Better Days by Len Joy/Review by Kathryn Lane
Treachery in Tuscany
By Len Joy
Independently Published
$9.99
ISBN 978-1717911421
Publication Date: September 2018
2019 Silver Falchion Candidate
BOOK OF THE DAY
Better Days by Len Joy, peppered with humor, is an exciting and entertaining novel. The lead character Darwin Burr, a legendary high-school basketball champion, indirectly reminds me of Rick Blaine in Casablanca in the sense that both men are the epitome of the anti-hero. Darwin avoids taking responsibility for anything beyond his cushy job and family life. That’s where the comparison to Casablanca ends.
Darwin is married to a woman who chides him about his inherent laziness. Manager of an auto parts distribution center and working for his best friend, Darwin’s primary responsibility is pairing up as golf partner with his flamboyant, wheeler-dealer boss – Billy Rourke. Executives of auto parts companies entertain Billy lavishly, and Billy always brings Darwin along, adding stress to Darwin’s marriage. The two men have been friends since their high school days.
Darwin’s wife, Daina, who escaped from Latvia when she was nineteen, expects Dar, as his friends call him, to live the American Dream of getting ahead and making money. Darwin is quite content managing the distribution center and playing golf with Billy.
When it comes to sports, Dar’s heart is in basketball. And it’s Billy’s enthusiastic and charming recounting of the story of Claxton wining the Illinois state basketball championship in ’75 that keeps Dar’s legendary status alive. Billy, in contrast to Dar, is a bigger than life character. Or at least wants to be!
Billy is into everything, including making money on the side. He always counts on his friend and ally Darwin to sign off on the legal documents of his risky deals, a pattern that eventually lands them an FBI investigation.
That’s when Dar’s life begins to unravel. At the same time, he’s asked to step in and help coach his daughter’s varsity basketball team, saving Dar’s sanity from the craziness at work and the FBI probe. But soon complications set in as he falls for the young substitute coach, not much older than his teenage daughter.
Daina, a social worker, contributes her own problems when she brings home a teenage girl from a dysfunctional family who is also the star on the basketball team Dar is coaching. As this young woman walks into the Burr household, so do her problems. By protecting the young woman, Daina’s past emerges, including secrets she has kept hidden from Dar.
A novel with strong characters, each with a unique voice, will captivate you and keep you turning the pages to figure out if Billy is guilty, if Dar is implicated, and what will happen to the Burr family. Will Dar’s anti-hero attitude change him when serious issues arise? Or will he continue down his path of least resistance?