Book Review: Everyone Dies Famous by Len Joy

I have something a bit different on the blog today. I hope you’ll like it!

Goodreads Blurb

Everyone Dies Famous by Len Joy

As a tornado threatens their town, a stubborn old man who has lost his son teams up with a troubled young soldier to deliver a jukebox to the wealthy developer having an affair with the soldier’s wife.

It’s July 2003 and the small town of Maple Springs, Missouri is suffering through a month-long drought. Dancer Stonemason, a long-forgotten hometown hero still grieving over the death of his oldest son, is moving into town to live with his more dependable younger son. He hires Wayne Mesirow, an Iraq war veteran, to help him liquidate his late son’s business.

The heat wave breaks and the skies darken. Dancer tries to settle an old score while Wayne discovers the true cost of his wife’s indifference and turns his thoughts to revenge. When the tornado hits Maple Springs, only one of the men will make it out alive.

Everyone Dies Famous is a story from the heartland about the uncommon lives of everyday people – the choices they make, how they live their lives, and how they die.

Review

Despite the appearance of a tornado, this is what I would describe as a nice, quiet novel. In fact, the tornado doesn’t actually show up until the end of the book and is the only real “action” in the common sense of the word. However, it wasn’t the tornado that kept me reading anyway.

Everyone Dies Famous is interesting despite the lack of “action”. The author is well able to keep the reader hooked as he unravels each character for us. Despite the book having quite a few main characters, there was good character development for each. And, through these characters, we experience the pain of life’s hardships, the struggle of moving past our mistakes, and feelings of hopefulness and disappointment. As an added bonus, the author also does a wonderful job setting the atmosphere of laid-back Maple Springs.

I was surprised to find out after reading Everyone Dies Famous that it is a sequel. I certainly didn’t feel lacking from not having read the first book. If you feel you also want to jump right in here, Everyone Dies Famous is available to buy now.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.