13. Gordon, Jaimy. LORD OF MISRULE. (2010). ****. I personally found this a difficult book to get into. After the first fifty pages or so, however, after most of the principal characters had been introduced, you realize that Ms. Gordon is a very skilful writer. The jacket liner compares her to a blend of Nathanael West, Damon Runyon, and Eudora Welty. I’d have to agree but I’d a little Faulkner, too. The story centers around the world of cheap racing, “where trainers and jockeys, grooms and horsewalkers, loan sharks and touts all struggle to take an edge, or prove their luck, or just survive. The action all takes place at Indian Mound Downs, just downriver from Wheeling, West Virginia. All the characters have their distinctive argot which takes a while to get used to, but authenticates both them and the setting. This is certainly a book about horse racing, but from an insider’s point of view. We soon find out that the insiders are the same as us outsiders in their basic human drives. I just learned that this novel won the National Book Award for 2010. Recommended.