REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

Train
This fearless new novel from the National Book Award-winning author of Paris Trout explores issues of race in 1950s California. As a sergeant in the San Diego police department, Miller Packard is a man of few illusions, bored with life and ready to take new risks. He's also a frequent golfer at the Brookline Country Club, and when he meets a 17-year-old black caddy named Lionel "Train" Walk, who plays the game with the skill and brilliance of a true champion, Packard's life takes an unforeseen turn. Because he is black, despite his talent, Train spends most of his time at Brookline carrying other people's clubs. But Packard soon takes Train under his wing, turns him into a golf shark and wins big money thanks to the teen's rare gift. Meanwhile, Packard has a murder to solve and a woman to save—one Norah Rose, whose husband was brutally killed when the couple's boat was hijacked. As Packard and Norah fall in love, the tightly constructed plot moves towards an explosive ending. The lives of the three characters intersect in unexpected ways, and the result is a noir novel characterized by smart dialogue, sharply rendered characters, and a tense narrative line. Train is a sleek, unsparing book—another tour de force from Dexter. A reading group guide is available online.

Train
By Pete Dexter
Vintage, $13
288 pages, ISBN 037571409X



Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores

The Man in My Basement
A master of many genres, including mystery and science fiction, Mosley has now produced a profound, fully imagined piece of literary fiction, a novel that privileges philosophical discussion over action-packed plotlines. Unemployed and swimming in debt, Charles Blakey leads a solitary life in Sag Harbor, in the large, rambling house he inherited from his family. Blakey, whose ancestors were free blacks, can trace his roots in America back to the 17th century, and his basement is packed with relics from his family's past. When a stranger named Anniston Bennet—a wealthy white man—offers him $50,000 to rent out the basement for the summer, Blakey considers the proposition because he needs the money. Bennet's offer comes with an odd condition, but Blakey eventually accepts it, and what transpires between the men once Bennet takes up residence in the basement is a fascinating exercise in racial dynamics. The pair engage in an extended dialogue about the effects of power, about forgiveness and redemption, about the nature of humanity and the consequences of history. Hailed as a masterpiece, this fast-moving novel of ideas has been compared to Albert Camus' The Stranger and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Fans of Mosley's Easy Rawlins series will welcome the book as further evidence of the author's astounding versatility. A reading group guide is included in the book.

The Man in My Basement
By Walter Mosley
Back Bay, $13.95
272 pages, ISBN 031615931X



Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores

The Confessions of Max Tivoli
Mitch Albom chose this inventive historical novel as his Today Show Book Club selection. Born in 1871, Max Tivoli enters the world looking like a miniature 70-year-old man. Behind the aged exterior, however, lie the persona and intellect of an infant. As Max grows up, his body gets younger and his mind gets older, so that by the time he narrates the novel—a one-of-a-kind retrospective of his extraordinary life—he's nearing 60, but he looks like an 11-year-old. Looking back over the previous decades, Max presents a captivating overview of San Francisco in the late 19th century, while relating his own misguided adventures in love, including his pursuit of a 14-year-old named Alice, whom he meets when he is too old on the outside to win her. Tracking her down years later, at a time when their ages are more compatible, Max marries Alice, but he is ultimately doomed to solitude due to his physical condition, which he hides from everyone, including his family. Only Max's close friend, Hughie Dempsey, knows the truth. Tinged with sadness, brightened by humor and enlivened by the author's poetic prose, this national bestseller is an incisive meditation on the nature of memory and the power of love. Whimsical, original and extremely readable, the book earned praise from a host of respected writers, including John Updike and Michael Chabon. A reading group guide is available in print and online www.picadorusa.com.

The Confessions of Max Tivoli
By Andrew Sean Greer
Picador, $14
288 pages, ISBN 0312423810



Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores