Flipping Boxcars was a could not put it down read for me. Floyd “Babe” Boyce, a native of Caruthersville, Missouri and WWII veteran has made a name for himself in his hometown. He is African American, married to his sweetheart Rosie, with three boys and a girl and success as the owner of a popular cafe, located in Sportsman’s Hall. Oh, yeah. He is also a heck of a craps player and he has a lot of illegal enterprises going on, some connected to the mob in Chicago related to illegal booze transactions and some related to setting up illegal games of chance in the Sportsman’s Hall several nights a week.. His manager, Karter, was a WWII buddy who returned to Caruthersville with Babe. He’s huge, the fixer, always whining about being bored in this backwater place. Babe has local partners in crime, including Hooter, the white sheriff. There’s a powerful story behind their friendship that goes back to their late teens. And now, Babe is turning forty and he has this big plan to commit one huge final illegal deal and get rich in a big way.
The characters and the town are vividly drawn in this seemingly simply written book. Except for some flashbacks, the story takes place over a couple weeks in June/July 1948. Babe is smart, lucky, in love with his wife, a risk taker, a good friend, a dangerous guy and a mess throughout. His wife, Rosie is a strong woman of character who keeps the cafe patrons in BabyLou specials and the kids on the straight and narrow. The well-crafted plot has wonderful and clever twists and turns as Babe’s dealings with a new guy from Chicago cause him to take increasingly bigger risks. At times, this is laugh out loud funny. But very, very dark things happen as well. Mostly, it’s about a man going through a mid-life crises that brings far too many problematic matters to a head. It ends on a note that, to me suggests a sequel. Well, YEAH!
They Called me Bookworm 