West Virginia native Ed Davis' first novel behaves more like a memoir than a traditional novel.  Its first person style reads like a young man looking back at the highlights and many lowlights of his formative years.   A coming of age tale to be sure, but one structured less like a work of fiction and more like authentic details of a human life.

    The central character is Danny Cahill, a seven year old boy at the novel’s start, living with his parents in a run-down motel in the fictional town of Kersey, WV.  Danny's mother, Annie, is a loving but agoraphobic woman who rarely leaves their room.  His father, Clay, is a cab-driver with a short temper and a penchant for drinking and fighting that often follows him home.  Clay can barely afford to keep them in the motel room as much of his pay doesn't leave the bar on the way home.  Seen through Danny's eyes, Clay is a powerful figure whose frequent violent outbursts at Annie seem to be building to a climax that portends deadly things for Annie and Danny.  They wisely sneak away from Clay to hide at a friend's house, but he remains a looming presence in their lives.  So much that even after Annie has him arrested for non-support, she can't seem to shake her love for him and soon has him released.  Then, on Christmas day, just on the verge of what appears to be a peaceful reconciliation between his parents, Danny's father delivers to both of them his greatest punishment and, perhaps, ultimate gift.  He disappears.  It is a momentous event in their lives, for after being abandoned his mother gives in to depression, sinking further away from her obligations as a parent and thrusting Danny into a position of responsibility for them both that no child should ever have to face.  And his father's absence continues to haunt their lives for years to come.

    This is also the point in the book when the memoir style truly kicks in and the reader is allowed to jump months and years across Danny's adolescence, stopping occasionally for important events and people.  Like his friendships with a series of "marked" girls, as his mother calls them-poor girls with troubling home lives and maturity beyond their years, much like Danny himself.  Or Danny's talent for music, spurred on by the likes of Elvis and the Rolling Stones, which leads to an early career as guitarist for a dive-bar band lead by a gay coal-miner.  Or his friendship with Neil Sheppard, a classmate hell-bent on saving Danny's soul.  Or Danny's eventual discovery of what became of his father. 

    Second to his parents, the most prominent figure in Danny's life comes in the form of Micah Plumly, an enigmatic, blank-faced, musical prodigy and former boy-preacher, haunted by demons of his own.  Micah takes Danny as a protégé, helping expand his horizons by guiding him to great works of literature, philosophy and the occasional psychedelic mushroom.  Micah encourages him to go to college, allowing Danny to finally leave his mother’s apartment and her heavy drag on him.  He also introduces Danny to Willa, Micah's beautiful girlfriend and yet another "marked" woman in Danny's life.  It is the relationship between these three characters and the mystery of why Micah gave up the pulpit that drives the book to its conclusion and Danny toward a difficult but positive realization about life. 

    Danny's story feels very much as though it is being told by someone who both lived and survived the events depicted.  Author Davis has a real grasp of some of the more ugly realities of small town West Virginia of the 1960s, and indeed of today.  This is understandable, considering Davis' admission that the events of the story are partially autobiographical.  The memoir-like aspect of the book also explains why seemingly major characters can enter and vanish from Danny's life within the space of a few pages.  They've come, left their mark upon him and moved on, much like people do in life. 

    Davis' prose is enjoyable and witty with a great turn of phrase.  His characters are colorful, heart-breaking and sometimes harshly real.  Despite the novel's darker aspects, though, Davis has written a very positive and life-affirming story, a tribute to people who are able to rise above their circumstances.