"…police stations and sheriff's offices make everyone in them feel like trailer park-living, side meat-eating, underwear-tugging, polyester-wearing members of the underclass." How can you not see, hear or even smell that? G.D. Gearino's books create a true parallel universe for you as you read them. I can taste the chicken fried steak in the café and my elbows are sticky as if they had actually been on that table. This is his third novel and it's marvelous. Treat yourself to this one or one of his other two. And tell your friends. ( )

Exciting, and interesting. Not normally something I would pick up but definitely one of my new favorites.

Frances Selkirk has a secret. This, however, is not revealed to either the reader nor to her son Charley until a series of misadventures left three people dead. Based in Barrington, a small town near Atlanta, Georgia, the story begins with Charley being kicked out of high school due to a “racial incident” on his football team. Having no job and much free time, Charley takes up an offer to assist Tallasee, a local photographer, to help arrange and sort her belongings. Among Tallasee's photos, was one picture of Lucas, a man living at a local commune, who appears to not want to be discovered. Trying to learn more about Lucas eventually leads Charley and Tallasee into a search for a missing boy who had spent some time living on that same commune.

Blue Hole is a story which takes many twists and turns. It becomes a bit fractured as a few chapters, in which an unidentified person is making a confession, are inserted randomly into the narrative. Due to the way this story was structured and the many people involved in its evolution, I became frustrated being that I prefer more linear story-telling. I’m not much of a fan of murder mysteries. For this reason, I was a bit disappointed to not find this story as riveting as two other books (i.e. What the Deaf-Mute Heard, Counting Coup) written by the same author. Blue Hole seemed to be a more contrived story. I'd say that Gearino is worth reading, but just choose not to make Blue Hole your first book by this author. ( )