Description
From Publishers Weekly Fleeing a soured marriage and the general turpitude of modern life, Dock Bass retreats to a newly inherited Gettysburg farm where he discovers a trove of priceless Civil War artifacts, including a possible recording of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg address. He is soon besieged by media vultures, an opportunistic rival claimant to the treasure and a number of shady antiquarians trying to cash in on the find. Fortunately, Dock is just the man to defend Lincoln's legacy. Indifferent to fame and money, Dock stoically restores his farmhouse while denouncing or physically battering every avatar of contemporary crassness; at one point he even recites the Gettysburg Address by heart, punctuating it with crashing hammer blows. Finally, assisted by an eccentric history professor and a glitzy investigative reporter with a heart of gold, Dock squares off against an evil gay antiques dealer and his henchman. Smith ( One-Eyed Jacks ) concocts a frothily entertaining satire of the corrupt Civil War memorabilia industry, but the fun is somewhat dampened by the figure of Dock, a tower of laconic manliness whose censorious mission is to reclaim the project of historical commemoration from all traces of vulgarity and materialism. The incongruous result is what you might expect if Gary Cooper were to ride into town to clean up The Antiques Road Show . Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Canadian Smith delivers another engaging mix of comedy and caper novel. This time, though, the light coating of country noir that colored his delightful American debut, All Hat (2003), has been replaced by a Capraesque mix of light and dark. On the lam from a vapid wife and an upwardly mobile real-estate job, Dock Bass--Mr. Deeds with a touch of Elmore Leonard--heads for Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he has inherited a ramshackle house from a forgotten relative. While renovating the house, he stumbles on a trove of Civil War memorabilia, including what may be a primitive recording of Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. Suddenly Dock lands in the middle of a gaggle of corrupt antique dealers and Civil War buffs even more avaricious than the real-estate weasels from his former life. No running this time. Dock draws a line in the Gettysburg dust and squares his back for a fight. The subsequent sparring match mixes comedy, history, and rugged individualism in just the right amounts. The ending leans toward sentimental, but like Capra, Smith earns it. Bill Ott Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “In Busted Flush , battle flares anew in Gettysburg, Pa.--this time, between Civil War collectors, professors, re-enactors, swindlers, barflies, and other irregulars. The action swings north and south, from the 19th to the 21st century, with dialogue that crackles like musket fire. Brad Smith's novel is true to Gettysburg's heroic past and madcap present, and a deliciously entertaining tale of uncivil war over the legacy of America's greatest conflict.”--Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic Brad Smith lives in Dunnville, Ontario. His novel, One-Eyed Jacks , was nominated for Canada's Dashiell Hammett Prize. His American debut, All Hat (0-312-42317-9), is available in paperback from Picador. Read more
Features & Highlights
- Civil War buffs and con men collide in this wickedly funny, Hiaasen-esque story of old-time relics and modern greed Dock Bass is a carpenter-turned-realtor in upstate New York. He has a social-climbing wife he doesn't love (or even like), a job he hates, and a rapidly crumbling sense of self-respect and self-worth. Like a lot of people, he yearns for a change. Like very few, he decides to leave his life behind, hit the road, and go looking for it.He finds it in Pennsylvania, of all places. Summoned to Gettysburg by a law firm, he learns that he's inherited an ancient house from a deceased relative whom he never knew existed. Renovating the place, Dock stumbles upon a treasure trove of Civil War memorabilia squirreled away in an old root cellar, including pictures and possibly even a recording of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. And in a world where John Kennedy's golf clubs are worth $750,000, what dollar figure does one place on items connected to the greatest American president at the venue of his most inspiring and memorable speech?Plenty, Dock soon finds out, as he's forced to defend his new find from the onslaught of collectors, history buffs, and media hounds descending on his doorstep. Fortunately, like Honest Abe himself, he's the right man for the fight-independent, funny, loyal, and stubborn as a Missouri mule. When the scallywags and opportunists-including an easy-on-the-eyes television reporter with one hell of an attitude-start crawling out of the woodwork, he'll need all of that.And maybe a little more.
