Book Review: Where Trouble Sleeps

by: Clyde Edgerton

Fiction, 1997, 260 p.

ISBN 1-56512-061-2

Clyde Edgerton, the bestselling author of Redeye, Raney and Walking Across Egypt, is back in fine form with a new novel, Where Trouble Sleeps.

The story takes place in the small town of Listre, North Carolina in 1950, and Edgerton captures the rhythm and feel of the town perfectly. As he has done in previous novels, Edgerton tells this story through multiple first person perspectives, sometimes through the eyes of a young boy, sometimes those of his mother, sometimes as a stranger in town.

At age seven, young Stephen Toomey is being taught by his mother how to be a good Christian boy. As the novel opens, Stephen's mother is taking him and a playmate up to the prison to see the electric chair, so that "you all can see what will happen if you ever let the Devil lead you into a bad sin." He also gets to hear daily readings from Aunt Margaret's Bible Stories. However, Stephen spends much of his free time watching the men who stand around outside Train's Place drinking beer and telling stories.

Train's Place, also known as Redding Bro. Gulf Service Station, is the only place in town that sells beer, and as such is an integral part of the local social scene. Train's Place is also the home of Trouble, an aging bulldog. Locals claim that if Trouble takes his morning nap inside, it's sure to rain that day. "Don't let them bet you over there. They've won money on it," admonishes the waitress in the diner down the street.

Jack Umstead is a con man who has settled on Listre as the perfect town for his next big score. Jack takes a room at the Settle Inn, then spends a considerable amount of time lounging in front of Train's Place, drinking beer and soaking up local history. That's where he learns the story of Listre's only traffic signal. It was erected soon after a disastrous collision between Train Redding's truck and a slower moving mule cart at the town's main intersection. Umstead also meets Mr. Clark, who always drives a new Cadillac, and whose wife has taken up residence in her office at the Listre Baptist Church, much to the consternation of the other church members.

On one of his visits to Train's, Umstead learns about the Blain sisters, who run the general store down the street. Because of competition among the general stores, they've been reduced to selling mostly chickens and ice. Whenever there's a thunderstorm, the Blain sisters leave for their other sister's house, and Jack decides that the next storm will provide the perfect cover for him to rob the store.

Occasionally, Edgerton leaves the first-person perspectives for a sort of multi-person perspective, where he describes the thoughts and actions of people all over the town with a cascade of dialogue that sets the mood for the chapter. During these passages, Edgerton flits from person to person, staying for only a sentence or two before he moves on to the next:

"A student from Duke University aimed his camera at a side window of the flintrock store. Peeled paint along with the rust on the bars had caught his eye. / Andrew, over in T.R., had just helped his favorite aunt sell her car because she couldn't see much anymore. As he and his eight-year-old granddaughter pulled into the driveway, the little girl asked, 'Will it snow this winter?' and he was trying to answer so that she would not see him crying. / 'Some people,' said Train to his brother Luke, 'will always naturally gravitate to the top and others to the bottom. This is healthy. It gives people something to shoot for. You've got some sense, Luke, if you'd just get off your ass. And do me a favor: Don't try to kill a fly with that blowtorch no more. Use a **** flyswatter.'"

A map inside the front cover of Where Trouble Sleeps depicts the town of Listre in 1950, with small stores and residences interspersed along the main street. A map on the last page shows Listre in the year 2000. All the locally owned stores have been replaced by national chains. There is a giant strip center with a Food Lion, Revco, and a Chinese restaurant. In place of the small grocery stores and diners, the new Listre has a McDonald's, a Bojangles, and an Exxon. All the houses are clustered in a subdivision on the edge of town, no longer within walking distance of any of the businesses in town. Fortunately, all of Where Trouble Sleeps takes place in the Listre of 1950, a friendlier and more interesting setting.

Edgerton's wry understanding of the hidden truths of small town life makes Where Trouble Sleeps a joy to read from start to finish. Be warned, however, that Edgerton's prose is addictive. Even normally shy people will find themselves reading passages aloud, because the dialogue is so genuine and funny that you'll have to share it with friends.