Tuey's Course: 07/19/11

Tuey's Course by James Ross is the third of the Prairie Winds Golf Course series. It, though, has little to do with golf (and could use some more).

Tuey is a down and out African American man living in the inner city. He feels he is being targeted by a ruthless cop who is regularly fining him and his business for things that other businesses seem to get away with. When he can't get a fair hearing or even a sympathetic ear, he's driven to extreme measures.

I read the book against the context of some recent local police and government scandals. That angle of Tuey's Course therefore had a hint of believability. Tuey though doesn't have the means to demand justice and the book doesn't give us a character who does to see that piece of the plot to its conclusion.

Instead of a complete follow through on Tuey's problem, there is a smattering of a golf story. Really it's more of a golf novella woven into the book.

The deal killer though for me was Tuey's ghetto speech. I get that he's poor and he's probably under educated as well but the dialect is over done and gets in the way of the plot. Dialect is a very difficult thing to do well and in most cases should be left alone or at best, hinted at through sparsely used local slang.

Review copy from author.

Two stars.

Comments (0)