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Amazon link: Sly Fox Hollow: A Novel
Author: Brett Allen (@hogwashwriting).
Thumbnail sketch: Smart, funny satire involving monsters both real and mythical. Razor sharp portrait of small-town America and a fun-house mirror look at our political landscape.
5 Stars
My Take on Sly Fox Hollow
Before I tell you how much I enjoyed this funny and frequently biting (figuratively and literally!) look at the relatively recent heart of America, it’s only fair to share something about myself: I was born and raised in a small (pop: 6,000 +/-) farming town in the Midwest. I left that town when I enlisted in the Navy, a decision it took me a few years to realize was without a doubt the smartest thing I did in the first two decades of my existence. I can’t imagine how my life would’ve unfolded had I stayed, or who I would be today – but I’m sure neither would have been … good.
So, Sly Fox Hollow by Brett Allen tickled me on several levels. First, the sharply drawn snippets of small-town life peppered throughout. The gossiping. The way a person’s life can be reduced to one event or action from their past – sometimes them doing good things, sure, but more likely the other way. The nursing of grudges over decades/generations. How incredibly hard it is to change or grow as a person in such an environment. Or, if you do manage to remake yourself, how hard it is to convince others you’re no longer who they believe you to be.
The story takes place in late 2017 in Fox Hollow, Michigan, and Allen uses this slice of small-town life as a sort of fun-house mirror look at the political landscape we’re still living with today. The mayor’s sudden and violent death – possibly at the hands, er, claws of a mythical creature called the Michigan Dogman – results in rival candidates squaring off in a race to set the course of the town’s future. Will a wall be built to keep Fox Hollow safe from the hooligans in the next town over? Will the orchards of Fox Applesauce, the town’s main source of jobs, continue to spread and thus encroach on residential areas? How about that proposed tax on the town’s richest citizen? And what the heck is that noise from the dumpsters?
With the mayoral race pitting neighbor against neighbor as the backdrop, Bomber Merridan – protagonist, grocery store manager, interim mayor and wannabe Cryptozoologist – continues what has become his life’s work: searching for proof the Dogman exists. Along the way secrets will be revealed, conspiracies will be theorized, neon applesauce will be consumed and blood will be shed.
But most of all there will be some laughs and knowing nods as this whip-smart satire barrels along to a <chefs kiss> conclusion. Mr. Allen is two for two (see my review of his outstanding debut Kilroy Was Here) and I can’t wait to read his next effort.
PS: The cover is AMAZING.
5 stars
Scott Whitmore, writer 