The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough; The Reivers

 

So I watched the new Netflix series about Jeffrey Dahmer last week. I had forgotten how disgusting and gross his crimes were. Evan Peters did a terrific job of playing Dahmer, he was so creepy. This was the only book my library owned about him (I have two others myself, one was written by a childhood friend called "My Friend Dahmer" and the other one tried unsuccessfully to make the case that Dahmer killed little Adam Walsh, called "Dahmer's Dirty Little Secret"). It was written while he was still alive, so it was a bit startling to read about Dahmer in the present tense. It honestly felt pretty slapdash, like she just cranked it out to cash in on the case while it was still hot. I've requested Dahmer's father's book from another library, so I'm curious to hear his side of things. 

And, to the surprise of no one, after reading the biography on William Faulkner last week, I had to reread one of my favorites, "The Reivers". His last book, and one of his funniest, too. It takes place in 1905. Lucius Priest is the oldest son of Maury Priest, and grandson to "the Boss". The Boss owns one of the few automobiles in town and his employee, Boon, drives it for him. Lucius's other grandfather passes away, and his mom, dad, and grandparents head out of town for the funeral. Boon takes advantage of the Boss being away to take the car to a trip to Memphis, and Lucius tags along. They both know it's wrong to steal the car, even though they fully intend to bring it back, but the temptation is such that they can't help themselves. On the road to Memphis they find out one of Maury's employees at the livery stable, Ned, has stowed away in the back of the car. The three make their way to Miss Reba's house in Memphis, so Boon can visit with his special lady friend, Miss Corrie (in case you couldn't tell, Miss Reba's is a whorehouse). Ned ends up trading the car for a racehorse that won't actually run a race and coming up with a wild scheme to win a race and not only keep the horse but get the Boss's automobile back too. Lucius (who's 11, I think I should mention that) and Boon have no choice but to go along with Ned's crazy scheme. All sorts of hijinks ensue. Too much fun, it had me laughing out loud. God, Faulkner was such a national treasure.