Everybody's Fool
The “fool” in the title is Doug Raymer, the Bath chief of police. Although Russo's usual hero, Donald Sullivan “Sully,” is featured quite a bit, this story is more about Raymer's poor self confidence.
We first see him attending the funeral of a local judge who thought he was incompetent. Raymer promptly falls into the grave, loosing a key piece of evidence that may lead to whomever his wife Becka was about to leave him for. She fell down the stairs and broke her neck before she could do so. So . . . he's in mourning as well as angry.
Sully has also struck it rich, hitting the trifecta at the race track a couple of times, selling the lot where his decrepit home used to be to the city, and inheriting his landlady Ms. Beryl's house when she dies. So now his dimwitted friend, Rub Squeers, who idolizes Sully, has no one to do scut work with anymore. Sully can be kind of mean. He names his dog, whose name used to be Reggie, after Rub.
Then there's Roy Purdy, Sully's former girlfriend Ruth's son-in-law, who hates Sully's guts. He's out of jail and looking for a way to get even with Sully, who ridicules him every chance he gets and thinks Janey can do a whole lot better than this tool.
If you don't like a lot of characters or if you can't keep them straight, you won't like this book. Sully's son, an adjunct college professor, makes an appearance; he lives on the bottom floor of Ms. Beryl's house with Sully's grandson, Will. Sully's former boss, Carl Roebuck, who hass lost his house, lives upstairs. Sully lives in a trailer out back.
Sully has also gotten a death sentence from the doctors. He's got a bad heart; he needs a defibrillator, but is too stubborn to get one.
Doug Raymer's dispatcher Charice, who keeps putting him on her list for various infractions, is a new love interest for Doug, although he's not sure she likes him back. Her brother Jerome, a 6' 6” black man, looks to be competition for Doug's job, but he's got a secret only Charice is aware of.
You may find yourself thinking, “Where's the plot?” as you're reading, but this is more about Russo's quirky characters and their humdrum lives (except when they're not) than any suspenseful plot.
We first see him attending the funeral of a local judge who thought he was incompetent. Raymer promptly falls into the grave, loosing a key piece of evidence that may lead to whomever his wife Becka was about to leave him for. She fell down the stairs and broke her neck before she could do so. So . . . he's in mourning as well as angry.
Sully has also struck it rich, hitting the trifecta at the race track a couple of times, selling the lot where his decrepit home used to be to the city, and inheriting his landlady Ms. Beryl's house when she dies. So now his dimwitted friend, Rub Squeers, who idolizes Sully, has no one to do scut work with anymore. Sully can be kind of mean. He names his dog, whose name used to be Reggie, after Rub.
Then there's Roy Purdy, Sully's former girlfriend Ruth's son-in-law, who hates Sully's guts. He's out of jail and looking for a way to get even with Sully, who ridicules him every chance he gets and thinks Janey can do a whole lot better than this tool.
If you don't like a lot of characters or if you can't keep them straight, you won't like this book. Sully's son, an adjunct college professor, makes an appearance; he lives on the bottom floor of Ms. Beryl's house with Sully's grandson, Will. Sully's former boss, Carl Roebuck, who hass lost his house, lives upstairs. Sully lives in a trailer out back.
Sully has also gotten a death sentence from the doctors. He's got a bad heart; he needs a defibrillator, but is too stubborn to get one.
Doug Raymer's dispatcher Charice, who keeps putting him on her list for various infractions, is a new love interest for Doug, although he's not sure she likes him back. Her brother Jerome, a 6' 6” black man, looks to be competition for Doug's job, but he's got a secret only Charice is aware of.
You may find yourself thinking, “Where's the plot?” as you're reading, but this is more about Russo's quirky characters and their humdrum lives (except when they're not) than any suspenseful plot.
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