"Like his old man, Hack had always pushed the limits, especially when bored, and boredom was his high school state of mind."
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Hack by Bill King Trafford Publishing
book review by Michael Radon
Born into a poor southern mill village, Jerry "Hack" Patterson is no stranger to dealing with adversity. His mother passed away during childbirth, leaving him in the care of his drunken father and his sister, only four years older than he. Being in love with books from a young age, Hack becomes bored both with small town life and the simple school curriculum, and after being expelled from high school for his pranks, he heads to Detroit. After a few years of working and living on his own, Hack returns to Alabama to discover his sister died unexpectedly. With nowhere else to go, Hack begins hauling moonshine, working for a nursing home, and falling in love: anything to keep his adventurous spirit occupied.
Any great story has an abundance of character, and it's hard not to be drawn to the brooding, intelligent, and reckless Hack. Though his inability to handle boredom and troubled home life make him prone to make some bad decisions, ultimately he wants a simple, happy life. Readers with an open mind will find kinship with Hack's line of thinking, questioning the existence and necessity of things. When Hack lands his job with the Pleasant Manor Nursing Home, he is plagued with depression at the sights around him, but thinks outside the box in an effort to improve everyone's lives. The end result is one of the most heartwarming scenes in the book, and something that will resonate strongly with most readers. Despite the very specific place and time of the book's setting, the underlying message and universal draw of its characters will reach out to a diverse following of readers.