Derek Berry

Heathens and Liars of Lickskillet County by Derek Berry could have been an interesting novel about the underlying racial tensions in a small southern town. It does deal well with the terrible things that can lurk just below the surface in Small Town USA, but unfortunately it doesn’t ever seem to really go anywhere, the tension is just never there. The lead characters are well defined, but some of the secondary characters are nothing more than one dimensional personas. Here is the rich kid, here is the backwoods yokel, etc.. And I felt that the “racist meth dealing backwoods family” was a tad trite. A good attempt, but it doesn’t succeed in my mind.… (mehr)

I received this as an ARC through librarything from the publisher.

There are a lot of stories that cross over each other in this, and I don't mind that, but because of how the author chose to write this, with each chapter being from one of several character's perspectives, it made it a little tough to follow at times. Additionally, the style resulted in a few [relatively inconsequential] contradictions, a lot of repeated material, and a fractured story line that made things difficult to follow in the beginning. Once you got past... I'd say about the mid-way point, maybe a little further, there was significantly less repeating and the story became much more streamlined.

As for the characters themselves, they're quite an interesting collection of people, though a little more self aware than I would expect high school seniors to be. Perhaps it's a southern thing, or the trials and tribulations they faced through out the story. I can't say for sure.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this. It definitely holds your attention, and it's a good story, if a little difficult to follow at first.… (mehr)