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Freeman's pleasantly wicked fourth novel (after Go with Me), set in smalltown rural Vermont, explores the moral choices of a good-hearted, meek sheriff. The laconic and gently self-deprecating sheriff, Lucian Wing, a middle-aged ex-navyman married to a prominent lawyer's daughter, has to decide whether to arrest a young ne'er do well who has broken into an opulent home owned by mysterious Russians and stolen a safe. The problem is that Wing feels for the young criminal, Sean Duke, who works as a laborer, has a winning way with the ladies and is known for his wild behavior. The childless sheriff regards the kid as a kind of bad-boy substitute son and knows that if he doesn't spirit Duke out of town, the Russians will get him first. Meanwhile, Sean makes inroads into the sheriff's chilly marriage, bringing Wing to a crisis of conscience. Freeman sets an intertwined network of provincial egos on a collision course and pulls it off through the wonderfully satisfying point of view of his deadpan sheriff. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.There, I've said it, so grab a copy.
What? More? Oh, right. OK then. I have not read "Go With Me", Freeman's last book, so I can't say (as others have) whether or not you ought to read them in order, but I can say that "All That I Have" is fantastic.
Narrator Lucius Wing is an old-school sheriff (not to be confused with a lawman, as he makes quite clear) in rural Vermont, trying to continue sheriffing (yes, it's used as a verb in the book - as in shepherding) the way he was taught, while new, zealous, by-the-book types gun for his job and Russian mobsters move into the neighborhood.
While all this sounds like a set-up for a fast paced, wacky novel (the kind that's been done to death), what Freeman thankfully gives us instead is a wonderfully-paced, beautifully written STORY. A story that feels like it's being told over a cup of coffee in a diner in Wing's small town.
I'm not going to reiterate the story lines or character descriptions that are amply outlined in other reviews. I'm simply going to say that "All That I Have" is a complete and total pleasure, and when I finished my coffee and watched Sheriff Wing head off to do his job, I was already looking forward to our next meeting.
RP55
Posted May 11, 2009
Very good take on every day living/choices we make - would have liked to see the husband and wife settle the issue left dormant between them. All-in-all, a good read and I really liked the writing style!
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Posted June 8, 2009
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Overview
In this gripping, wise, and darkly funny tale of suspense, Sheriff Lucian Wing confronts a series of trials that test his work, his marriage, and the settled order of his life.Wing is an experienced, practical man who enforces the law in his corner of Vermont with a steady hand and a generous tolerance. Things are not as they should be, however, in the sheriff’s small, protected domain. The outside world draws near, and threats multiply: the arrival in the district of a band of exotic, major league criminals; an ambitious and aggressive deputy; the self-destructive exploits of a local bad boy; Wing’s discovery of a domestic crisis. The sheriff’s ...