionable jurisdiction, Tell and Amos make a tentative alliance that interests the sheriff from a neighboring county and a callous, self-serving newspaper editor. The language is explicit, and there are graphic descriptions of the woman’s injuries. El Gavilan is a departure for McDonald, who usually sticks to historical thrillers. He was nominated for an Edgar Award for his debut novel Head Games, first in his series about crime writer Hector Lassiter.
El Gavilan (426 pages, hardcover) costs $24.95 from Tyrus Books. Craig McDonald lives in Columbus.
Reporter can turn invisible
The ability to become invisible sounds like a great asset for an investigative reporter. But you can’t report on secret deals between politicians if you can’t prove how you got the information, so Jack Baxter, lead character of Michael San Giacomo’s graphic novel Phantom Jack: The Nowhere Man Agenda, “fades” only when necessary.
Jack, a reporter for the Clarion, a New York paper, was covering an explosion at a chemical plant where his friend Vinnie died, and Jack learned he had acquired the power to fade. Now, years later, it seems that Vinnie isn’t dead … he’s become an amoral killer for a spy organization, and he’s back because Jack has something he needs.
Three artists contribute to Part One; only one of them remains for Part Two, which is noticeable in the background characters: Jack’s friend Peter starts out as a blond, but has brown hair later on. There are two other stories, one about Jack’s trip to Guantanamo to free the nephew of an old friend, and one, including the author’s directions for the artist, about a mobster who’s trapped Phantom Jack in a remote cabin.
Phantom Jack (110 pages, softcover), costs $19.99 from IDW Publishing. Michael San Giacomo is a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Horse just wants to dance
Fred the plow horse wants to dance. In fact, he prefers the name Federico, which his mother gave him, along with dreams of dancing as gracefully as the famed Lipizzaner horses. But in Dreams of a Dancing Horse by West Salem children’s author Dandi Daley Mackall, Fred is stuck plowing an Oklahoma field for a stupid, cruel master. His one joy is the farmer’s orphaned niece, a dancing girl named Lena who shares Fred’s dream.
When Farmer Rollo’s bad judgment results in a threat to Fred’s life, he must run away and look for a new home. The book follows him, in first-person narration, through his travels as he tries a ranch (in a chapter filled with cow puns), a little girl and a friendly artist.
Dreams of a Dancing Horse (166 pages, softcover), part of the Animal Tales series, is recommended for ages 7 and older. It costs $6.99 from Bloomsbury.
Events
Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson) — University of Akron professor Julie Drew signs her excellent debut novel Daughter of Providence, 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Visible Voice Books (1023 Kenilworth Ave., Cleveland) — Kent State University Stark campus professor Robert Miltner reads from and signs Hotel Utopia, his collection of prose poems, winner of the New Rivers Press Many Voices Project book prize, 7 to 8 p.m. Saturday.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.
