The Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris
Blurb for the back cover:
“Caught me by surprise”
Taking place in Idaho, The Dart League King is a story about various people who are in some way or another connected to each other by their past actions. Primarily taking place at the 321 Club the night of the final Dart League match, five characters come together in the bar. Russell, the proclaimed dart league king runs in to his ex. Tristan who has a secret that he desperately wants to tell someone, anyone. Vince, a drug dealer who is out to make an example out of Russell. Kelly, Russell’s ex who wants a future outside of Idaho. And Brice, Russell’s rival and undercover DEA agent who is set to ruin Russell’s night by using him to bring down Vince.
This book caught me by surprise. When I read about the book it really didn’t sound like something that I would enjoy. But as I got in to it and started becoming familiar with the characters, I became aware that this wasn’t as mundane of book as I had expected. In fact, it was a lot more complicated. These characters have pasts, secrets and emotional problems that they work out as the night progresses. Speaking of the night, the story takes place over the course of a single night. Any character’s backstory is told in flashbacks.
Out of all the characters I found Tristan to be the most interesting. He had watched a girl die and is the only one to know of her fate. It’s a secret that he has been wanting to tell someone who would understand. He thinks that he has found that someone in Kelly but her would she react to the news?
The book ends with a slight cliffhanger. The fate of one of the characters is unclear and I would have liked to know for sure what happened to that person. On the other hand, it does leave me thinking about the novel and I am glad that Morris didn’t end his novel with all the loose ends tied up. It leaves the reader to use their imagination to answer any remaining questions.
As I side I was surprised by this book. On the outside it seemed like a pretty straightforward novel about nothing important, but as it progressed it became something deeper. I would recommend it.
Also, Keith Lee Morris is going to be signing/readed at Powells on the 10th of November.
Also again, thank you to Tin House for sending me a review copy of this book.