Synopsis
On the night Miles Abernathy-sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian-comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek: Photos that prove the county’s Sheriff Davies was responsible for the so-called “accident” that injured his dad, killed others, and crushed their grassroots efforts to unseat him.
The feud began a hundred years ago when Miles’s great-great-grandfather, Saint Abernathy, incited a miners’ rebellion that ended with a public execution at the hands of law enforcement. Now, Miles becomes the feud’s latest victim as the sheriff’s son and his friends sniff out the evidence, follow him through the woods, and beat him nearly to death.
In the hospital, the ghost of a soot-covered man hovers over Miles’s bedside while Sheriff Davies threatens Miles into silence. But when Miles accidently kills one of the boys who hurt him, he learns of other folks in Twist Creek who want out from under the sheriff’s heel. To free their families from this cycle of cruelty, they’re willing to put everything on the line-is Miles?
Review
Compound Fracture, by Andrew Joseph White, begins with a report on the Twist Creek Calamity, a 1917 miners strike that resulted in the deaths of 40-50 people, hundreds of arrests, and one brutal execution of the strike forces leader, Saint Abernathy. The first true line of the novel follows: “When the sheriff of Twist Creek County – and all those other sons of bitches, the Baldwin-Felts agents and bloodthirsty strike-breakers – finally caught my great-great grandfather and dragged his ass up from the mine to make a spectacle of his execution, they killed him by hammering a railroad spike through his mouth.”
In my opinion, and especially after finishing this brilliant Southern Thriller, this may be one of the greatest opening lines to a novel I’ve read. This one line does multiple things; it sets up the tone of the book, one of grit, violence, vengeance. It puts into stark focus the themes that AJW explores in its roughly 360 page runtime, those of The Big Boot of Authority stamping out those who fight for something better, how the railroad spike silences those who speak the loudest, and how violence begets violence and violent rhetoric.
Following autistic trans teen Miles Abernathy, as he strives to uncover the corruption that sits at the heart of the authority of his West Virginian hometown, Twist Creek County – whilst also navigating coming out as Trans in a post Trump America – we are thrust into this neo noir thriller with reckless abandon. And it doesn’t take long before things start to get dark. AJW fully cements you in the head of Miles, with all the internal monologuing and emotions (which I will come back to later), in a way that lets you get fully immersed. In fact, through Miles’ eyes AJW paints an extremely vivid picture of the people, the town, the vibes, the heart of this setting, and it’s truly impressive to witness. As a British guy from the city, I can’t comment on what an ex-mining county in West Virginia feels like to be in, but after experiencing it through Miles’ POV, I can confidently say I feel like I have been there. The supporting cast that Miles interacts with truly feel real – with maybe one exception, again I’ll come back to this – and its exciting to watch as layers of these people are pulled back, Miles’ layers included, to reveal their true core. I am not (as far as I am aware) Autistic, however, Miles’ struggles with his own emotions, and how to express those emotions to others, is often at odds with what’s going on inside his head. In his mind, he is processing these emotions, these moments and events that scar people physically and mentally, but yet he doesn’t know he is, or sometimes doesn’t know if how he is processing them is the correct way. I don’t want to say it’s interesting to experience, that’s too clinical, but it’s definitely fascinating seeing the difference and struggle between Miles’ inner and outer persona. AJWs descriptions and depictions of trauma, plus the stand out moments of horrifically vivid violence, is simply masterful and meaningful.
I can empathise with Miles’ journey. His not wanting to be silenced – as a trans person and the anxiety of acceptance, as a person born into the wrong family in the wrong town, as a person with different views frowned upon by authority – is a big part of this book, so when there are moments where he can speak out and is heard, the sense of relief is palpable. AJW hits a number of emotional beats throughout this story, from sad moments to adrenaline pumping scenes that rush by.
It’s at this point that I say I am not a Trans person. I like to think of myself as a inclusive person, but I always welcome moments of education. So whilst, this part in my review is my discussion on my “dislikes” and “gripes” (of which they were minor anyway), I want to say that I am more than open to discuss any of these points, or even to be proven wrong if that is the case. So to start, I didn’t like that Miles is often portrayed as being right all the time at a detriment to his believability. He’s never wrong, and always thinks himself right, and often the characters around him will eventually, sometimes immediately with little affront, back down from their way of thinking, even if they haven’t done anything wrong. Obviously I’m not saying that Miles needs to be confronted by conflict at every turn (the poor kid has enough shit going on!) but there’s moments where he acts like a bit of a dick, to a good and well meaning individual, and that individual is always portrayed as being the wrong one. For example, there’s a moment, after some pretty traumatic event, where Miles and his father are discussing Miles’ transition. The father is accepting and makes a light hearted joke, but Miles doesn’t like it and ends up being a less than savoury to him. Its clear the father is upset by this but Miles doesn’t care. Later, the father apologises for this. Now, in this situation, its clear what the father is trying to do i.e. be nice to his struggling child, but because Miles doesn’t like it, then that makes it wrong, and Miles is right to be a dick to him. I’m unsure whether these moments are like this because this story is so deeply routed in Miles’ psyche that he feels justified for these moments – if so, then AJW has done a stellar job because Miles feels even more three-dimensional for it. If not, then it would have been nice for Miles to be wrong and be outwardly told by the characters that they are wrong. Allow the characters to be fallible. It sometimes felt AJW was reluctant to allow Miles to come off the high horse on occasion, preferring to show him as always aggressively right every time and its other people that are wrong. Another aspect I was a little down on was the portrayal of the antagonist(s). These weren’t ever explored more than surface level and very much just “these guys are wrong and so bad”, with little nuance. One baddie started to get fleshed out, before meeting a swift departure, and another is literally a psychopath, to the point of parody. A true Patrick Hockstetter. This is the only character I can say I feel this way towards though. The others are more believable.
A complete side note: if this gets a TV or movie adaptation, then Sheriff Davies needs to be played by Glen Powell!
However, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Compound Fracture, enough to go and buy his other works (Hell Followed With Us and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth). Andrew Joseph White creates a tale filled with thematically relevant imagery, a vivid town with a main character that bleeds from the page (and bleed Miles does). A story of trans anger, conservatism and liberalism in an ever increasingly politically radical America. Of police brutality, of fighting for what is right, your rights, human rights, the people around you, a better life. Acceptance. How important it is to be heard. A highly readable, enjoyable, thoughtful thriller that leaves you thinking about its events for a long time after you close the book.
If you enjoyed this review, please leave a comment, or feel free to chat to me on Twitter(X) or Blue Sky!
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