Deer Season by Erin Flanagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this book a great deal, but find it hard to categorize. I think I found it on a list of “thrillers,” but it’s not the typical action-filled thriller. It’s not really a psychological thriller, either. The tension comes from the building suspense over Peggy, a flirty teenage girl who goes missing. The small farm town focuses their suspicions and hatred on a young retarded farmhand, Hal, who is both handsome and simple-minded. He has a crush on Peggy, despite the age difference. Is she dead? Did she run away? Hal went missing from his deer hunting party the same night Peggy went missing, and he came home with blood on his truck, deer blood he claims. Later, a private detective is hired to unravel it all, but it is not really a detective novel either, as he is a rather minor character.
The book shines as a beautifully-written depiction of small town farm life in Nebraska in the 1980s. Alma and Clyle, Hal’s employers, are the central characters. Alma loves Hal like a son, perhaps as a substitute for the children she could never have. She is fiercely protective of him as the town turns against him. Their marriage appears to be in trouble. Peggy’s 12-year-old brother Milo, another central character, goes through a coming of age process. The author absolutely nails it with respect to Milo and his obnoxious cousin George – the obsession with girls, the pimple popping, and the rest of it. The farm life is described in detail, but almost invisibly as the inevitable and endless chores interrupt scenes as mundanely as sunrise and sunset. I found myself imagining that existence, growing up there. The mystery deepens chapter by chapter as Peggy remains missing, but it is resolved in the end with a clever twist. The author, a professor of writing, is very talented. She has penned a beautiful description of a dreary but very believable setting and relatable characters. While it’s not a page-turner, it’s so realistic that it makes you feel like you live in a time warp in Gunthrum, Nebraska while you read.